ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the agency and practices of indigenous peoples within different planning contexts, where the outcomes are neither guaranteed nor stable. It explores how indigenous leaders made use of and worked to expand opportunities that arose through state-based attempts to recognize and enact their responsibilities toward Indigenous title, resorting to other forms of legal and direct action when necessary. For the Wurundjeri people, the struggle over the terms and nature of recognition is set within the responsibility to continue the practices of countless generations of ancestors, in whom Wurundjeri people express pride and respect. The Wurundjeri story draws attention to how some rather traditional and narrowly defined planning discourses can be used as a strategic resource in the struggle for coexistence. The planning system itself can yield surprising possibilities for indigenous action and for the creation of sites where meaningful recognition and relationships can be built.
