ABSTRACT
One of the principal issues facing contemporary archaeologists working in Indigenous Australia is that of Indigenous control over research. If the outcomes of research are jointly owned, then it follows that they are also subject to joint control. This position is consistent with the United Nations' Draft Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (part 6, article 29), which affirms:
Indigenous peoples are entitled to the recognition of the full ownership, control and protection of their cultural and intellectual property. They have the right to special measures to control, develop and protect their sciences, technologies and cultural manifestations, including human and other genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs and visual and performing arts. (United Nations, "Draft Declaration")
After several years of conference debate, this issue became powerfully imprinted on the consciousness of Australian archaeologists when Ros Langford, a member of the Tasmania Aboriginal Community published her views in the mainstream journal Australian Archaeology:You seek to say that as scientists you have a right to obtain and study information of our culture. You seek to say that because you are Australians you have a right to study and explore our heritage because it is a heritage to be shared by all Australians, white and black. From our point of view we say you have come as invaders, you have tried to destroy our culture, you have built your fortunes upon the lands and bodies of our people and now having said sorry, want a share in picking out the bones of what you regard as a dead past. We say that it is our past, our culture and heritage, and forms part of our present life. As such it is ours to control and it is ours to share on our terms. (Langford 1983, 2)
As with Vine Deloria, Jr., in the United States, Langford's views set one of the parameters of archaeological debate in Australia (see, e.g., Deloria 1992). This paper is widely quoted in discussions of Australian archaeology: by writing within the discourse of the discipline, Langford engaged directly with its practitioners, in the process shaping how Australian archaeology would develop (Hodder 1999). In some ways, her paper laid a foundation for the level of control that Indigenous Australians now have over their cultural heritage.