Passing muster on long stock route home to Roebuck Plains station

The Yawuru people taking over the Roebuck Plains cattle station near Broome was a moment of celebration but also carried a considerable amount of pressure.

Livestock are herded toward Roebuck Station during the mustering season. Picture: Peter Ritter

When the Yawuru people took over the operation of the Roebuck Plains cattle station near Broome earlier this year, it was a moment of celebration that also carried a considerable amount of pressure.

Nini Mills, chief executive of the their own enterprise, Nyamba Buru Yawuru, knew the station’s progress under their watch would have ramifications not just for her own people but for other Indigenous groups around the country waiting for such an opportunity.

Nini Mills with her sons. Picture: Isaac Barber

“I was very mindful of the fact that on the first of February, all eyes were on us to get it done right,” she told The Weekend Australian. “There will always be those that will be supportive … but there will also be those that will probably undermine that capability. But you really have to hold your own and I took comfort and inspiration from knowing that Indigenous people were the backbone of that industry for a long, long time.”

Six months on, Yawuru representatives have gathered at the station they call Gumaranganyjal to formally mark the station’s return. It has been a long journey: the station was bought in 1999 by the federal government’s Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, seven years before the Yawuru were recognised as the traditional owners of the area. Ownership was transferred to Yawuru in 2014, but the government body continued to run the station under a lease arrangement until February this year.

The handover occurred just as Western Australia faced a serious Covid outbreak, and unseasonal heavy rains were a major complication in those first few months.

But Ms Mills says the station is delivering on the Yawuru people’s vision of a sustainable, profitable Indigenous-led cattle operation.

The majority of the station’s workforce is Indigenous, bolstered by a host of young recruits out of the recently expanded Aboriginal Pastoral Academy. Ownership of the station, Ms Mills says, means those roles represent much more than just a job.

The Yawuru Community celebrated Gumaranganyjal Yinjarlin – the return of Roebuck Plains Station – with a community event at the station on September 9. Picture: Peter Ritter

“It‘s not just about them having a job and working on the station, it’s having a meaningful connection to something that is beyond them and the direct outcomes of their job. It’s about contributing to a broader vision, and I think you can see that in these young people,” Ms Mills said.

The 276,000-hectare station has around 15,000 head of cattle that are exported to Asian markets including Indonesia and Vietnam. The Yawuru will also take over operation of a neighbouring export depot as soon as licensing transfers are completed.

ILSC chief executive Joe Morrison describes Roebuck Plains as one of the larger, more complex stations in Northern Australia. Yawuru’s ability to take on and succeed with such an operation, he says, is reflective of the growing capacity within Indigenous organisations across the country.