Beau Austin PhD Candidate |
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Contact details Email: beau.austin@cdu.edu.au |
Supervisors
Primary: Prof Stephen Garnett Co-supervisors: Dr Heather Aslin, Julian Gorman, Dr Peter Whitehead Thesis TitleSuccess Factors for Indigenous Wildlife-based Enterprise in Northern Australia Research interestsIndigenous wildlife-based enterprise harnesses some assets available to Indigenous people living in remote northern Australia for sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity conservation. Through this it can facilitate economic development, cultural preservation/restoration, increase natural resource management capacity and enhanced autonomy for many Aboriginal people. Further, Indigenous wildlife-based enterprise can be an important tool for conservation. One of the biggest threats to biodiversity in northern Australia is large-scale landscape change. Clearing, mining, irrigation and damming have had, and will likely continue to have, considerable impacts on the fauna and flora of the region. Offering landholders alternative forms of income that do not require significant landscape creates space for ecosystem preservation and/or restoration. Beau’s thesis is focused on identifying the factors that have contributed to the success of Indigenous wildlife-based enterprise in northern Australia. His work has taken him to the West Kimberley and Arnhem Land, where he was able to learn from Indigenous entrepreneurs operating successful wildlife-based enterprises. In the West Kimberley and around Darwin, some people have been able to use the fruit of Terminalia ferdinandiana commercially. Known commonly has gubinge, billy-goat plum or Kakadu Plum, this fruit has the second highest concentration of naturally occurring Vitamin C in the world. It has been used in products like vitamin c tablets, cosmetics, perfumes, jams, chutneys and beer. The Gulin Gulin Buffalo Company operates a swamp buffalo mustering operation out of Bulman in southern Arnhem Land. Gulin Gulin use helicopters and modified 4wds to muster the animals before they are transported to Darwin for live export. Buffalo beef is in high demand in Indonesia and Malaysia, especially for the celebration of Hari Raya. The Djelk Wildlife Enterprises have supplied saltwater crocodile hatchlings to farms in Darwin for more than 20 years. Hatchlings are produced from wild harvested crocodile eggs from the Maningrida region. These crocodiles are used to produce exclusive saltwater crocodile leather goods, which can be found in the upmarket shops of Milan, Tokyo and New York. The lessons learned from these case studies will be useful for establishing guidelines for Indigenous entrepreneurs who use wildlife commercially, or who are considering establishing such enterprises. Further, service providers and policy-makers concerned with sustainable economic development and conservation on the Indigenous Estate will find the results of this research useful in making decisions and designing programmes to better support their client’s aspirations. Collier, Neil, Beau J. Austin, Corey J. A. Bradshaw and Clive R. McMahon (2011). ‘Turning Pests Into Profits: Introduced Buffalo Provide Multiple Benefits to Indigenous People of Northern Australia’, Human Ecology, 39(2). DOI 10.1007/s10745-010-9365-8
Austin, B.J. and S.T. Garnett (In press). ‘Indigenous wildlife enterprise: mustering swamp buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in northern Australia’, Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy. Austin, B.J. and Garnett, S.T. 2009. State of the Environment Reporting: A review of theory and practice. Report to the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sports, Northern Territory Government. School for Environmental Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin.
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