People involved		Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) The delegates attended a meeting at the ILC and received a briefing from General Manager, John Wilson, about ILC work in land purchase and land management. The ILC is an independent statutory authority with national responsibilities in two key areas : to assist indigenous peoples to acquire land and to manage land in a sustainable way, so as to provide cultural, social, economic or environmental benefits.   The Indigenous Land Fund was set up to provide an on-going source of funds to the ILC as it's "operational arm ", but the two are administrated quite separate. The Fund is gradually built up by annual allocations of around $121 million up until the Year 2004. Of this amount, $76 million is retained in the Fund and invested, while $45 million is transferred to the ILC for land acquisition, land management and running costs.   A priority to the ILC First Land Management Policy is the provision of advice and assistance to indigenous landowners in deciding on land uses that suit their country and are a priority for them. The ILC aims to work in partnership with indigenous landowners. All land management activities must have the agreement of the landowners and must involve them directly wherever possible.   The Chairman of the ILC, David Ross, gave us a presentation on the political context in which the ILC operates. We were shocked to hear his assessment that the recent rejection of the Native Title Act amendment would lead to an election that the government would likely win and be returned to office for a further term. In his view this would result in the decimation of the Native Title Act. He predicted that Aboriginal Australians and their supporters would face a decade of hardship in the struggle to resolve the landrights question.   University of Adelaide, Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) The delegates attended a seminar on 'Heritage and Land' hosted by University of Adelaide and Johnson Withers. The organisation for the seminar was done by Wilto Yerlo, a teaching, research, learning, access and support centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at the University of Adelaide. The seminar was chaired by Syd Sparrow who called on Georgina Williams to provide the traditional welcome to the country of the Kaurna people. Tradition precluded her from doing this as she had recently been bereaved and so she asked her son, Karl Telfer, to welcome us. Georgina was able, however, to provide a moving account of her people's dispossession from their country and how from as few as 190 people they had managed to 'recover' themselves. She described the story of the Red Kangaroo Dreaming and how the land had been desecrated by development and begged that we "turn [y]our minds around and love the earth."   Sandra Saunders, who was a previous Director of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement, spoke with passion about the conflict between developers and Traditional Owners of Hindmarsh Island. She used her own paintings to illustrate the story of betrayal and greed that resulted in legislation providing for the building of a bridge to link the island with the mainland and offending the spiritual considerations of indigenous women.   Dr Archie Barton, Administrator of the Maralinga Aboriginal Corporation, told us of the struggle by his people to be compensated for the damage done following the British A-bomb tests and commit the British Government to a clean up of contaminated areas.   Parry Agius from ALRM explained some of the links between Native Title and heritage that helped the delegation understand how important and effective this linkage is in the articulation of claims to traditional lands.   Richard Bradshaw from Johnston Withers provided a legal background to the heritage issue and articulated the philosophy behind and main thrust of Aboriginal heritage protection legislation in Australia as well as giving an outline of the international law foundation for such legislation.   A summing up of the meeting was provided by Dr Peter Sutton from the University of South Australia who talked of a "wave of hostility" that was engulfing the whole Native Title debate. However, he felt that whilst this may get worse before it gets better Aboriginal people were uniting in numbers and with growing support would likely succeed in the assertion of their fundamental rights.