NSIDE:

Allison Anderson on new ideasBUSH TECH BRIEFS:• Hot water• Renewable energy in remote communities• Operation Desert Stormwater harvesting• Rainwater harvesting

Kintore women ATwork

NSIDE:

Allison Anderson on new ideasBUSH TECH BRIEFS:• Hot water• Renewable energy in remote communities• Operation Desert Stormwater harvesting• Rainwater harvesting

Kintore women ATwork“ B U S H L I G H TALL RIGHT!”

Number 17 Winter 2002

Welcome to the new look Our Place! Believeme, we have been through a very exciting peri-

od of discussion and debate about the magazinebefore bringing you this redesign. We listened to ourreaders, including those who responded to the lastsurvey. We talked to people we came across in com-munities and who like Our Place . There is nothingmore inspiring than meeting an enthusiastic readerat a lonely roadhouse. And we worked out a plan forthe magazine which is now in your hands. All magazines are reviewed from time-to-time. Toooften, readers are then bored to tears by a long expla-nation by the editor of the detailed changes which haveresulted. I will spare you that. However, you will findOur Place aiming for some important goals in thefuture.First, we want to bring you a mixture of stories that areno longer organized around a theme. Instead, we willoffer a blend of important issues of the day.Second, we will take a greater interest in livelihoods forpeople living in Indigenous communities. There will bea regular column on the subject and we will collect sto-ries from people who are striving to improve theirlivelihoods, often under trying conditions;Third, look out for the Bush Tech briefs. These repre-sent the latest information on technology for remotecommunities. They are not the final word (nothing everis!) but they are up-to-date. This time we have includ-ed four Bush Tech sheets. Please feel free to copy andshare them with other people.

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Editorial ............................................................................................................ 2News in brief .................................................................................................... 3Bushlight .......................................................................................................... 4Making it work – Alison Anderson........................................................................ 6

CASE STUDY: Yugul Mangi Council ................................................................ 7CASE STUDY: Murdi Paaki Regional and Local Organisation.............................. 9

Catching the tourist dollar ................................................................................ 10Lift-out section:

BUSH TECH #1: Hot waterBUSH TECH #2: Renewable energy in remote communitiesBUSH TECH #3: Operation Desert Stormwater HarvestingBUSH TECH #4: Rainwater harvesting

Australia – the last frontier for Trachoma in the developed world .......................... 11Think twice...................................................................................................... 12The bush travelling check list............................................................................ 14Video review: My Place Your Place .................................................................... 15Kintore women hard ATwork .............................................................................. 16REVIEW: Why Warriers Lie Down and Die............................................................ 18Where to find further information ...................................................................... 19Heavy Metal — CAT products ................................................................ Back Cover

And fourth, Our Place will offer more links to otherresources on the subjects that we cover. By that, I meannot only a regular listing of websites and publications,but also items of relevance from outside Australia. Wewant to learn from experience elsewhere, as well asoffering our own. A number of people deserve our thanks for the work onOur Place. They include our contributors, especiallyC AT staff and associates. Also Paul Cockram ofArtplan Graphics in Tennant Creek, our designer andKate and Gary MacGregor, who gave us help withsome of the articles. Special thanks are due to AndyCabban for his editorial input, which helped to get themagazine on course. Our cover this issue shows a solararray at Old Doomadgie designed and installed by ECOENERGY.Now, to the big news in this edition. The BushlightProgram is officially launched in May 2002. As a majorenergy program internationally, Bushlight is a joint ven-ture between CAT and the Australian CooperativeResearch Centre for Renewable Energy.We hope that you find Our Place to be a substantialand relevant read. Let us know what you think. We relyon you and your views.

Steve FisherCentre for Appropriate Technology

In December 2001 the Bana MindiljiTraditional Owners took a big step

towards getting their bubu (land) back! In 1999 the Indigenous Land Corporation(ILC) purchased the Dawnvale lease, a4,500 ha grazing property in the WetTropics World Heritage Area, on behalf ofthe traditional owners (TOs). InNovember 2000 the ILC engaged CAT tou n d e rtake a part i c i p a t o ry planning

process with the TOs, who call their landBana Mindilji.C AT finished the planning work inNovember 2001. This involved a series ofthree day workshops held on the bubu atBana Mindilji, as well as shorter work-shops in Wujal Wujal, the Aboriginalcommunity where most of the TOs live. In December 2001, the land divestmentprocess began. This involved the incorpo-

Bana Minjili develop theirland management skills

There is money to be made in fish.Specifically, in fish farming or aqua-

culture. Not much for live or wholefish, a little for oysters and prawns, buta lot for chilled filleted fish. White fish,that is. Apparently pink fish is just notas good.A literature review shows that aquacul-ture has the potential to generate a sourceof income for Indigenous communities incoastal areas of Australia. For example, amarket survey carried out by the Co-oper-ative Research Centre for Aquacultureshows that some potential exists for newaquaculture ventures, mainly to supplyrestaurants rather than supermarkets, andmainly for fish rather than molluscs (oys-

ters, blue mussels) or cru s t a c e a n s(prawns, lobsters, crayfish). Most suc-cessful aquaculture activities in Australiato date have focussed on the cultivationof cultured pearls, atlantic salmon,bluefin tuna, oysters and prawns.However, there is scope for new projectsto produce white fillet fish. One example of an indigenous aquacul-t u re project is at an outstation atBorroloola. Indigenous communities inthe Kimberley area are interested in mar-ket opportunities from fisheries support-ed by aquaculture.Trochus shell and abalone are alreadyproviding an income to some communi-ties in the Kimberley, with a new hatcheryplanned for Broome for prawns andTrochus. It is proposed for communitytraders to purchase the fish from mem-bers of the community to on-sell in south-ern markets.CAT plans to develop expertise in thisarea, to produce educational materialssuch as a Bush Tech sheet and to provideadvice to any interested parties whorequest information or support. This mayjust be a matter of putting an Indigenouscommunity in contact with someone elsewho can advise them. For any enquiriesabout fishy business please contact TrishMorrow at CAT on 8951 4337.

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Turningfishintocash

ration of the Bana Mindilji AboriginalCorporation as the title holding body ofthe land, and the signing of the Deed ofGrant. The final stage of the divestmentprocess will be the handing over of theland title to the Bana Mindilji TOs some-time in early 2002.The Bana Mindilji people asked CAT to

continue to work with them. During theplanning process the TOs identified areasin which they would like to undertaketraining to assist them in learning skillsfor managing Bana Mindilji. These includ-ed cattle and land management, officeskills and bookkeeping and skills for run-ning an Aboriginal Corporation. Thetraining started in February 2002 and willcontinue for at least a year. CAT will alsobe involved in fixing up the existing infra-structure on Dawnvale – the homestead,water supply, power supply, toilets andablutions.The CAT Cairns team looks forward tocontinuing to work with the Bana MindiljiTOs.

‘Our Place’hits theradio wavesAfter months of interviewing people

and producing the cool edit prosystem, CAT productions is pleased tolaunch their New National RadioSegment "Our Place". The show tack-les issues concerning remote Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander Commun-ities.Adrian Shaw (producer and presenter)interviews people involved in helping tomake Indigenous Communities more sus-tainable in the future.

Key issues discussed are Energy, Planning,Communication, Health, Housing, Water,Training and Transport.

"Our Place" is distributed to 23Aboriginal and To rres Strait IslanderRadio stations around the country. Intotal 168 Indigenous Radio networksreceive Our Place around the countrythrough the National Indigenous RadioService (NIRS) It is broadcast in everycapital city except for Hobart.

remote areas. The survey found out whatusers had to say about renewable energy(RE) in remote areas. To undertake thesurvey, ACRE worked with the Centre forAppropriate Technology (CAT). The communities surveyed were remote,ranging from the Pilbara and Kimberleysin WA, through central Australia (includ-ing the AP Lands in SA) and the Top Endof the Northern Territory, to Cape YorkPeninsula and the To rres Strait inQueensland.(A summary of the study findings is pro-vided in this issue of Our Place in BushTech Brief #2 ‘Renewable Energy inRemote Communities’.)

Towards a new model forservice deliveryBushlight is a national renewable energyinitiative. It aims to increase the access tosustainable energy services for remote off-grid communities of Indigenous people inthe Northern Territory, Western Australia,Queensland and South Australia. Bushlight provides an opportunity totackle some of the issues identified in themarket survey. In doing so, it will con-front one of the most thorny problemsaffecting communities; how to gain a con-sistent and responsive delivery of serviceto a remote location, whether in health,water, energy or any other essential serv-ice.The approach taken by Bushlight will beresponsive to demand. This means that itwill assist communities to make their owninformed decisions on the level of infra-structure to be installed based on theirneeds and priorities and on local capacityto sustain service levels. Intern a t i o n a lexperience has shown that infrastructureservices have a greater chance of beingsustainable if the level of service matcheslocal consumer reality rather than beingled by unrealistic notions of what mightbe achieveable. Ongoing support will be provided bymobile regional service teams who willc a rry out regular service visits alongroutes throughout that region. The aimwill be to build their relationships withcommunity members, much in the waythat many renewable energy suppliers doat present. This will begin with guidingthem through the process of assessingtheir energy needs and capacities, throughto providing ongoing training to commu-nity members in basic management oftheir demand and system maintenance.

Bushlight in practiceBushlight is a Joint Venture of the Centrefor Appropriate Technology and theAustralian Cooperative Research Centrefor Renewable Energy. It will deploy acombination of funds provided by theAboriginal and To rres Strait IslanderCommission and The AustralianGreenhouse Office in order to achieve the

An energy service is vital to any com-m u n i t y. In remote areas of

Australia, energy resources, especiallythe sun, are abundant. However, con-verting these into a reliable, affordableand useable service is a challenge. Anys u p p l i e r, community or govern m e n tagency will testify to that. There are many Indigenous communitiesthat have had a positive experience withrenewable energy over long periods,resulting in large diesel fuel savings,reduced fuel transportation problems andaccess to clean power twenty-four hours aday. However, there are others that havetried renewable energy systems with limit-ed success.

Understand first, then actThe Bushlight initiative was establishedthrough an understanding of the particu-

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Bushlight to improve energyservices for small, remotecommunities of Indigenous people

lar challenges of bringing energy toremote communities of Indigenous peo-ple. In 1999, the Australian CooperativeResearch Centre for Renewable Energy(ACRE) commissioned a study of isolatedenergy systems in remote Australia. Thiswas an extensive market survey that visit -ed and spoke with people in smallIndigenous communities, pastoral proper-ties and tourist and other ventures in

following:-• Maintain operations across the four

states and territories within our remit;• Establish reliable and cost-effective RE

systems in target communities;• Build the capacity and confidence need-

ed to sustain RE services within thesecommunities.

Bushlight commences in April 2002 for afour-year period. During this time, it willcollaborate closely with ATSIC RegionalCouncils, the Australian renewable ener-gy industry, State and Te rr i t o ryGovernments and resource agencies todevelop a consistent model of technologyand operation which will deliver servicesto communities.

Bushlight working withcommunitiesEach Bushlight office will employ anIndigenous Liaison Officer and aRegional Manager who will manage boththe procurement process and the workwith communities and Regional Councils.Communities are welcome to contactlocal staff of CAT and ACRE with anyquestions or to request a visit. This isalready happening and enquiries are beingrecorded until such time as permanentBushlight staff are appointed.F rom an analysis of data from theCommunity Housing and InfrastructureNeeds Survey (CHINS), the majority ofthe eligible outstations are likely to beoutstations with one or two permanentlyoccupied houses. In these houses, occu-pancy is also found to be the highest.T h e re f o re, system designs are initiallyfocusing on these outstations.Individual household PV power systemswill be the initial focus for these smallercommunities. Separate DC and AC sys-tems will respectively meet essential andother energy services in each of the hous-es. The physical layout and componentsizing will be decided with the communi-ty during the consultation period.

Bushlight working withRegional CouncilsATSIC Regional Councils have received aletter from the Housing and Infra-structure Centre of ATSIC in Canberraadvising them of the commencement ofBushlight and advice on how to contactthe program. Enquiries have started toarrive and CAT staff have visited severalcouncils already.The plan for working with RegionalCouncils is as follows:-• Bushlight will establish at least one full-

time member of staff for each of itsregional offices over the coming weeks.These are located in Alice Springs,Derby, Cairns and the Top End of theNorthern Territory (exact location to be

tors, such as access, occupancy, costrecovery and management. Ultimately, the final agreements for loca-tions of Bushlight systems will be sub-ject to discussion between RegionalCouncils and Bushlight.

To be eligible for considerationunder Bushlight, communities will

need to meet the following basic crite-ria:• Population – Under 50 people live in

the community;• Location – The community is ‘off-

grid’ (does not have access to gridpower);

• Land tenure – Secure land tenure oroccupation;

• Buildings – At least one permanentconstruction that conforms to stan-dards;

• Power supply – Either no power cur-rently available or diesel system beingused. Communities with existing REsystems are eligible.

This constitutes Level 1 eligibility.Meeting these criteria permits furtherscreening against criteria for other fac-

Community eligibility for Bushlight

June, 2002. The workshop will achieve the following:-• Presentation of the Bushlight objectives

and plan;• Description of proposed outline design

for Bushlight systems;• Discussion of ways in which the indus-

try can engage with Bushlight;• Presentation of the role of ACRElab,

detailing component and system test-ing;

• I n s t ructions and timing for tenderprocesses.

This will be a one-day workshop to fostercollaboration between industry and theBushlight venture. After the workshop,Bushlight will proceed according to atimetable for the first year that will bepresented on the day.

Climb every mountainTo conclude, the Bushlight venture is acomplex, exciting and challenging pro-gram. Its success will depend on a myriadof different factors. Most important in allof these are the relationships that it buildswith communities, agencies and industry.

The work starts now.

confirmed).• There will be a program of presenta-

tions, visits and contact with RegionalCouncils, aiming to reach all of them byDecember 2002.

• In each case, Bushlight will request thatRegional Councils make recommenda-tions as to those communities that theywould like to be considered forimproved energy services through theprogram.

• Bushlight will then assess each com-munity for their eligibility according tocriteria which will be made available toCouncils and communities (see the boxbelow).

• Regional Councils and re l e v a n tresource agencies will be kept informedof progress once Bushlight starts to dis-cuss opportunities in their area. Theyare also welcome to contact the pro-gram at any time.

Bushlight working with therenewable energy industryBushlight provides opportunities for therenewable energy industry in Australia. Itwill be vital that the combined experienceand knowledge of companies are takeninto account in the approach taken by theprogram. This process has started.

Expressions of interest in Bushlight willbe invited through the We e k e n dAustralian in early May, 2002. This willalso be available through the Internet atw w w. i c a t . o rg.au/bushlight or linkedthrough www.acre.murdoch.edu.au

Those parties which meet the criteria forparticipation in Bushlight will then beinvited to a workshop in Alice Springs in

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Since the early 1990s, a lot ofimprovements have been made in

the number, standard, and maintenanceof housing and infrastructure withinIndigenous communities. However, aswas seen in the 1999 CHINS (Com-munity Housing and Infrastru c t u reNeeds Survey) results, there are warn-ing signs that the gains made are notbeing sustained.Heading the list of challenges forIndigenous communities include contami-nated drinking and washing water, fre-quent water supply interruptions, poorsanitation, frequent sewerage overf l o wand leakages, 33% of all housing needseither major repair or replacement, and a20 year backlog of new housing and infra-structure needs.

Unfortunately, these challenges are alsocommon to many communities in the

• Participation – ensuring the active par-ticipation of both men and women

• Consultation – supporting both the tra-ditional owners and the residents whouse and own the housing to make thekey decisions concerning the housing

• Choice – helping to find technologywhich is appropriate to the communityand not the donor

developing world. In contrast to the lim-ited re s o u rces available to AustralianIndigenous peoples, most developingcountry communities don’t have access toany support services and re s o u rc e sbeyond development agencies. This haslead many communities to becomedependent upon the help of internationaldevelopment agencies. In too manyre p o rted cases this dependency hasmeant that as soon as the developmentagency withdraws, the project fails soona f t e r.

These failures have lead to much debateamongst international development agen-cies about the design, delivery, and mostimportantly, the sustainability of commu-nity development projects. The result ofthis ongoing debate has found that a num-ber of factors play an important role inhelping to make projects more likely to besustainable, including:

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Making it work – new ideas tosustain communitiesATSIC Commissioner Allison Anderson was a keynote speaker at aconference in July 2001 about community technology. This is what she said.

“One of the mainculprits is the

absence of womenfrom decision-making

structures.”

ALLISON ANDERSON

• Training – equipping and training com-munities to operate, maintain, andmanage their new housing and infra-structure technologies

• Demand driven – ensuring that projectsmatch the true demand of the peoplewho will use them

These debates hold much potential forrethinking the way decisions are made,projects are planned, initiatives are deliv-ered, building and maintenance standardsare developed, and services are evaluatedwithin Indigenous communities.

Participation – involving bothmen and women Women in Indigenous communities havemost to do with the living environment.They are the primary users of services andhealth hardware. At the community level,the involvement of women in decision-

Changes to this underlying problem willneed energy, resources, commitment, andpolicy support. But more importantly, theonly way to bring about lasting change isthrough proving that women’s involve-ment increases the chances of sustainabil-ity.

Pilot projects need to be set with theobjective of facilitating and researchingwomen’s involvement. This means inten-tionally including gender as a considera-tion in program design and implementa-tion, providing gender specific training,and then monitoring the outcomes overtime – to prove the benefits.

Community consultation – howinclusive are they?Many ‘participation programs’ in indige-nous communities fail to grasp the differ-ence between the quantity and quality of

making and discussion is a very importantpart of tying a family and a communitytogether, and keeping that family struc-ture alive and well. Despite this fact, theyare still not included in making decisionsabout the services and hardware providedfor their families and communities.One of the main culprits is the absence ofwomen from decision-making structures.Management is still dominated by men.For example, since 1990, the number ofwomen elected as ATSIC councilors hasvaried from a low of 23% in the 1996elections to a high of 30% in the 1999elections. The number of female regionalcouncil chairpersons peaked at 20% in1996 but dropped back to 15% in the1999 election. Of the 17 national ATSICCommissioners, only 4 of these arepresently women. These figures clearlyshow bias towards men making the deci-sions for communities.

Ngukurr is an NT community of 1200 people on theRoper River. Up until 6 years ago, toilets and showers

in the housing of the community regularly broke down. Dueto a lack of separation of the wet and dry areas within hous-ing, these breakdowns often created small rivulets runningthrough housing living areas. As a result, walls became com-promised through rising damp, and many people didn’t havea dry place to sleep. This problem proved critical to thehealth of the community given that on average there were 13people per bedroom.1996 marked a dynamic change for the conditions of people inNgukurr. A meeting of all 20 clans in the community was calledto discuss the housing problem. Lynn Mott, the Town Clerktalked straight to the people and said “This is your problem, youwill have to fix it, we can’t fix it for you”. With support, this isexactly what the community has done.Consultants Paul Josif and Associated were employed to sit witheach clan and help them work out a plan for their group of hous-es. All clans agreed that fixing wet areas and health hardwarewas their number one priority. Costed plans were drawn up tobuild additional bedrooms, new wet areas, and repair existinghousing. With the completion of the plans, houses began to beupgraded with renegotiated Department of Housing and LocalGovernment funds.By 1997, when the community was allocated $2.9m for con-s t ruction from the National Aboriginal Health Strategy(NAHS), the community had their own 5 Year Plan, the resultof almost two years of planning work with consultants. The community managed their own program, organised theirown designs, employed local labour, and constructed their ownhouses. Walking this path was not easy. Money was slow to bereleased, and this forced the community to use money saved tobuild a swimming pool complex to pay for materials and labour.This spirit of compromise and commitment laid the foundationfor the eventual success of their housing program.In the last 3 years the community has constructed 17 new hous-es and renovated 100. There are now 5-6 people per bedroominstead of 13 and they have their own local maintenance teamwho are working well - at their own pace. People aren’t expect-ed to work full time, or be specialists in all areas. Some knowhow to fix taps, others to hang doors. They also find that avoid-

ance relationships are easier to work around because a couple ofpeople know the job.One of the keys to the success of the Yugul Mangi Council’s pro-gram is “clan management”. The Council’s approach has notalways been compatible with the systems used by outsideadministrators - it doesn’t fit their usual way of recording infor-mation or managing funds. But it works for the community.When other communities visit they admit that they wouldn’tchoose the same housing designs, but they do admire what theysee - people doing it for themselves. Ngukurr is an inspiration to other communities for several rea-sons:Involvement – full community involvement over two yearsto create a 5 year housing management plan with consultantscommitted to understanding the issues of NgukurrTraditional decision-making process – traditionalstructures were the basis for all decisions made about planning,design and budgetingTargeted training – members of the Ngukurr communitywere trained specifically to be able to repair and maintain hous-ing in a way that suits their way of lifeCompromise and partnership - significant challengescontinue to be overcome through a growing spirit of compro-mise and partnership between indigenous and non-indigenouspeople in and outside the community

Yugul Mangi Council, Ngukurr, Northern Territory

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visits to a community. Most consultationsare only evaluated on the basis of thenumber of visits made. Whilst this helpsstreamline workloads for project consult-ants, and makes it easier for governmentdepartments to report, the feedback fromindigenous communities suggests a differ-ent story.To many indigenous people, “communityconsultation” means the calling of a massmeeting, talking for many hours, oftenwithout the help of an interpreter, andbeing driven crazy by the high technologyEnglish of the people who called themeeting. In the case of housing, this formof ‘consultation’ doesn’t help owners andresidents to decide on housing design andlayout. Instead many people are left feel-ing dazed and confused, the ultimateresult of which is the continuing failure tohelp residents feel they own the projectand the house. Another problem is that when consultantsand government officials do actually con-sult with residents, they fail to take thetime to understand who the traditionalowners are of the community, let aloneprioritise their opinions over the newerresidents of the community.Change is needed. To do this we need‘quality-of-visit’ indicators to be used tomeasure and improve community consul-tations. These could establish levels ofincreased understanding; satisfaction andhappiness amongst the residents withtheir housing; resident design and sitingcontrol, affordability and local involve-ment in maintenance, pay arrangements,and whether these match traditional localcontrol structures.

Choice – who is thetechnology appropriate for? The appropriateness of the technologyused in many housing projects is a majorproblem for many Indigenous communi-ties. There are still ongoing problemswith basic maintenance issues, standard-

Training should be for the people, forimproving the community - for makingcommunities more self-sufficient. It isimportant that communities have theirown people trained as plumbers, electri-cians, carpenters, office staff and teach-ers, living in the community, and doingthe work for themselves. That way moneystays in the community and in the region.

Demand or supply – whodrives the decision to buildhousing and infrastructure?For most indigenous communities, thedecision to build housing and other healthh a rd w a re rests with people who willnever actually use the infrastructure. Forexample, under the NAHS (NationalAboriginal Housing Scheme), communi-ties are selected for service pro v i s i o nbased on an external determination of‘affordability’ and the amount of moneyin the funding pool.By contrast, a ‘demand driven’ approachfocuses on the realistic for a pro j e c tdemand within a community. It answersthe most basic of questions - how muchdoes the community want the project.This is important because the decision tolocate, service, and equip the new housingor infrastructure is weighed up and madeby the users of the housing and infra-structure.It is the use, management, and mainte-nance of the housing and infrastructurethat is of vital importance to the commu-nity, the equity in the ‘outcome’, and notas many Australian service pro v i d e r sassume, the equity of the inputs, thatd e t e rmines the success of a pro j e c t .Despite international success with thisdevelopmental approach, this way ofmanaging projects is still yet to be takenseriously in Australia.

New DirectionsThere are many lessons to be drawn fromextensive local and overseas experience.The housing and infrastructure sector,and the people who it is serving, are los-ing out because there is no establishedculture of ‘participatory evaluation’. Wetend to evaluate to justify expenditurerather than to strive to do better nexttime. The result of this is that we haven’tdeveloped a learning culture. There areexamples of pro g ress being madethroughout Australia, this is very encour-aging, however lessons are continuallybeing lost, and findings are not beingshared.If life in Indigenous communities is toimprove, the culture of working with oursuccesses and failures needs to undergosubstantial change. It needs to startengaging in open debate about, for exam-ple, the types of issues raised in this paper.Without this, problems within communi-ties will remain and Indigenous peoplewill continue to suffer.

ised equipment is rare, and the availabili-ty of spares is a continuing problem.Often it isn’t the big things within homesthat are inappropriate, but rather thesmaller things, such as the use of obsoletetaps and toilets. A common practice ofmany contractors is to save outdatedequipment for use solely in Indigenouscommunities. And it is only when a toiletbreaks or a tap starts to leak that the hid-den costs of these little technologiesemerge.In cases like these, it can take the mainte-nance contractor weeks to make it out tothe community to look at the problem.During this period, the toilet, bathroom,or kitchen is rendered useless. This prob-lem is made worse when the contractorfinds that the tap or toilet is obsolete andcan’t be fixed because parts are no longeravailable. This leaves the communitywith expensive choices. Either they canbuy a whole new tap or toilet, or they canleave it to be fixed later when money canbe found. Clearly, it is the contract maintenancecrew and not the communities who arethe main beneficiaries. This problem isclosely linked to the issue of standards,and the need for clearer guidelines andhelp about appropriate technology choice.

Training – is it really helpingIndigenous people? There are many skilled Indigenous peoplein communities. People know how to domany things yet skills are not audited andcontinue to go unused. Where peoplehave real control over the housing of theircommunities, such as in the Murdi PaakiRegion in Southwest NSW or in theN o rt h e rn Te rr i t o ry community ofN g u k u rr, confidence and skills gro w.Despite these successes, many white fellasand outside contractors still hold the keysto operating, managing, and maintaininghousing and infrastructure technologies.One of the main reasons for this ongoinglock out is the failure of trainers and edu-cational institutions to tailor courses tohelp solve problems in communities.Whilst there are exceptions to the rule, alot of training fails because it is carriedout only for the sake of improving gov-ernment figures.

“It is important thatcommunities havetheir own people

trained as plumbers,electricians,

carpenters, office staffand teachers, living inthe community, anddoing the work for

themselves.”

Namatjira Community is located in Dareton in southwest-ern NSW, not far from Mildura and is in the ATSIC

region of Murdi Paaki. The Aboriginal people in theNamatjira Community are mostly Barkindji people. Life in the Namatjira Community several years ago was charac-terised by unreliable and poor quality water supplies, brokensewerage systems, and overcrowded housing in need of repair.The place was dusty; the roads unsafe; and there were no recre-ational facilities.This changed in 1996 when ATSIC Murdi Paaki RegionalCouncil, under the guidance of Chair William (Smiley)Johnstone, created a ‘Regional Agreement’ between ATSIC,State, and Local Governments in NSW.The Regional Agreement created a whole of government andwhole of community approach to coordinating and deliveringhousing, water supply, sewerage, roads and other essential infra-structure services to Aboriginal Communities in western NSW.This partnership gives Aboriginal people in the region more sayabout how, where and when things get done, and has broughtpeople to work together who never did before.

Community Housing ManagementTo coordinate the management of community housing, theRegional Council established the Murdi Paaki HousingCorporation (MPHC). The MPHC streamlined the management,maintenance, and purchase of houses within the region.By 2000 the MPHC was managing 500 houses, collecting 92%of rent, and had created Community Working Parties in 12 of the21 communities. The working parties have proved to be themost effective agents of change, having taken on responsibilityfor coordinating and managing housing and infrastructure workin their communities.Representing a large spectrum of voices, membership of theworking parties is a dynamic mix of youth and elders, ATSICrepresentatives, government and service providers.The voting and decision making is reserved strictly for commu-nity and ATSIC representatives, which according to SmileyJohnstone, “is a major change for the better because it helps theyoung people learn to take over and forces the government andthe CDEP to present their proposals to just one group”.

The Namatjira Working Party (NWP)Over the last four years the NWP has successfully completedmany housing and infrastructure projects. Most of these projectshave been undertaken with a strong training component.With the help of MADEC (The Mildura and District EducationCouncil), the Namatjira Working Party and their apprenticeshave achieved:• Construction of a Works Depot to store materials and tools• Building twenty occupant designed houses• Cleanup of all community land (75 hectares)• Dust control through the replanting of 35 hectares with more

than 15,000 trees and other plants grown onsite

9

The most impressive achievement at Namatjira is the creation bythe apprentices of a football oval. They fully irrigated the site,planted grass and landscaped it while an earth-moving contrac-tor did the leveling and brought in earth. The job was complet-ed around the same time as funds were received for a nightpatrol. It was reported that the crime rate in the area droppedby 50% and the accident and ambulance call-out rate by 75%due to the new sporting opportunities.

Key success ingredients of theNamatjira program include:Regional Agreement – set a new benchmark for givingAboriginal people a greater say in how, when and where fundswere spent in a staged and sustainable wayCommunity Working Groups – established across theregion, the dynamic mix of voices within these groups havemaintained enthusiasm for community projects Training – career paths for trainees, mentoring systems, andthe development of small businesses were prioritised from theoutsetLiving environment focus – building tangible improve-ments to housing, water supply, roads, and dust control helpedto focus and grow community confidence Onsite project manager – all projects were completed bya single project manager, allowing for the staging of projects andlessening the possibility of duplicated effort.

South Western NSW:Murdi Paaki Regional andLocal Organisation

Catching the touristdollar

Mid way through last year, The Observer newspaper in theUnited Kingdom asked their readers to rate their favourite

holiday destinations. For the majority of the 16,000 British peo-ple polled, Australia and her cities – Sydney and Melbourne –topped the list of the must visit destinations.For many of these travellers, the attraction of Australia is itsnever ending string of golden beaches, its hot endless summers,and the natural wonder of the Great Barrier Reef.However, for an increasing number of these English travellers,and their European and American counterparts, the real motiva-tor for making the long-haul to our shores is the opportunity tomeet Indigenous people in the bush, listen to their stories, andcome home with some genuine art. This makes cultural tourism one of the brightest stars on thehorizon of the Australian tourism industry - 400,000 visitorsevery year to Uluru and Kata Tjuta is a good indication of thegrowing interest in Indigenous culture.

Where is the money? Despite income sharing agreements on the entry fees to theUluru / Kata Tjuta National Park with the local traditional own-ers, for example, most of the financial benefits of the growingcultural tourism industry are falling into non-Indigenous hands.Given that cultural tourism is in its infancy in Australia, sub-stantial opportunities still exist for Indigenous people to claim alarger share of the monetary benefits of this growing market fortheir families and communities.Perhaps the single greatest consideration for communities inter-ested in entering this market is that a significant number of

tourists who travel to Australia do so within guided tour groups.Recent industry reports in the UK1 suggest that despite the riseof low cost airlines and the advent of internet booking, the pro-portion of English holiday makers doing it themselves was amere 2% higher than it was three decades earlier. Added to thisis the fact that the proportion of travellers taking long haul hol-idays, such as to Australia, has roughly doubled over the sameperiod. This places guided tours, therefore, at the top of the listof potential targets for any prospective indigenous tourism enter-prise.

Tapping the guided tour market Cracking the guided tour market requires some careful thinkingabout the types of services or products that a tour company maywish to buy from an Indigenous community. Like baking a cake,tour operators buy a range of ingredients or travel experiences,mix or package them together, and then cook up or market themas a guided tour2.These ingredients or travel experiences are typically purchasedon behalf of the international tour group by local scouts. Thesescouts, commonly known in the trade as inbound operators3, willtypically weigh up a range of issues before buying.Some of these issues could include the location (Uluru orArnhem Land); the natural or man made icons at the site (a bill-abong, view, or for example the Yiperenye Sculpture at AliceSprings); the story or dreaming of the area; the availability ofguides to talk through the local bush foods or story of the localarea; the opportunity to fish or hunt game with the locals; camp-ing or accommodation facilities; the chance to buy artefacts; andthe accessibility, whether by air or road, to the site.

Getting down to businessBefore approaching local or overseas tourist operator scouts, it isessential that Indigenous communities plan and develop theirtourism product or service. Anecdotal evidence suggests that itcan take between one to three years to successfully do this. There are two main ways for communities to move their tourismideas into reality. The first approach, like the one taken by theHermannsburg Community in Central Australia, is to employ aprofessional consultant to help plan and coordinate the process.The second and more popular approach is to use governmentsupport programs, such as the NT Governments IndigenousTourism Development service4, to help workshop the planning ofthe business.Both approaches are useful because they help communities cometo grips with what tourists are prepared to pay for. This is criti-cal because it lays the groundwork for understanding the issuesand challenges of running a small-scale tourism enterprise. Insome cases this may mean that a community decides it only hasthe time, commitment and resources to build and maintain acamp ground5. For others, creating seasonal bush tucker walksand barbeques may be where their capabilities lie.Whatever the end result, those communities who invest now,rather than later, in creating cultural experiences for overseastravellers, are likely to be at the forefront of communities bene-fiting from the ensuing Indigenous tourism boom. 1 Guardian Unlimited, Travel Section, Roger Bray – ‘Where are you

going on holiday?’, July 28, 2001, http://travel.guardian.co.uk/fea-ture/0,8806,528456,00.htm

2 See for example: Grand Circle Tours –http://www.gct.com/destina-tions/extensions.asp?tripID=41

3 Cultural Inbound Operators can be contacted via the ‘InternationalOperations Managers’ of each state and territory Tourist Commission

4 NT Department of Community Development, Sport, and CulturalAffairs – Regional Development Branch: 08-8999-8477

5 See for example - Partnership between Ngkalabon people at theWeemol community in central Arnhem Land and Dreamtime Safaris(08) 8975 4466.

10

BUSH TECH BRIEF #1Hot Water

Hot water plays an important role in helping to prevent sickness incommunities. Washing with warm, soapy water is an effectiveway of removing germs from the skin. This helps prevent the

spread of some diseases. It is also important for people to be able towash clothes and blankets. All items used in the preparation and eatingof food should be thoroughly washed with hot water to help preventsickness. A reliable source of hot water is necessary for people to beable to do these important jobs.

Unfortunately for a variety of reasons many people in remoteIndigenous communities lack access to an adequate and reliable sup-ply of hot water. CAT has completed a project looking at hot water useand the performance of different types of hot water systems in remotecommunities. The project aimed to improve the delivery of hot water topeople living in remote communities and was funded by ATSIC andsupported by the Nganampa Health Council.

Several communities participated in the project including Kintore (NT),Kalka and Wataru (APLands, SA), Napranum (FNQ) and Alice SpringsTown Camps (NT). Thanks to these communities for their participation.

Different types of hot water systems were trialled during the studyincluding:

• electric;

• heat pump;

• gas;

• solar (with electric boost);

• solar (no boost) and

• chipheaters.

Manufacturers of hot water systems were approached and most pro-vided hot water systems for use in the trial at a discounted price.Systems were installed at community members’houses. Computerisedmeasuring equipment was fitted to measure quantities such as thewater temperature, power consumption and amount of hot water used.CAT staff visited and checked each installation every three months dur-ing the trial.

What we learned

Hot Water Use The study found that on average the amount of hot water used by eachperson living in a remote Indigenous community is roughly the same asthat used by other people in Australia.

The main difference between remote Indigenous households andhouseholds in other parts of Australia was that the population of remoteIndigenous households often changed significantly during the year dueto visiting friends and relatives. As the number of people in the housechanged so did the amount of hot water consumed. This variability indemand makes it harder to choose a hot water system that will suit theneeds of a household throughout the year.

Running Cost of SystemsThe study compared the running cost of different types of systems. Ameasure of the running cost of a system is the cost of the energy usedto provide a given amount of hot water (say 100 Litres) at 60°C. Therunning cost does not include costs associated with maintaining orrepairing systems. Figure 1 summarises the estimated running costsfor different hot water technologies.

Running cost relates to the efficiency of a system and the unit price ofthe energy source (i.e. electricity, gas, wood, energy from the sun). Insome communities the cost of electricity is subsidised. This means theprice community members pay for electricity is less than the actual costof providing the electricity. For hot water systems that use electricity thegraph shows estimated running cost at both a subsidised price(16c/kWh) and an estimate of the actual price ($1.00 /kWh).

Of those systems using electricity (i.e. electric, heat pump and boostedsolar), the heat pump systems were found to have amongst the lowestrunning cost. Electric boosted solar hot water units had highly variablelevels of performance. Some of these units had a lower running costthan a typical heat pump system, while others performed poorly with arunning cost similar to that of an electric unit. Electric-only systems hadthe highest running cost.

BUSH TECH BRIEF #1HotWater(continued)

Hot water systems using electricity often use a big proportion of ahousehold’s total power. Generally speaking, hot water systems usingelectricity are not suitable for use with stand-alone renewable energysystems. Hot water technologies that do not use electricity (i.e. solarwith no boost, gas or wood) are attractive as they can significantlyreduce a community’s electricity demand, creating an opportunity touse sources of renewable energy.

In theory the solar hot water units with no boosting have no runningcost. However, during the trials the houses with these systems com-plained of not having enough hot water when there were lots of peoplestaying in the house.

In terms of running cost, the attractiveness of using gas instead ofelectricity really depends on the price people are paying for their elec-tricity. The study found that, for a number of reasons, many peoplewere not keen to use gas hot water systems.

The chipheater systems show some attraction as a low cost energysource. Apart from an unboosted solar unit, chipheater systems areprobably the cheapest option, particularly where people are payingclose to the “real” price for electricity. Some people found the gatheringof wood to be an inconvenience. The running cost shown in the graphis based on purchasing wood from a supplier. People also need to thinkabout the long-term sustainablity of using local wood resources as anenergy source.

ReliabilityInformation was also gathered on whether people had experiencedproblems with the operation of their systems and/or were happy with itsperformance. The condition of units after the twelve month trial wasalso considered.

Other factorsThere were a range of factors associated with different stages of a hotwater systems lifetime that were identified as having a potential impacton the reliability and durability of systems. These included:

Quality of manufacture and packaging – poor manufacture of certainsystems led to early degradation of these systems. Poor quality controlin packaging led to significant problems when systems were beinginstalled in remote areas.

Transportation and installation – poor quality installation was foundto be a major factor leading to premature failure of systems.

Operating environment – the highly mineralised waters found in manyremote communities led to scaling and corrosion of elements and tankswhich resulted in system failure and a shortenened lifetime. The use ofstoneguards was found to be an effective way of protecting solar hotwater systems.

Repairs and maintenance – the absence of preventative maintenanceprograms was identified as a major factor contributing to the poor per-formance and short lifecycle of systems.

The report concludes with a series of recommendations aimed atimproving the delivery of hot water to people living in remote communi-ties. Further information on the study and copies of the report can beobtained by contacting CAT.

Compiled by Laurence Wilson, CAT

FIGURE 1

BUSH TECH BRIEF #2Renewable energy in remotecommunities

Introduction:At first sight it makes perfect sense to use renewable energy, such assolar power, in remote communities throughout Australia. There is cer -tainly plenty of sun around. But a study completed by CAT and ACREfound there are a range of barriers to the successful use of renewableenergy technology in remote communities.

This Bush Tech explores barriers to renewable energy and looks atwhat can be done to improve the situation.

BackgroundPeople need access to energy to provide services such as lighting,refrigeration, cooling, heating, communications and cooking. Access toreliable and cost effective energy services helps to enhance the healthand well being of remote Indigenous communities.

In small communities electricity is often used to provide basic needs,perhaps to run a fridge, freezer, some lights, a fan, washing machineand a television, video or stereo. In some places power may be need-ed to run workshop equipment such as a welder or power tools. Otherfuel sources such as wood and gas are used to provide heating andcooking needs. Solar hot water systems are also common.

Many small communities use diesel generators to provide electricity.This technology is well known and generally found to be reliable, how-ever the disadvantages lie in the expense to run the equipment andnoise factors etc.

In recent years, many remote communities have used renewable ener-gy systems including photovoltaic or wind standalone systems and var-ious hybrid configurations with diesel generators.

Challenging the TechnologyThere are Indigenous communities that have had positive experienceswith renewable energy over long periods, resulting in large diesel fuelsavings, reduced fuel transportation problems and access to cleanpower 24- hrs a day.

However, there are many others that have tried renewable energy sys-tems with limited success.

Remote communities can present challenging environments for tech-nology. Depending upon the region, a renewable energy system maybe subject to a range of environmental factors including extremes oftemperature, infiltration of dust, sand, insects and other vermin, humid-ity, tropical cyclones and lightning strikes. These environmental factorshave contributed to the failure of renewable energy systems in remotecommunities.

The remoteness of many communities means they are far removedfrom the technical service support available to people living closer tomajor regional centres. In addition, community members have general-ly not had access to training in order to sustain renewable energyequipment at a local level. As a result, the capacity to sustain renew-able energy technologies in remote communities has come at a cost.

BUSH TECH BRIEF #2Renewable energy in remotecommunities (continued)

Study BriefIn April 2000, CAT and ACRE published Renewable Energy in RemoteAustralian Communities (AMarket Survey), an extensive market surveythat focused on renewable energy in remote communities. The surveylooked at small Indigenous communities, pastoral properties and touristand other ventures in remote areas, focusing on finding out what usershad to say about renewable energy in remote areas. The communitiessurveyed were remote, ranging from the Pilbara and Kimberleys in WA,through central Australia (including the APLands in SA) and the NT TopEnd, to Cape York Peninsula and the Torres Strait in Qld.

A total of some 88 Indigenous communities were field surveyed.Typically the sites surveyed were small outstations consisting ofbetween one and five houses; perhaps with a workshop and almostalways with a bore water supply. The number of inhabitants rangedfrom 3 to around 50.

What we learnedThe market survey revealed a range of barriers to the successful andsustainable operation of renewable energy systems in remote commu-nities.

But along the way, we also learnt a lot about ‘best practice’in providingrenewable energy systems in remote communities in a sustainableway:—

Failures in the electronic control systems and inverters dominatedrecurrent maintenance problems.

Best Practice: Renewable Energy industry to produce stan-dardised, reliable, user-friendly designs.

Battery failure dominated total systems failure – in many cases bat-tery maintenance was either non-existent or erratic, depending onthe dedication of the people available.

Best Practice: Consumers to purchase and maintain qualitycomponents.

Because of the high transport costs associated with remoteness,reliability, is usually more important than efficiency in system design.

Best Practice: More information and emphasis on reliability.

Users of renewable energy systems were surprised to find out themaintenance and battery replacement costs.

Best Practice: Realistic up-front sales information

Education and training were perceived to be vital.

Best Practice: Relevant training packages

Existing warranties were often not honoured

Best Practice: Enforceable warranties

Maintenance support mostly inadequate

Best Practice: Service agreements and local support vital forsuccess.

Overall the market survey confirmed a need for a different approach,moving from a focus on technological solutions to a more holistic focuson energy services.

Future DirectionsThe problems associated with sustaining energy infrastructure inremote Indigenous communities has led CAT, ACRE, the AustralianGreenhouse Office (AGO) and ATSIC to develop the Bushlight pro-gram. Over the next four years Bushlight will implement strategies totackle many of the barriers to renewable energy service provision insmall Indigenous communities.

LinksCAT — www.icat.org.au

ACRE — www.acre.murdoch.edu.au

AGO — www.greenhouse.gov.au

ATSIC — www.atsic.gov.au

Compiled by Laurence Wilson, CAT

BUSH TECH BRIEF #3Operation Desert StormwaterHarvestingIntroduction

On any typical day in Kalka or Pipalyatjara in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara(AP) lands, if you take a stroll through the community you may seegroups of people sitting, meeting and camping on earthen moundsaround some of the houses. Some of the mounds have trees plantedon them for shade, wind breaks and shelter (Possible future usesinclude food and firewood). The trees enhance public contact and pro-mote communication, an important aspect of building social capital, aswell as making the community a nicer looking place.

There is a lot more to these mounds than meets the eye though, theyare not just “ornamental”. Earthen mounds or ponded banks help tocontrol the flow of stormwater to prevent flooding in the community.They act as water banks after a rainfall event. A valuable resource: rain-water, an asset to the community, which would otherwise be leftuntapped, is harvested for use for vegetation projects. Water is hard tocome by in many Indigenous communities, we can’t afford to waste it.Erosion and damage to the landscape is prevented by channelling thewater and helping to reduce the speed of its flow. Mounds can functionas fences and help to define and enlarge the living space around peo-ple’s homes. By providing a better furnished yard area, they help toreduce functional crowding. They also keep cars a safe distance away.Most importantly, they help to reduce dust nuisances which contributeto illnesses such as trachoma. Not bad for a humble pile of dirt!

Mike Last (a landscaping consultant), assisted by Nganampa Health,has done extensive work in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjaralands. Mike has 35 years of experience and his work dates back to theearly 1970s. Stormwater harvesting has been carried out not only inthe Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands, but Charles Nicholson and WallyEdgecombe have implemented stormwater harvesting projects atKarratha in the Pilbara also. Christian Blind Mission International fund-ed the work in the AP lands as part of an eye health project.

As part of a Rio Tinto Fellowship program in 2001, organised by theCentre for Appropriate Technology, Zoe Godjin reviewed the existingtechnologies for water harvesting, commented on the advantages ofdifferent methods, described examples where they are in use inIndigenous communities and made recommendations for their imple-mentation.

Zoe suggested that while the mounds and ponded banks used at Kalkaand Pipalyatjara were working very successfully to solve a number ofdifferent problems, these techniques should not be considered in isola-tion. She recommended that other rainwater harvesting techniquesincluding rainwater harvesting from roads and airstrips, and rainwatertanks had high potential. These additional techniques should be con-sidered by any community where water is scarce.

What is the use of stormwater harvesting? Harvesting of stormwater enables it to be collected for targeted reuserather than depending on natural aquifer recharge processes whichmay operate over a longer timeframe and dissipate the water over alarger area. Much of the water from rainfall events never makes it to theaquifer. Instead, it remains close to the surface of the earth and evap-orates easily. By channelling stormwater away from environmentallysensitive areas, erosion can be prevented, and this in turn helps to pre-vent dust nuisances during dry weather. Quantities of water required foraquifer recharge are still captured for this purpose when stormwatercatchment systems designed for lower rainfall events overflow.

Apart from preventing erosion and dust, stormwater can also be usedto replace potable water for non-critical applications such as evapora-tive coolers and vegetation/landscaping projects. At present the sys-tems used in the APLands are basically for landscaping and vegetationonly. There is a huge potential which exists for harvesting water forother uses too, such as toilet flushing, washing clothes, bathing etc.

Operation Desert Stormwater Success StoriesContoured ponding banks have been successfully used at Kalka toreduce the velocity of stormwater flowing off the catchments, allowing itto disperse and percolate slowly into the soil instead of running off thesurface. Ponded banks were built approximately 400mm high with aspilling point at one end. These banks or collection areas are staggeredto allow the water to be channelled from one to the other, or to a floodout area. Banks can be constructed using a road grader and a laserlevel, or alternatively the blade in front of a tractor can be used.

At Kalka, a series of ponded banks alongside the paved road surfaceis used to collect small quantities of stormwater runoff from the road.Ponded banks are not applicable for use in all communities however.Their applicability depends on the amount of stormwater which flowsinto a community from the surrounding landscape as well as theamount produced in the community. An assessment of the availablestormwater can be obtained from rainfall history and information aboutcreek flows and flooding in the local area. Observation of stormwaterdamage in the local area also helps to determine the applicability ofponded banks.

In Pipalyatjara and Kalka in the AP Lands, sandy soil procured fromoutside the community is used for the formation of mounds which serveas a boundary around the perimeter of the house and help to preventdust problems. Bobcats, shovels, rakes and tractors are used to formthe preliminary shape and size of the mounds, which are later troddenon to compact them and watered to form a hard surface top layer.Treesor other vegetation may be planted on the mounds. The stormwaterwhich is diverted from the mounded areas can be directed to areaswhere trees or other vegetation are planted, and this helps to reducedust around the community, prevent erosion and improve the appear-ance.

Rainwater has been harvested from roads at Kalka. The roads werehardened with a roadbase material, and then graded at a shallow angleto encourage sheets of water to run off into a series of ponded banksalong the road. This prevents large quantities of water from accumulat-ing on the road, by diverting small quantities away at a time.

What’s coming up on the horizon?Mounds and ponded banks are tried and tested technologies at Kalkaand Pipalyatjara. Water has also been successfully harvested fromroads at Kalka, and some people are using rainwater tanks. However,in the future, new techniques may be used, such as storing water inunderground cells using the ‘Atlantis system’5. A simple alternative tothe Atlantis system for storing water underground is to dig a trench inthe ground, line it with plastic and then install a cover made of plasticor tin etc. Greywater from kitchens or washing facilities could also be

PHOTO: STEPHAN RAINOW

BUSH TECH BRIEF #3Desert stormwater harvesting (cont)

reused for vegetation such as kitchen gardens. More use could also bemade of rainwater tanks, for example using them for community build-ings such as stores and offices.

In the future, more use could be made of water harvested from roads,for community facilities such as football fields or playgrounds. If waterof a higher quality is needed, e.g. for evaporative coolers, then watercould be harvested from airstrips, as aircraft have very stringent main-tenance requirements. The water from aircraft runways is less likely tobe contaminated than water from roads, which may contain heavy met-als such as lead and zinc, dissolved organic materials, nutrients, bac-teria, dirt and dust.

How do I harvest stormwater for my community? Firstly the community must identify areas where the water runs off andcan be collected. To decide where to site catchments you need toobserve the landscape for signs of erosion, flooding, debris and wherewater accumulates when it rains. Lots of vegetation indicates a wetarea. You need to take note of slopes and claypans. Comparing anyrecent and historical photos of the landscape will help to identify flood-prone areas. Rainwater can then be diverted away from these areas toprevent flooding.

The best method of stormwater harvesting will depend on how muchwater is available, what it is to be used for and what other resources areavailable (a bitumen road to collect runoff from, labour for buildingmounds, access to funds to buy rainwater tanks etc.). It is important forall members of the community to be able to have their say also. Forexample, if mounds are to be built, then input is needed from each fam-ily for the shape, fencing, location, vehicle access and tree planting.

For rainwater harvesting from dirt roads, the next step is to compact theroad surface to enable water to run off it more effectively. The roadshould have a slight slope to enable the water to run off. Where bitu-men roads exist, sloped guttering or gaps in the guttering can be usedto collect water from the road and channel it to where it can be used.One example of a suitable guttering system is a “Bro-pit curb design”6.

Water collected from the roads can be stored using gravel or a moreexpensive underground drainage system such as an “Atlantis” cell.

As an alternative to harvesting water from roads, ponded banks can beused to divert small quantities of water for collection. Mounds can be

used to divert water around the house and yard and use the water forthe growth of vegetation which is planted on the mound.

Challenges and OpportunitiesJust installing a mound or ponded bank or road harvesting system isnot enough, though. Regular inspection, monitoring and maintenanceis needed to keep the system working for years and make it sustain-able. For example, sometimes vehicles wander off the main roadwayand flatten banks, which then have to be reconstructed. Or roadsidegutters may clog up with leaves and may need to be cleaned.

Future stormwater harvesting potential for the community, when itexpands, should also be considered. For example buffer zones can beleft around houses to enable mounds to be constructed at some stagein the future.

The potential for stormwater harvesting is enormous. Techniques suchas mounds and ponded banks could possibly be used very effectivelyin YOUR community, just as they have in the Pit Lands.

AcknowledgementsThe work which has been documented in this BushTech brief was car-ried out by Mike Last and Ngamanpa Health, and their contribution isgratefully acknowledged.

ContactsStephan Rainow, Nganampa Health CouncilAlice Springs Office, 3 Wilkinson StreetALICE SPRINGS 0870 Tel: (08) 8952 5300

Mike Last, 29 Moore Crescent, St Agnes South Australia 5097 Tel: (08) 8395 0897

Trish Morrow, Centre for Appropriate TechnologyP.O. Box 8044, ALICE SPRINGS 0870 Tel: (08) 8951 4337

LinksPitjantjatjara Land Management:http://www.pitcouncil.com.au/1Landmanage/lmframe.htm

Nganampa Health: http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/nganampa/

Centre for Appropriate Technology: http://www.icat.org.au/

Referencesi Hearn, Bill, Henderson, Graham, Houston, Shane, Wade, Alan and Walker, Bruce,Water supply and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health: an overview, AGSOJournal of Australian Geology & Geophysics, 14 (2/3), 135-146, Commonwealth ofAustralia 1993.

2 Plazinska, Alesandra, Microbiological quality of drinking water in four communities inthe Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands, South A u s t r a l i a, Bureau of Rural Sciences,Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra 2000.

3 Hostetler, S., Wischusen, J. & Jacobson, G., Groundwater Quality in the Papunya-Kintore Region, Northern Territory, Record 1998/17, Australian Geological SurveyOrganisation, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 1998.

4 Jacobson, G., Jamieson, M., Lau, J.E., Rose, B., Sollieux, M., Wischusen, J. andWoodcock, L., The Western Water Study (Wiluratja Kapi): a decision-support system forgroundwater resources in Aboriginal lands in the arid zone of central Australia. Paperoffered for ATSIC National Forum, Canberra, February 1997.

5 URL: http://www.Atlantiscorp.com.au About Atlantis

6 Goulter, IC, Piorewicz, J, and Lake, AJ, Hydraulic and Economic Characteristics of the‘BRO-PIT’Kerb Inlet Unit , Australian Civil Engineering Transactions, Vol CE35 #3, August1993.

BUSH TECH BRIEF #4Rainwater harvesting

Asurvey of South Australian rural communities found that 82% userainwater as their primary source of drinking water (Heyworth etal 1998). However, the Community Housing and Infrastructure

Needs Survey of Indigneous communities in 1999 showed that only 9%of communities use rainwater as their primary source (ABS 1999).Whilst the data is not a direct comparison, it does indicate that rainwa-ter tanks are not common in remote Indigenous communities.

This Bush Tech sets out to explain some of the issues that are impor-tant to consider when installing rainwater tanks for drinking water.

BackgroundThe majority of Indigenous communities rely on groundwater for theirwater needs. Groundwater is generally not preferred by consumersbecause it has low palatability and high levels of salts which cause scal-ing to infrastructure. Encouraging Indigneous people in remote areas touse rainwater as their main drinking water source would be beneficialbased on conservation and the recognition that there are limited freshwater resources in Australia.

Many Indigenous communities have expressed a need for dual watersupply systems – a bore supply for general domestic needs such asflushing the toilet and washing, supplemented by a rainwater supply fordrinking. A dual supply system would reduce costs and support sus-tainability. Costs would be reduced because sophisticated and expen-sive water treatment technologies to treat large volumes of groundwa-ter to drinking water quality standard for all household uses would notbe necessary.A dual water supply would also support sustainability byreducing the demand on the groundwater supply.

There is plenty of information available on harvesting rainwater. Thisbrief explains additional information about how to install a suitable rain-water harvesting system for arid regions. This information is based onthe first part of a three-part research project on rainwater tanks atMutitjulu conducted by CAT and the Australian Cooperative ResearchCentre for Water Quality and Treatment.

Assessing the needsHarsh environmental conditions in arid regions, such as very fine dust,extreme heat and torrential downpours of rain followed by long periodswithout rain, make it important to carefully consider approaches to rain-water harvesting.

There is evidence that many remote Indigenous communities oncerelied on rainwater tanks. However these old tanks are now relics whichserve to provide some evidence of what can happen to tanks which arenot maintained. Steel tanks for example have been rusted out, down-pipes have been broken off and often the tops of the tanks are dam-aged because the tanks have been used as a swimming pool or as ajungle gym. So, what kind of system is robust enough to sustain thisenvironment?

Rainwater tank infrastructure is fairly standard. The following pointscontain suggestions and tips to make the infrastructure as robust aspossible.

The rainwater tank – Polyethylene (‘poly’) tanks are preferred because they are robust andeasy to fix should they spring a leak.

The storage tank should be above-ground rather than underground.Above ground tanks are less susceptible to contamination1.

Install a light-coloured poly tank rather than a dark coloured tank2. Thehigher count is probably due to the heat absorbed by the dark colourcreating a warm microenvironment for bacteria to grow in.

Locate the tank on the southern side of the house3.

PipesKeep the inlet pipes from being exposed. Underground connectionpipes have worked well in Indigenous communities.

Guide the overflow underground and away from the house into a grav-el pit to help prevent any excess water from pooling.

Round-section downpipes do not make as much noise as square pipes.

InterceptorsInterceptors are recommended to catch the first rainfall after a dry peri-od because it can carry contamination from the roof into the tank.Installing a ‘first flush’device or other interceptor will prevent this waterfrom entering the collection tank. This ‘first flush’ water can be storedseparately and used for garden watering.

The first flush device needs to have the capacity to collect sufficient

RAINWATER TANK DESIGN AT MUTITJULU SHOWING A

500L SETTLING TANK WHICH SERVES AS A LARGE

INTERCEPTOR PRIOR TO LARGE STORAGE TANKS.

BUSH TECH BRIEF #4Rainwater harvesting (continued)

water to be functional. For an adequate first flush, the roof needs 2mmof rainfall over the whole roof area to effectively wash dust and con-tamination off the catchment area (Wade 1998). For example, for a roofarea of 100 square metres the amount of water to be captured as ‘firstflush’would be 200 litres.

Some communities have put a number of interceptors on the one build-ing to divert enough water to be effective. These interceptors need tobe emptied after each rain. Self-emptying interceptors are available buthave not lasted well.

A sediment or settling tank prior to the collection tank which can catchall the first flush on communities can serve as an effective interceptor4.Inside the sediment tank should be a baffle so that all the debris isforced to the bottom of the settling tank. The overflow from the settlingtank can then fill the collection tanks. One benefit of this design is thatthe sediment tank can be emptied after a number of rains, saving morewater. Less maintenance is required as it is not imperative to empty thefirst flush device after every rain.

GutteringThe guttering should be wide, ideally a minimum of 100 mm diameter.The width is necessary to cope with the volumes of water during tor-rential rain.

Semi-circular guttering is recommended. These gutters are commonlyknown as ‘self cleaning’ gutters. The self-cleaning description is mis-leading because they do not self-clean they are merely more efficientat moving debris from inside the gutter than conventional squareshaped gutters. In the square shaped gutters, leaves, dust and debriscan catch onto the corners of the gutters and block up the flow way.

“Gutter guard” generally does not work very well in remote communi-ties. The guard often breaks and catches debris. There are some alter-natives which attach to the downpipe and separate debris from thewater flow5.

Seal the systemThe system needs to be insect-proof. Water provides a suitable breed-ing ground for mosquitoes in particular. Recently, Murray Va l l e yEncephalitis has been detected in the central desert so it is importantto keep the system insect–proof. Mesh over all inlets and outlets cankeep all insects out. Mesh should be stainless steel and robust. Manyplastic mesh outlet plugs have fallen out or broken because they arenot strong.

Seal the water tanks so that insects, small animals, birds and sunlightcan not enter (this will also help minimise the growth of algae)

ChoicesWhilst this design makes the system as robust and low maintenance aspossible, it is not maintenance-free. Ongoing maintenance includes

regularly cleaning the gutters to remove leaves, animal or bird remains,dust and other debris. The settling tank should be emptied out regular-ly.

ChallengesHealth is always a concern for people drinking rainwater. While thereare many water borne diseases which can make people very sick, thebest way to look after the water is to keep the catchment clean. Manymonitoring tests have been completed on rainwater and bacteria whichcan cause gastroenteritis are frequently found, such as Shigella,Camphylobacter, Salmonella and E.coli (Simmons et al 2001). It isimportant to maintain the tank and catchment area to reduce the pos-sibility of any adverse health effects.

Future directionsAdditional information:

“Guidance on the use of rainwater tanks” (1998) by David A Cunliffe,National Environmental Health Forum Monographs, Water Series No 3.South Australian Health Commission.

ReferencesHeyworth, J.S. (in press) A Diary Study Of Gastroenteritis And TankRainwater Consumption In Young Children In South A u s t r a l i a ,Department of Public Health, University of Western Australia.

Simmons, G., Hope, V., Lewis, G., Whitmore, J.,Gao, W. (2001)Contamination of potable roof-collected rainwater in Auckland, NewZealand, Water Resources Vol 35, No 6, pp1518-1524.

Wade, R. (1999) Sustainable Water from Rain Harvesting,Environmental Conservation Planning and Consultancy PtyLtd,Oxenford, Australia, www.sustainable-water.com

1 Human Services, Public Health Division, Victoria

2 Nganampa Health completed a survey of rainwater tanks in theAnangu Pitjantjatjara Lands. It was found that the water in tanks whichwere dark in colour had higher bacterial growth than water from lightcoloured tanks.

3 Nganampa Health completed a survey of rainwater tanks in theAnangu Pitjantjatjara Lands. It was found that tanks located on thesouthern side had lower bacterial counts than houses located on thenorthern side

4 Appreciation to Peter Burg for his ideas and comments on the settlingtank.

5 Leaf beater systems - www.sustainablewater.com

Compiled by Robyn Grey-Gardner,CAT / Cooperative Research Centre forWater Quality and Treatment

Trachoma is a nasty little number. Itsorganism, Chlamydia Trachomatis,

is persistent, travels widely with thehelp of its best friend the fly, loves chil-dren, attacks human eyes, and causesblindness in people when they leastneed it – between the age of 40 to 50.Worldwide, almost 6 million people areblind as a result of trachoma and anoth-er 540 million – almost 10% of the

reportedly very high, reducing the effec-tiveness of this drug treatment. Taking this into consideration placesenvironmental health improvements andfacial cleanliness at the top of the list ofsolutions to help permanently solve thechallenge of trachoma.However, current policy focusses mostresources on optithalmological (surgery)and medical (antibiotics) interventions totackle trachoma and other eye healthissues.One of the hardest tasks in establishingregional management strategies for dis-eases is to ensure that diversity amongmembers is achieved.In order to effectively tackle the issue of

trachoma, it is essential that eye healthworking parties invite membership ofgovernment and non-government organi-sations (NGOs) working closely withIndigenous communities on housing,dust control, environmental health,w a t e r, and education. Without this,health agencies will continue to fail tofind the real cure for trachoma - preven-tion.

the disease begins in childhood and pro-gresses over the years as repeated infec-tions cause increasing irritation and scar-ring on the inside of the eyelid. After 15-20 years of repeated infection,trichiasis causes the eyelashes to turn in,rubbing and scratching the cornea, thetop cover or lens of the eye. The scratch-ing of the cornea by in-turned eyelasheshas the same effect as repeatedly rubbinga scouring pad over a glass window -vision becomes blurred and cloudy.There is however one main difference,the cornea is one of the most sensitiveparts of the body, and repeated rubbingby in-turned eyelashes creates intensepain.

11

Australia – the lastfrontier for Trachoma in the developed worldReport compiled by Andy Cabban

world’s population – are at risk of blind-ness from it.The World Health Organisation (WHO)is aiming to eradicate the disease by2020.In some regions, such as the Pilbara, theCentral Western Desert, Alice Springs,and Anangu Pitjantjara Lands, preva-lence of trachoma among Aboriginal chil-dren has been reported to range between27% to 55% .Trachoma first arrived in Australia withEuropean settlers more than 150 yearsago. It then remained a major healthchallenge for Australians up until the1930s. The key to beating it in city andrural areas was through improving envi-ronmental health conditions in housing,water supply, sewerage systems, and rub-bish collection.Whilst it is generally thought thatIndigenous people didn’t suffer from tra-choma before colonisation, it is a sad factthat this disease is now a reality and is amajor cause of blindness in Indigenouscommunities in remote Australia. P rofessor Hugh Ta y l o r, head of theC e n t re for Eye Research Australia(CERA), says this gives Australia thedubious title of being the only developedcountry in the world where blinding tra-choma still exists . When people contract trachoma, theydon’t go blind immediately. Generally,

The current WHO approach to tacklingtrachoma is the SAFE program. SAFEstands for Surgery for trichiasis to mendthe eyelid and stop the eyelash turningi n w a rds; Antibiotic treatment withazithromycin to kill the trachoma organ-ism, Facial cleanliness, andEnvironmental health improvement. Whilst the SAFE program appears tostart with surgical intervention, it shouldactually be seen as the last line of defenceagainst blindness. Similarly, the use ofthe antibiotic azithromycin, which cankill the trachoma organism within 24hours, is only effective until the patientcomes into contact with another infectedcarrier. In the case of Indigenous people,where there is high mobility betweencommunities and substantial overcrowd-ing of bedrooms, reinfection rates are

1 Medical Journal of Australia 2001; 175:371-372

2 OATSIH 2001; Eye Health Guidelines: 733 A. Pruss & S.P. Mariotti, Preventing tra-

choma through environmental sanitation: areview of the evidence base, Bulletin of theWorld Health Organisation, 2000, 78(2):258-266

Community technology is usuallysmall-scale. It is the small-scale

projects that are often disregarded inthe face of a large monolithic project.Big projects have big dreams and prom-ise big returns for development decisionmakers.Despite the thousands of remote and iso-lated successes of small-scale pro j e c t saround the world, many of the lessons ofcommunity technology are still yet to beunderstood.

In countless cases, community technolo-gists have favoured blaming developmentdecision makers for their poor under-standing of the value of the small-scaleapproach. But blaming others for theirfailure to argue the many benefits of thisdevelopment approach has sentencedmuch of the small-scale knowledge toobscurity.

The unfortunate result of this is a growingbelief by many community technologiststhat a conspiracy exists amongst the bigengineering firms, banks, and policy mak-ers to lock them out of the developmentdecision-making process.

On the face of it, there are numerousinstances where the decisions of the big-ger players do appear to conform to thisargument. But if we look beyond the

NGO’s started to question where the realbenefits of their development activitiesfell. Specifically, this helped many com-munity technologists to come to gripswith how their work supported theg rowth of skills, infrastru c t u re, andindustries within the Nepalese economy.

Housing – more than a roof For most people the investment in hous-ing is the largest they will ever make intheir lifetime. This highlights the impor-tance of making sure that the choicesmade about housing are informed ones.In real terms this means that the commu-nity technologist needs to realise thatshelter sits at the hub of a wide range ofpotential benefits for the poor, such asimproving health and helping to createhome-based employment opportunities. The recently created Kenyan ShelterForum took these issues to hand and cre-ated an umbrella for small NGO’s to worktogether in the shantytowns of Nairobi.Through their partnership, the forum per-suaded Kenyan authorities to create aninformal settlements strategy for Nairobi.Through the integration of Forum activi-ties within the settlements strategy, deci-

blame game and its close ally, the conspir-acy theory, and turn the magnifying glassback onto ourselves, cracks can start toappear.

Dams and Development – a wake up call In the early 1990s the World Bank and theNepalese Government proposed a “small”420 Megawatt capacity dam for Nepal. Inspite of the painstaking efforts since the1970s of many NGO’s, government agen-cies, and small local industries to grow aviable, small-scale hydro sector, the newproject failed to notice its existence.This threat to the Nepalese small scalehydro industry forced local NGO’s to gowhere few had gone before: hard nosedevaluation. Much of the analysis prior tothe early 1990s had suffered from beinglimited in scope, lacking rigour, and hadover-relied on the romanticised ideal ofsmall being beautiful.

When faced with the tough economic,technical and environmental analysis ofthe big World Bank funded project, basicgaps in the knowledge required to sup-p o rt the existing industry started toappear.

One of the ensuing legacies of this Davidand Goliath battle was that smaller

12

Q

THINK TWICE Steve Fisher, CAT, Alice Springs

Community worker at a village meeting in Peru:‘Please tell me your development needs’

Villagers: ‘We don’t understand the question’

Developing successful,but isolated, projects

into regionalprograms needs to top

the list of ourpriorities.

sion makers are beginning to see wherehousing sits in terms of the bigger picture.This has meant that the question of housebuilding materials and techniques is nolonger considered in isolation from otherissues such as access to land, supportindustries, equity, affordability, employ-ment opportunities, government policies,and the threats of violence and eviction.This is a powerful example of how think-ing twice about a simple infrastructure,such as housing, can change policy andimprove the lives of the people seekingshelter.

Understanding vulnerabilitySolving the issue of natural and man-made disasters has helped to fostergreater understanding of the communitytechnology approach. Many internationalaid agencies are now involved in mitigat-ing disaster through relatively small andlow-level interventions.These have included giving support tosmall enterprise, enhancing food security,building more effective governance, andsupplying appropriate technologies. Alljoin together to reduce the vulnerability ofcommunities, families, and individuals towithstand the hazards of disasters.At the core of this emerging small-scaleapproach to managing vulnerability is the‘sustainable livelihoods’ framework.Rather than starting with people’s needsor weaknesses, the sustainable liveli-hoods approach builds on the actualstrengths or assets of people. Assets caninclude for example, social, human, phys-ical, natural, or financial assets. Con-sequently, where any of these assets arethreatened by trends or shocks, such as aflood or changes in international com-modities prices, so too must developmentefforts be tailored to redress the loss inany one of these assets.The importance of the growing success ofthe sustainable livelihoods framework isthat it is challenging much of the commu-nity technology sector to rethink the wayit approaches its work. This is significant

critical for the successful up-take of anynew technology or approach within thedeveloping world. For example, in small-scale rural electrification projects, oftenmore than half the capital comes from thecommunities themselves in the form ofeither cash or labour.

Where a technology fails to meet the 3A’stest, people have been shown less likely toinvest. A good example of this is the solarcooker. Despite its cheapness, it has notbeen readily adopted because it hasproved inappropriate to the lifestyles ofthe people it was targeted to help.

This reinforces the commonly known butpoorly communicated knowledge ofsmall-scalers that the uptake of new tech-nologies can only ever move at the samepace as peoples livelihoods – incremental-ly.

Think AgainSmall-scale and localised appro a c h e sp resent a model of development thatneeds better recognition. To do this weneed to think again about how to buildauthority around the impact of our work.

For my money, we would develop betterways to do this is if we understand thatsmall-scale or community technology hasits competitors. Good analysis is criticalif community technologies are to com-mand the attention and conviction of pol-icy makers and those who allocateresources. Knowledge needs to be valuedas a key input and output of any initiative,and it is the strengths and assets of poorpeople and not the needs or weaknessesthat should be our starting point fordevelopment efforts.

Finally, developing successful, but isolat-ed, projects into regional programs needsto top the list of our priorities. This is theonly way we are going to generate moral,financial, and intellectual support forprojects that enable people to improvetheir lives.

because it sounds a warning bell to thoseagencies that still see their role solely interms of the services they deliver, thetraining they provide, or the technologythey sell.

Change is PossibleOne of the most insidious influences fac-ing those wishing to promote develop-ment in rural, indigenous, and poor com-munities is the continuing mistrust ofresource providers that change is possi-ble.In a Latin American village electrificationproject, ITDG (Intermediate TechnologyDevelopment Group) worked hard toovercome these barriers through rethink-ing the benchmarks used to measure ener-gy investment.Normal measures looked for the numberof loans given to people or the installedcapacity. In its place the ITDG teammeasured the investment outcomes of theproject through reporting back on thenumber of small-scale enterprises estab-lished to service village energy infrastruc-ture.This meant ITDG could demonstrate tofinanciers that investment in these com-munities provides ongoing financial bene-fit to the livelihoods of the people whoservice, use, and own the new technology.

The “capacity-building”industryBuilding the capacity of poor people toovercome and manage life’s challenges isa buzz-phrase that fruited into an indus-try. For most of the capacity-buildingindustry, growing capability is limited totraining programs centred on isolated andinappropriate technologies.A growing successful alternative is to seecapacity building as a means to buildingthe capability of people to make choicesthat are accessible, affordable and appro-priate to them. For ITDG this is referredto as the 3 A’s test.Recent research suggests that this test is

13

Q

For over twenty years, staff of CAThave been either heading out bush

or training community people in auto-motive repairs and maintenance.When travelling in the bush it is alwaysthe simple things that can stop you inyour tracks and can sometimes leave youstranded hundreds of kilometres fromnowhere.

Water: For your vehicle and of coursefor yourself when you’re in the middle ofnowhere trying to change a !@%$#&?!fanbelt.

Spare Fan Belts: For a relativelysmall cost ($15 - $50) they can keep youon the move instead of being stuck by theside of the road talking to lizards.

Rags: These are great for wiping upbrakefluid spills before it starts toremove paint and also for wiping the dip-stick when checking the oil.Spare Tyres: Mate, these are essen-tial!!! Make sure they are pumped up andin good condition. One is good but twois better.Jack: Make sure your jack works, does-n’t leak and that it is suitable for the vehi-cle it is being carried in.Wheelbrace: Make sure it suits thevehicle otherwise you will end up usingthe rest of your water supply while tryingto bite the wheel nuts off your car in themiddle of our nation’s warm deserts.Toolkit: A basic toolkit should be car-ried at all times. My must have itemsinclude a medium shifter, small shifter,lock on pliers, multigrips, pliers(pointynose and normal), a hammer, arange of screwdrivers, spanners, a socketset, a roll of wire, some electrical tapeand a couple of chisels. When it comesto toolkit, bigger is better because youcan never carry too many tools.Electrical Spares: A range ofglobes, fuses, a roll of wire, and electricaltape.Towrope: The bigger the betterJumper leads: Always carry them onboard as batteries go flat at the mostinopportune times. For an extra 300bucks or so you could purchase one ofthe new jump packs that are availablethese days which takes out the need foranother vehicle to jump start your caroff.Last but not least: You need abasic understanding of the vehicle youare driving . Do a 4x4 course if you canbut at least find a quiet spot to learn yourvehicle before venturing into theunknown. Lock the hubs, engage four-wheel-drive, try low-range and if you’renot sure how it all works — ask someoneto show you.

Engine Oil: 2 litres is a good amountjust in the case the highly tuned, state ofthe art, motor vehicle that most peopledrive in the bush burns a bit of oil or suf-fers an unexpected nasty oil leak.Brake Fluid: 1 litre is usually enoughfor bush trips. This is useful so you cantop up your brake and clutch reservoirs ifyou spring a leak. Brakes are quite use-ful for missing large kangaroos and danc-ing mulga trees.Automatic Transmission Fluid:1 litre of this red liquid should keep youout of strife. This is good to keep yourtransmission and power steering toppedup – a small consideration when youthink about how driving would be with-out them working.

14

The Bush Travelling ChecklistOur Place reporter spoke with Mark Espie of theCAT training team to ask him for advice on a BushTravelling Checklist.

THE WORKSHOP TEAM (L TO R): LINTON ESPIE,STEVE BAILEY, ROBIN STEADMAN, ROBYN

ELLIS, MICHAEL LERM, MARK ESPIE (SQUAT-TING).

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF,ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE GOING BUSH.

15

Training resource kit

Housing Management for IndigenousHousing Organisations

This lively, and informative kit has been producedfor Indigenous Housing Associations aroundAustralia but will also be of interest to individuals ororganisations involved in Indigenous housing andinfrastructure issues.

The kit, boxed for easy storage, includes:• a 62 minute - four part Video• a Video Discussion Guide• the Guidelines for Indigenous Housing Organisation

Asset Management, and • a full colour poster

What’s in the My Place, Your Place: video?Hosted by Ernie Dingo and filmed in 30 Indigenous communities aroundAustralia, the video highlights local achievements and showcases bestpractice indigenous housing experiences. Local interviewers draw outrelaxed responses on how housing associations manage, maintain, plan anddesign their housing, as well as how they run their organisations.

The Video Discussion GuideBased on the video, the guide contains questions to support groupdiscussion and stimulate interest in a range of issues.

The Guidelines for Asset ManagementThe Guidelines set out the principles of asset management to guideIndigenous Housing Organisations in their decision-making.

How to purchase the Resource KitThe My Place Your Place Resource Pack is available from the Centre forAppropriate Technology, Alice Springs for $42 each plus $6.50 per kit forpostage (maximum postage $30). Please indicate on your order the numberof kits you require and enclose a cheque or money order made payable toCAT or you may request an invoice.Send your order to: The Technology Communicator

Centre for Appropriate TechnologyPO Box 8044, Alice Springs, NT 0870

For the past 20 years the Centre forAppropriate Technology (CAT) has

been researching, designing and devel-oping technology which is relevant toIndigenous communities in re m o t eAustralia. CAT has also developed atechnical training course for Indigenouspeople in remote communities. ATworkis a fully accredited and nationallyrecognised training course. Studentsu n d e rtake projects in water, waste,shelter, communication, and transport,t h rough on-campus training and intheir community.

AS: In layman’s terms, how would youdefine technical training?RE: The ATwork program provides areally broad set of technical skills andknowledge based around selected tech-nology: power tools, welding, construc-tion, and plumbing. However, the keyaspects of the course are problem solvingand design. This is what the students spe-cialise in; how they think and how theyapproach the technology. I guess it’s aboutapplying their own historical, local andcultural knowledge in the way they useand develop technology rather than sim-ply accepting and using what Europeanshave developed. That is probably one ofthe main reasons that technology fails soconsistently in communities, it is notowned by Indigenous people.

AS: You made an important point aboutproblem solving. This is a big issue, isn’tit, when problems need to be resolvedbefore we can move on.RE: Yes, and it’s about understandingwhat the real problem is. MainstreamTAFE training specialises in certain tech-nical aspects of any technology whichtends to treat the symptoms rather thanthe cause of a problem. For example, if atap fails in a community a plumber cancome and fix it, often repeatedly withoutsolving the cause of the tap failing. Theaim of the ATwork course and the trainingour students undertake is to stop and con-sider what is impacting on the problem;how are the environment, the people, andthe appropriateness of the technologycontributing to its failure? Then, design asolution from that perspective rather thanjust fixing the tap over and over again.AS: During the past few years you havebeen providing ATwork training forteenage girls, helping them build a muse-um in honour of their elders. Thisinvolved a lot of labour-intensive work inthe hot sun.RE: Yes, it was very hands-on and itwas hard for both the girls and I to main-tain the momentum. The concrete foot-ings were poured by hand and then thewalls were constructed. We had to test thelocal soil to check that the mix of clay andsand was correct. The soil was then mixedwith rocks, gravel and a 7% ratio ofcement. We would then pour the cementmix into wheelbarrows, wheel it up aramp and pour it into the form, jiggle itaround and let it set. The next day wewould move the formwork up and do thenext level.

AS: The relationship between yourselfand the teenage girls at Kintore – obvi-ously the bond would have been strong inregards to building the museum together.RE: We developed a strong bond andlearnt a lot about each other’s cultures,ways and habits – we had a lot of time totalk to each other as well. I think thatwhen you undertake a task that is hardyou have to dig deep inside yourself tofind the commitment and energy to stay

AS: Robyn, could you outline whatATwork is?RE: ATwork stands for Aboriginal andTechnical Worker. It comes from the con-cept of looking at technical skills andknowledge in the same way you mightlook at literacy and numeracy skills andknowledge. You need to be skilled in lan-guage, reading, writing and numbers, butalso in technology; using it, maintainingit, and deciding which technology tochoose. The focus of the course is towardssustainable technology use that is ownedby the indigenous people using it inremote communities.

16

Kintore women hardATwork

Adrian Shaw interviews Robyn Ellis, ATwork trainer,about the ATwork course and how it helps remotecommunities help themselves.

JOANNE POLLARD WORKING ON A POURED EARTH WALL FOR THE NGINTAKA WOMEN’S MUSEUM AT

KINTORE. THE NAME ‘NGINTAKA’ MEANS PERENTE IN THE PINTIBI LANGUAGE.

with it and that forms a team bond. For alittle while we had a crèche on site with awoman employed to be on site and lookafter all the children while we worked.AS: So, there was a real family feelingthere?RE: It was. We had some of the oldwomen come down and contribute, andsome of the girls’ mothers would comedown and spend time with us and help alittle bit, and just enjoy the fact that theirdaughters were undertaking something ofthat magnitude for their culture and theircommunity.

RE: Yes I do. The culture I come from,which is western European working class,colours my thinking, my values, and myexperiences. When I go into another cul-tural setting I have to open my ears andlisten and try to understand and see thingsfrom those people’s point of view, which Irecognise must be diff e rent to minebecause their experience is different. Myjob is to work within their culture, not toimpose my culture on them. In a teachingsense, the more a student feels involved inthe process the greater their motivation tolearn. I believe the aim is to get your stu-dent to the point where they are self-actu-alised and self-motivated and take chargeof their learning. I believe a good teacherrealises that learning is life-long, and justbecause I am teaching one set of skills Iam not really teaching anything – youcan’t teach anyone, you are simply facili-tating their learning, because learn i n ghappens in the learner, not the teacher.

AS: I know that you have a stro n gstance on passing your skills onto people.Do you believe that with the skills theseyoung women have now they can buildanything out at Kintore for themselvesand their community?

RE: Possibly they could, but I’m notsure they would have the confidence yet.I’ve developed the skills to build themuseum over many years through myapprenticeship as a carpenter and mywork as a subcontractor. There are a lot ofunderpinning skills that we didn’t getthem to master such as literacy, numeracyand geometry, but they now have basicknowledge of those skills and what isrequired. They became very good at read-ing tape measures, creating parallel lines,ratios, figuring things out and puttingthings together. They could definitely con-tribute to the maintenance of their com-munity.

AS: You have a very strong position onincreasing the number of women in tech-nical training. Why is that?

RE: I think that, economically, womensit at the heart of our communities, wher-ever in the world they are. Householdsrevolve around women and their children.Technology impacts on women’s lives,either positively or negatively, far morethan for men. For example, if the taps,doors, or windows are broken, thatimpacts more on the woman, making herlife harder. If the toilets are broken, thec h i l d ren get dysentery, which againimpacts on the woman. I think because ofthis, women have something to offer; anunderstanding of what is important relat-ed directly to human outcomes instead oftechnology for its own sake. Technologyrelates specifically to wellbeing and Ithink that women’s focus in society tendsto be concern for everybody’s wellbeing.AS: And you also have a strong beliefthat we should all become good listenersout in remote communities.

17

You can’t really teachanyone something,you can facilitatethem to learn but

really learninghappens within thelearner not within

the teacher.

KINTOREOther Name WalungurruATSIC Region AputulaReported population 450Increase in population Over 100 in the previous

12 monthsMain source of drinking water Bore waterNumber of power interruptions Over 20 times in the

previous 12 monthsNumber of public telephones 3Local community health centre YesTotal permanent dwellings 60Total occupied caravans,tin sheds or cabins 0Data taken from the 1999 Australian CHINS survey

Kintore

Alice Springs

NORTHERNTERRITORY

Why WarriorsLie Down andDie:A View from Richard Trudgen

Richard Trudgen is a non-Indigenous( B a l a n d a ) man, who has spent

many years living and working with theIndigenous people of Arnhem Land (theYol u). He began working in ArnhemLand as a mechanic in 1973, but hassince worked in community develop-ment and adult education. Richard isthe author of Djambatj Mala: W h yWarriors Lie Down & Die. He visitedCAT Alice Springs in September andran a workshop on cross-cultural com-munication.Richard was away from Arnhem Landbetween 1983 and 1991. Upon his returnhe noted there had been a significantdegradation of health and morale withinmany of the Yol u communities duringthose eight years. People, who in the1980s had been living healthy lives ontraditional homelands, were now dwellingin one of the central communities, usuallyunemployed and in very poor health(often suffering from new diseases such asheart disease, strokes, diabetes and can-cer.)

In his book, Richard sets out his ideas forwhy this situation came about in ArnhemLand.His central thesis is:

Over many years, Yol u have lost controlover their lives.

The Symptoms of this loss of controlinclude:• Poor physical conditions• Hopelessness• Apathy• Overcrowded living conditions• Housing and community infrastructure

not maintained• Disinterest in education and training• Malnutrition• Destructive social behaviour • Vandalism• Lawlessness• Chronic substance abuse• Neglected individuals• Violence• Suicide

What has caused this loss ofcontrol?Naming, blaming & lecturing –“The trouble with Yol u is…”. A domi-nant culture1 response which aff e c t s

development of villages and cities, theindustrial revolution, Western science andthe development of public health facili-ties. A different set of factors have influ-enced the Yo l u worldview. Tru d g e nargues that, for effective communication,the dominant culture needs to begin tounderstand more about the Yol u world-view.Cultural knowledge base – this isthe core knowledge and inform a t i o naccepted by the majority of people in acultural group as being true knowledge.The cultural knowledge base shapes thew o r l d v i e w. For Yo l u to acquire newknowledge, this knowledge must build onexisting knowledge within their culturalknowledge base. Dominant culture tendto misunderstand Yol u cultural knowl-edge and so reject it, hence in interactionswith Yol u this knowledge is not used asa basis. The differences in cultural knowl-edge base means information comingfrom Balanda comes in a form that doesnot make intellectual sense to Yol u.

How do Yol u regain control?Trudgen argues there is a need to createm o re Yo l u-friendly environments. Hesuggests five steps to more Yol u-friendlyenvironments:• Take the peoples language seriously;• Train dominant culture personnel;• Approach education and training in a

different way;• Replace existing programs with pro-

grams that truly empower people;• Deal with some basic legal issues.1 Dominant Culture is used to refer to all whocome from the dominant Australian culturalgroup, whatever their racial or ethnic back-ground. People in this group usually speakEnglish as a first language and would agree on

most common core val-ues that contemporaryAustralian people holdto. These values differfrom those of tradi-tional Indigenouspeople living by tra-ditional law and forwhom English is asecond or subse-quent language.

Laurence Wilson,CAT

Yol u self worth and also has a negativeimpact on programs designed to helpYol u.Dispossession – loss of: sovereignty,access to traditional lands, traditionalindustry and trade.Culture of dependency – Astrong Yol u economic system was dis-placed by Balanda rations and now, wel-fare. Most important decisions are nowmade in Darwin & Canberra. There hasbeen an almost total loss of meaningfulemployment resulting in a loss of masteryover skills and the living environment.Destruction of traditionalknowledge and values throughdominant culture influences –access to alcohol and other drugs, devalu-ation of traditional ways part i c u l a r l yamongst the young.The Communications Gap –Both Yol u and the dominant culture areconfused about each other’s ways (law,political systems, medicine, technologyetc.). Communication between the twogroups tends to be ineffective. Programsand interventions designed to assist Yo l uhave generally failed to bridge this com-munication gap.

The Communication GapAccording to Richard Trudgen there arethree key factors which act to create thiscommunication gap.Language – Language is a mixture ofsounds, which trigger meaning in thebrains of speakers. Our thinking is con-structed through language, generally ourfirst language. In Yol u context, Englishis usually a second or subsequent lan-guage. In Trudgen’s experience Yol u willhear English, understand words but oftenhaven’t got the fluency to draw meaningfrom it, leading to misunderstanding. Theprevalence of English in dominant culturemeans Yo l u re c e i v ealmost no newsor knowledgeoutside their lan-guage and culturaldomain. Languagep roblems operateboth ways. Trudgenargues the dominantculture has failed totake language seri-ously and as a resulthave made limitede ff o rts to learn andunderstand Indigenouslanguages.

Worldview – this isthe product of a host ofe n v i ronmental and his-torical factors, and has asignificant impact oncommunication. The dom-inant culture worldviewhas been influenced overmany centuries through the

18

WHERE CAN I FIND MOREINFORMATION ABOU THETHEMES COVERED IN THIS ISSUEOF OUR PLACE?

Tourism – websitesAboriginal Tourism Australia http://www.ataust.org.au/Western Australia Indigenous Tourism Operator’s Committeehttp://www.indtech.wa.gov.au/business/aboriginal/waitoc.htmNorthern Territory Tourism Commissionwww.nttc.com.auATSIC Tourism Industry Strategyhttp://www.atsic.gov.au/programs/noticeboard/Industry_Strategies/tis/appendixd.asp

Tourism – books and publicationsJoe Franke (1995). Walking the Village Path: A worldwide guide tocommunity-generated tourism projects. First Nations Health Project:Portland, Oregon.Richard Butler & Tom Hinch (eds.) (1996). Tourism and Indigenous Peoples.International Thomson Business Press: London. Commonwealth Department of Tourism (1995). ATalent for Tourism: Storiesabout indigenous people in tourism. Department of Tourism: Canberra.

Livelihoods – websitesAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commercial Development Corporationhttp://www.cdc.gov.au/intro.htmRemoving the Welfare Shackleshttp://www.atsic.gov.au/programs/noticeboard/business_development/removing_the_welfare_shackles.pdfIndigenous Business Australia http://www.iba.gov.au/

Livelihoods – papersFisher, Steve, A Livelihood Less Ordinary: Applying the SustainableLivelihoods approach in the Australian Indigenous contex t, Centre forAppropriate Technology, 2001. Tel: 8951 4311

Planning and Governance – papersAdams, A. (August 2000) Women with ATSIC: Technology Survey. Attitudesand Perceptions Concerning Technical Issues in Rural and RemoteIndigenous Communities.

Renewable Energy – websiteshttp://www.acre.murdoch.edu.au/publications/occasional/rapsexec.pdf

Renewable Energy – case studies http://www.rsvp.nrel.gov/vpconference/vp2000/vp2000_conference/ensur-ing_bruce_walker.pdf Integrating Renewable Energy Services In Remoteindigenous communities of Australia.

Renewable Energy – papersLloyd, Dr C.R., Lowe, D and Wilson, L. (April 2000) Renewable Energy inRemote Australian Communities (AMarket Survey) – Final Report, ACRECentre for Appropriate Technology.

Stormwater Harvesting – websitesPitjantjatjara Land Managementhttp://www.pitcouncil.com.au/1Landmanage/lmframe.htmNganampa Health http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/nganampa/About Atlantis http://www.Atlantiscorp.com.au

Stormwater Harvesting – papers1.Hearn, Bill, Henderson, Graham, Houston, Shane, Wade, Alan and Walker,Bruce, Water supply and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health: anoverview, AGSO Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics, 14 (2/3), 135-146, Commonwealth of Australia 1993.

2 Plazinska, Alesandra, Microbiological quality of drinking water in fourcommunities in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands, South Australia, Bureau ofRural Sciences, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra 2000.

3 Hostetler, S., Wischusen, J. & Jacobson, G., “Groundwater Quality in thePapunya-Kintore Region, Northern Territory”, Record 1998/17, AustralianGeological Survey Organisation, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra,1998.

Rainwater Harvesting – papersSimmons, G., Hope, V., Lewis, G., Whitmore, J., Gao, W. (2001),Contamination of Potable Roof-collected Rainwater in Auckland, NewZealand, Water Resources, Vol 35, No. 6, pp 1518-1524. Wade, R. (1999) Sustainable Water from Rain Harvesting, EnvironmentalConservation Planning and Consultancy Pty Ltd, Oxenford, Australia,www.sustainable-water.com

Hot water systems – papersLloyd, C.R. (August 2000) Hot Water Usage in Remote IndigenousCommunities, Centre for Appropriate Technology.

Marshal, G., Lloyd, C.R. (ed) (August 1999) A Review of Scale PreventionDevices for use in hot water systems in remote Aboriginal Communities –Technical Report, Centre for Appropriate Technology, Alice Springs.

Todd J., (November 1997), CAT Hot Water Chip Heater – Technical report,Centre for Appropriate Technology.

Lloyd, C.R. and Travers, M. (May 1997) Hot Water Project, Centre forAppropriate Technology. http://www.icat.org.au/Learn/findings.html

International LessonsBarnett (2001) Looking at household energy provision in a new way: TheSustainable Livelihoods Approach in Boiling Point No.46, Spring 2001.

CARE (1999) Household livelihood security in urban settlements CAREInternational UK urban briefing notes.

Dawson, Hyman, Kapila and Mead (2001) Methodologies for the design anddelivery of high-impact business development services for small producersForthcoming book by ITDG Publishing in collaboration with IDRC.

Scott (1996) Appropriate Technology: Is it ready for - and relevant to - theMillennium? in ATJournal Vol. 23 No.3.

Stuttaford (1999) A challenge from small-scale producers to the developers ofinformation and communication technology (ICT), draft paper to ITDGseminar.UNCHS (1996) An Urbanizing World - Global report on human settlements.Oxford University Press.

World Commission on Dams (2000) Dams and development; a newframework for decision-making. Earthscan.

International Lessons – websiteshttp://www.bellanet.org/km/km2/ppts/Denningpres.ppt?ois=y;template=default.htm Knowledge Sharing at the World Bankhttp://www.comminit.com/wanyekiCFSC/sld-3515.html Communicating forSocial Changehttp://www.comminit.com/VoicesofPeople/sld-3475.html Voices for Change -Using radio for development communication

Bushlight websiteshttp://www.icat.org.au/bushlight/vacancies/BushlightExplainNotes.pdf Whatis Bushlight?

http://www.icat.org.au/bushlight/ Welcome to Bushlight http://www.ea.gov.au/minister/env/2001/mr13mar01.html Major Boost forRenewable Energy in the Outbackhttp://www.greenhouse.gov.au/renewable/rrpgp/ Australian GreenhouseOffice Renewable Energy Remote Power Generation Program

http://www.energy.wa.gov.au/html/raps_user_guide.pdf Remote Area PowerSupply Systems User Guide and Maintenance Advice

Bushlight – papersWilson, Laurence, 2002, Northern Territory Renewable Energy IndustrySupport Summary, Centre for Appropriate Technology, Alice Springs.

Training papersEllis, Robyn, (July 2001), Women and Technology Development: A CaseStudy of Women Involved in Technical Education and Training, Paperpresented at the Community Technology 2001 Conference, Perth. Ellis, Robyn,(December 1996) Indigenous Women and Technology, inFinding the Challenge in Change: Choices for Women in Engineering, ThirdAustralian Women in Engineering Forum, 13-14 December 1996, Universityof Technology, Sydney.Seeman, K and Talbot, R. (December 1995), Technacy,: Towards a HolisticUnderstandign of Technology Teaching and Learning among AboriginalAustralians, Prospects, Vol xxv, No. 4, pp 761-775.

19

# cat 91/2 $11

CAT, (1991), How to Fix a LeakingTap.

Also available:

Lloyd, Dr C.R. (August2000) Hot WaterUsage in RemoteIndigenousCommunities, Centrefor AppropriateTechnology.

# cat 00/10 $33

# cat 00/2 $27.50

Lloyd, Dr C.R., Lowe, D andWilson, L. (April 2000)Renewable Energy in RemoteAustralian Communities (AMarket Survey) – ExecutiveSummary, Centre forAppropriate Technology

Centre for Appropriate Technology32 Priest StAlice Springs NT 0870Ph: (08) 8951 4311Fax: (08) 8951 4333email: info@icat.org.au

CAT Shop: CAT is registered as a Public Benevolent Institution and as suchis a not-for-profit organisation. The CAT workshop constructs a wide rangeof products to assist communities with technological needs. These productsare available for sale on the basis of cost recovery only.

For more information, contact CAT on 8951 4311.

CHIP HEATER $572Your hot water problems may besolved with a chip heater. Solarwater systems are easily corrod-ed by hard water and the glassoften breaks. Gas heaters areexpensive to run. Chip heatersprovide a low cost, low mainte-nance alternative, using onlywood and leaves.

DRUM OVEN $847Save time and effort collecting firewood with the drum oven!Not only is the drum oven fuel efficient, but it is light weight andcan be easily transported for trips out bush to visit relatives.Using the drum oven is easy. It has a tray inside for putting veg-etables and meat and damper in for cooking, as well as a shelfon top where you can put your food before or after cooking.The drum oven is made from a 200 litre (44 gallon) drum, so itis big enough to cook a large meal for all of your relatives andvisitors.

LOW STOVE $330CAT’s low stove is one of the best sellingproducts made by our workshops. It is only30cm above the ground so that you can sitdown while you cook. Like the drum oven,it is fuel efficient and lightweight.

Place your order with CAT by phoning 89514311.

CAT publications available: Free CAT publications:

# cat 98/9 $11

CAT & Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderHousing, Queensland Government. (1998),Your House.

# cat 01/11 (2001)

Fisher, Steve, “ALivelihood LessOrdinary: Applying theSustainable Livelihoodsapproach in theAustralian Indigenouscontext”, Centre forAppropriate Technology.

# cat 01/7

Fisher, Steve, (July2001) Thinking Twice,International Lessons forSmall Scale CommunityTechnologies. Paperpresented at theCommunity Technology2001 Conference, Perth,Centre for AppropriateTechnology, AliceSprings.

# cat 02/1 (2002)

Morrow, Trish “Possible Unintended SidEffects of Proposed Container DepositLegislation for the Northern Territory foIndigenous Communities, andSuggestions for Redressing ImbalanceSubmission to Northern TerritoryContainer Deposit Review”, Centre forAppropriate Technology.