It would seem that the albatross around the necks of anyone attempting to establish a First Nations cultural institution has flown to Canberra now. If you recall, in January 2022, the Government announced a brave plan to relocate AIATSIS – the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies – from the inconvenient Acton Peninsular (shared with the National Museum) to a more central position in the National Triangle, close to the National Gallery, the Portrait Gallery, Reconciliation Place and Questacon.

Now, the ALP Government has announced that a revamped National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Precinct, known as Ngurra, will be located on the Acton Peninsula. Canberra. In other words, it stays where it is – but gets a new, grander name! Serendipitously, it emerges in an ACT planning document that, appropriately, Black Mountain and its spur (Acton Peninsula) is “a precinct that has Aboriginal cultural history extending back at least 25,000 years. The area was used as an Aboriginal Corroborree ground”.

Only last December, Scomo, that otherwise silent back-bencher, was complaining, “Until Ngurra is built within the parliamentary triangle, the built memory of our country will be incomplete, as will the continuing journey of reconciliation”. He added that his government had fully funded Ngurra in December 2021 and formally announced it in the 2022-23 budget, but “18 months after the election, it does not appear to have been taken up as a priority for the new government. I sincerely hope this changes. Governments should be bigger than orphaning a worthy project simply because they did not initiate it”.

Well, now they are initiating something, renaming AIATSIS “The National Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Centre”, creating it “through much needed upgrades and extensions to the current AIATSIS facilities, (which) will enhance the Institute’s position as Australia’s only (current) National Cultural Institution exclusively dedicated to telling the stories of Australia’s First Peoples, their history and their cultures.

Of course, regular readers of AAD will know that Tarkarri, now stalled in Adelaide and an unnamed venture in Perth have also been announced to achieve that very same dedication – the more the merrier, I say. Though, somewhat arrogantly, AIATSIS itself is quoted as saying, “We are the only national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural institution solely dedicated to telling the story of Australia’s First Nations peoples”.

The new Ngurra will also include “a National Resting Place to house and care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ancestors repatriated from overseas whose identity has yet to be established. The National Resting Place will be a private and quiet place on the Acton Peninsula that will provide a respectful place for Ancestors to be cared for in a culturally appropriate way”. Some doubt the wisdom of combining such a respectful place with the NIKCC’s major function, which is to hold research material – documents, film, artefacts – which is much sought out and visited by First Peoples seeking to know more of their histories.

And another practical caveat – AIATSIS now has to turn its attention to preparing a business case for Ngurra at Acton Peninsula. This despite PM Morrison’s assurance that it was all fully budgeted!

If you would like to resolve any of these inconsistencies on the Ngurra project, do contact ngurra@aiatsis.gov.au