Traditional owners of one of Western Australia's most recognisable tourist attractions, Purnululu National Park, have put aside differences as part of a new push for greater Indigenous involvement at the site.
Native title holders, WA government ministers, bureaucrats and local rangers celebrated the opening of an almost $2 million visitor centre at the park yesterday, days before its dry season opening on May 1.
The announcement further highlighted an easing of decades-old tensions between Gija and Jaru people who received native title recognition late last year.
The decision marked the end of a protracted dispute which for a long time had stopped culturally-driven tourism opportunities from getting off the ground at the UNESCO World Heritage site.
Both cultural groups argued they were the rightful owners of the park and surrounding land, but in the end the parties agreed their connection to the ancient landscape was shared.
Traditional owners and parks authorities have long acknowledged Purnululu lacked the sort of cultural explanation boards which were synonymous with other national parks where Indigenous people were deeply involved.
Gija woman Shirley Drill said she was really happy the dispute had ended.
The highly-regarded senior Warmun artist said the new visitor centre was the start of renewed efforts to inject more cultural storytelling into the 240,000 hectare park.
"My uncle passed and he left me to keep this place going for the kids," she said.
"It's important for Aboriginal people.
"It's good with all the white people in here visiting."
Move towards joint management
The park, also known as the Bungle Bungles, is famous globally for its striking black-and-orange striped sandstone domes.
Other renowned UNESCO World Heritage sites, Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta, are jointly managed with traditional owners, but the previous dispute had prevented Purnululu from going down that path.
Parks and Wildlife Kimberley manager Craig Olejnik said joint management could now be achieved after the creation of an official traditional owner corporation representing those from differing cultural groups.
"That's an aspiration that the Bungle Bungles Aboriginal Corporation expressed to the department in March this year," he said.
"So there's a number of steps where we take that away and work that out and figure out how it works on the ground for Jaru and Gija people.
"It doesn't necessarily have to be a long process."
Ms Drill said she would love to see joint-management become reality.
"Yes I want it, because I'm getting too old," she said.
"I'm grey in the hair and I had black hair when I was fighting for this place."
Push for cultural signage
Gajangana Jaru man Vincent Edwards said he wanted to see installations in the park which explained the cultural significance of the various landscapes and features.
"Now that the native title [process] is over … probably more cultural signage will go up now, rather than before because the conflict was on," he said.
"Previously you couldn't put something up … because the other mob would want to put something up … so it was delayed in that way.
"We're hoping to have more input into the management of the park and how it's run."
Mr Edwards said traditional owners were also eager to see more jobs for local Indigenous people created at the park.
"I would like to see more Aboriginal people in the park in businesses … working out here, living out here on country," he said.
WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby said a new visitor centre was desperately needed to cater for expected tourism growth.
"It's more befitting of the status of the park here … getting 32,000 visitors a year," he said.
"That will only increase.
"There's interactive media, there's books, there's information and people can learn about the significance of the Bungle Bungles and how they were created and other significant flora and fauna in the area."
While Purnululu has been a sacred place for traditional owners for thousands of years, it's remoteness meant it only became known to mainstream Australians in recent decades.
