This research was conducted with financial support from the Australian Research Council (ARC Linkage Project No. 0348744), and with Reconciliation Australia as an industry partner.

In a project as large as this, carried out over several years with Indigenous groups and leaders from many different parts of Australia, with government agencies and officers across jurisdictions, and with national and international research institutions, there are many people to thank.

Firstly, we would especially like to acknowledge and thank all the Indigenous communities, organisations and leaders who have welcomed us to work with them. These research partnerships have been crucial to the project and have involved considerable time, patience, good humour and intellectual engagement on their part. We particularly appreciate the contribution of the following organisations and people to the development of chapters for this book:

Anmatjere Community Government Council

West Arnhem Shire Transitional Committee and community organisations

Laynhapuy Homelands Association Incorporated

Aboriginal people of the Kaanju homelands

Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation

Yarnteen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Corporation

Thamarrurr Regional Council

South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council

Windidda Aboriginal Corporation

Kurungal Incorporated

The Indigenous Community Governance Project (ICGP) has brought together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers largely from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR), as well as from the National Centre for Indigenous Studies (NCIS), at The Australian National University (ANU), and from the following institutions: Charles Darwin University, the Centre for Anthropological Research at The University of Western Australia, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, and the Centre for Indigenous Governance and Development at Massey University, New Zealand. We appreciate the collegial spirit in which they have all undertaken very practical research and fieldwork collaboration. Collectively, they have made an inspiring intellectual contribution to both the Australian debate and practical consideration of the critical issue of Indigenous governance.

The research was made possible by the partial grant support of the ARC and the valuable collaboration of our ARC Linkage Partner, Reconciliation Australia (RA), particularly their board; the Chair of their Governance theme, Professor Mick Dodson; our RA Partner Investigator, Jason Glanville; and the RA Governance Program team (Kate Brodie, Rowena Withers and Marianne Pinnington). The partnership has had its own governance issues to periodically resolve, but the project would not have been possible without the tireless support and commitment of RA, and Jason Glanville in particular.

Through RA, we would also like to express our appreciation for the financial support and engagement of the Northern Territory, Western Australian and Australian governments and their senior officers, several of whom have put considerable effort into raising governance policy and program issues within their respective departments and ministries. Part of the ICGP’s research in Central Australia was financially supported by the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, and this has enabled the case study research to feed into other forums and practical applications.

The project’s research has been overseen by an International Advisory Committee. Over several meetings, the Chair and members of the committee provided thoughtful input to the research approach and focus, and to discussion of practical and policy issues currently affecting Indigenous governance in Australia and elsewhere.

Our final thanks go to the project management and research team at CAEPR, including John Hughes for assistance with maps and Hilary Bek and Kitty Eggerking for proofreading this volume. The project has required and received intensive research coordination, administrative support, fieldwork facilitation, communication expertise, and intellectual leadership. The project team has unfailingly delivered on these.

Janet Hunt

Diane Smith

Stephanie Garling

Will Sanders

CAEPR, June 2008