Palumpa is an aboriginal community SW of Darwin, operating a pastoral property the abattoir is of vital economic importance to the property as it supplies meat to the local community.
Other Names
- Wadeye abattoir
- Port Keats abattoir
Current Operation
- Currently in operation
Location
- Palumpa is an aboriginal owned pastoral station 230 km south west of of Darwin, located near a town called Wadeye in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. Community living area originally known as Palumpa is now called Nganmarriyanga.
Owner
Operation
- Processes 20 head of cattle a week1
History
1980’s
- Palumpa Pastoral Property was originally established as an offshoot of Port Keats Mission (pg 316)3
- Property Established as a private company (Pg 333)3
- directors largely represent the traditional owners of the area4
- For long periods the station was the only provider to the services of the developing community4
- Property is situated on some of the best Pastoral land in the Port Keats / Daly River area. (Pg 316)3
- Covers a wide variety of country.(Pg 399)3
- Average grazing capacity 1 beast to 50 hectares.(Pg 399)3
- Takes 5-7 years to produce a 500kg animals (Pg 399)3
- Run relatively small herd compared to the district commercial grazing average (Pg 399)3
- Land is low grazing capacity and wet season limits production (pg 399)3
- Major reason for success was the estalishment of domestic abattoir to provide meat to surrounding communities.(Pg 316)3
- Palumpa Properties main support was the community of Port Keats.(Pg 316)3
- Initial capital investment of abattoir operations was provided by the NT government(Pg 343)3
1990
- Until 1990 Palumpa had been able to access loan and grant funding from Aboriginal Development Corporation (ADC) and Aboriginal Torees Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) (pg 316)3
1993
- Palumpa property title at this time is Aboriginal freehold.3
- Land area Size 1,150 sq km.(Pg 329)3
- receiving ATSIC or other enterprise support at this time (pg 329)3
- Operated under CDEP program (Pg 329)3
- 3 community services were available (Pg 329)3
- Had a non-local manager (Pg 329)3
- Employed 4 people (Pg 329)3
- Herd Size of Palumpa property 3,700 head (Pg 329)3
- Carrying Capacity 10,000 head (Pg 329)3
2000
- Palumpa Pastoral property is of sufficent size to support the abattoir processes (Pg 316)3
- Employ 5 people on the property and 7 in the butcher shop (Pg 316)3
2007
- Facility is cited in a report to be in operation at this time (Pg 14)2
- Demand for MSA (Meat standards Australia) is not an issue for indigenous communities, therefore these small abattoirs don’t compete with product from southern Australia.(Pg 14)2
2008
- July. At this point in time there are two other abattoirs operated on communities that are Aboriginal owned5
- September. Indigenous Land Corporation have acquired 221 properties across Australia since 19956
- Manage 70,000 head of cattle on various Aboriginal held stations6
Sources
- Managing Indigenous Pastoral Land. Module 9. 14/025
- ‘A pre-feasibility study of supply and demand issues for multi-species abattoir in Northern Australia’ G Niethe. 2009.
- ‘Black pastoralism – Contemporary Aboriginal land use’ S Phillpot 2000
- NT Place Names register. Accessed 26.01.2015
- ‘Rare bush abattoir’ ABC Rural 07.07.2008
- ‘Cattlemen muster pride’ The Australian 22.09.2008