Utopia, Northern Territory

Utopia is an Aboriginal homeland formed by the amalgamation of the former Utopia pastoral lease with a tract of unalienated land to its north, in November 1978. It covers an area of 3500 square kilometres, transected by the Sandover River, and lies on a traditional boundary of the Alyawarra and Anmatjirra people, the two language groups which predominate there today. The name is probably a corruption of "Uturupa", which means ‘big sand hill’, a region in the north west extremity of the area.¹ It has a number of claims on the interest of outsiders:
* It is one of a minority of communities created by autonomous activism in the early phase of the land rights movement. It was neither a former mission, nor a government settlement, but was successfully claimed by people who had never been fully dispossessed.
* Its people have expressly repudiated any municipal establishment, and instead live in a score of ‘outstations’ or clan sites, each with a traditional claim to the place. The arrangement has not always found favour with bureaucrats, but has turned out to be advantageous – which suggests considerable foresight for its originators.
* Its artists have been remarkably successful, and continue to produce distinctive works for an admiring audience all over Australia and the world.
* A series of population health surveys (1986-2004) have shown that Utopia people are significantly healthier than comparable groups – something that has been attributed to the ‘outstation way of life’. This finding is of considerable interest to students of indigenous health, and details of the attribution of causes is the subject of continuing study.

History

European occupation of the Sandover region began in the early 1880s in the southern Davenport Ranges, then on the Elkedra and the Bundy Rivers. These outfits were not well resourced, and were short of surface water, and most were abandoned by 1895 because of drought and conflict with the original owners. A second phase began in the decade 1915-1925. The two portions which later became Utopia station were first leased in 1928. Relations between the Aborigines and cattlemen appear to have been problematic north of Utopia in Alyawarra/Anmatjirra/Kaititja country, but more benign and cooperative in the south – Utopia itself, MacDonald Downs, Mt Swan, & Bundy River. This mixed experience reappeared later in the form of a resolute and well judged political will. The Chalmers family sold the lease of Utopia to the Aboriginal Land Fund in 1976 as a going concern, but the cattle enterprise had largely lapsed by the time the two land claims had been settled in 1978 and 1980.²

Alyawarra people displaced by violent dispossession fled in significant numbers across Wakaya country to Soudan and Lake Nash on the Barkley Tableland, and to refuges in the east in Kaititja lands and beyond. That is why Utopia people today have close kinship ties with the communities of Ali Carung, Ti-Tree, Harts Range and Lake Nash.

Population

The population at Utopia is a changing quantity, but is roughly 1000 people. A typical outstation complement is 20-100.

ervices and facilities

There is a community-owned store, which, together with the council offices makes up the nearest thing to a municipal centre – and the largest outstation, Arlparra. There are five small schools, distributed among the outstations, and a bus giving access to children who do not live at one of these.

There is a clinic which occupies its own site, staffed by a doctor, several nurses and a group of local health workers. The clinic delivers most of its services at the outstations by way of a schedule of weekly visits. Funding of essential services is provided by direct Commonwealth grants to the Aboriginal Corporation via the Community Council and the Health Council - both representative bodies elected by due process annually. The Northern Territory Government provides the educational infrastructure and budgets.

Traditional indigenous lifestyle

The practice of harvesting traditional foods – and to some extent medicines – is enthusiastically pursued, especially by older people, and this is likely to have mitigated the advent of those metabolic diseases which have elsewhere been so damaging.

Prohibition

Alcohol is not permitted anywhere at Utopia, but although the ban is fairly regularly broken, the effects of abuse are intermittent, and this problem is minor compared with many other communities. There is almost no abuse of other intoxicants.

Ongoing Challenges

Utopia presents a fascinating instance of the set of problems, challenges and achievements that are entailed in the long search for a just integration of remote indigenous people into the Australian community. Its 30 year history is a record of 'self-determination' on a background of well developed communal will, strong participation, and an experience during the era of settlement which included some profitable relations with white pastoralists and some degree of continuous occupation. Its success, in mitigating the clinical disorders associated with transition to sedentary life, and minimising the advent of destructive behaviours and intoxicants; in maintaining a strong commitment to traditional practices and customs, and the ever present interest in the issue of identity in the face of coercive change, are impressive. Even so, the future of Utopia and places like it is problematic; the notion of integration itself the subject of contention; self determination is only effective inside a sphere of dependency that brings with it a plethora of social and political consequences. To many observers, the outstanding deficiency in remote communities is education, which provides its beneficiaries with capacities for choosing the terms of their own integration. It is of course, also a powerful integrative force itself, and so shifts the issue of cultural identity. The tensions due to these inevitable dilemmas are present at Utopia. The community is however in an unusually good position to resolve them, given time and a sympathetic administration.

Notable residents

It has been the home of some prominent Aboriginal artists, including Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Barbara Weir, Minnie Pwerle, Kathleen Petyarre, Gloria Petyarre and Janelle Stockman.

Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, who played the title role in the 1955 Charles Chauvel film, Jedda, also came from Utopia.

References

*"Land Claim by Alyawarra and Kaititja: Report", Australian Government Publishing Service, 1979, p 22.
*"Anmatjirra and Alyawarra Land Claim to Utopia Pastoral Lease", Australian Government Publishing Service, 1980

Further reading

*Green, Jenny (1992) "Alyawarra-English Dictionary", IAD Press
*Neale, Margot (1998) "Emily Kame Kngwarrye: Alhalkere: Paintings from Utopia", Queensland Art Gallery
*Nicholls, Christine (2001) "Kathleen Petyarre: a genius of place", Wakefield Press
*"Utopia: A Picture Story", Heytsbury Holdings, Perth, 1990. Contains a good collection of batik designs together with the story of their creation and exhibition.

External links

* [http://www.mbantua.com/gallery.php?galleries=1 Largest Art Supplier of Utopia Art]
* [http://www.utopia-art.com.au/art.php Art of Utopia]
* [http://www.utopia-art.com.au/utopia.php History of Utopia including pictures]
* [http://www.mbantua.com/tour.php Field Tour of Utopia including pictures]
* [http://www.mbantua.com/artists.php A comprehensive list of Utopia artists and biographies]
* [http://www.savah.com.au/press.html#1 A brief history of Utopia]
* [http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/may1999/kng-m07.shtml Alhalkere--Paintings from Utopia]
* [http://www.goolmahome.com Essay exploring the meaning of Utopia in more detail, together with photographs]
* [http://www.mbantua.com/museum_documentary.php Experience Utopia DVD]
* [http://mbantua.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=3 An Art collecting journey in Utopia with Mbantua Gallery]