“The Creeping Erasure of Our Identity in Broome”: Interview with Djukun Nation’s Jaala Ozies 

The Yawuru and Djukun peoples are jointly recognised as the native title holders in Jirr-Ngin-Ngan, which is also known as the town of Broome, and is located in the northwestern Kimberley region of Western Australia. This native title claim, known as the Rubibi Community claim, was recognised by a 2005 Federal Court of Australia decision.

However, despite the Rubibi decision outlining that early 20th century studies recognised the Yawuru and Djukun as two distinct groups, and the fact that the Djukun suffered greatly under early European colonisation, today, only the Yawuru are being recognised. And following the court decision, the Yawuru Prescribed Body Corporate was established to represent the Yawuru people.

In 2010, the Yawuru Prescribed Body Corporate, the shire of Broome and the state of WA entered into the Global Agreement, which formally recognised the Yawuru as the native title holders of the land and waters of the Broome region. And at the time, it was expected this agreement would lead to economic benefits, including employment opportunities, for Yawuru people.

Djukun woman Jaala Ozies is currently campaigning to raise the injustice that’s happened and continues to occur to her people. She underscores that the Djukun people are being left out of the decision-making in respect of development projects occurring on Djukun Country, such as that at Broome’s Cable Beach. And due to her advocacy, Ozies has been subject to stalking and intimidation.

Sydney Criminal Lawyers spoke to Djukun Nation representative Jaala Ozies about how it’s come to be that both nations were recognised by the court as native title holders, yet only one has since been recognised, along with the effect that the Global Agreement is having on her people, and that the Djukun Nation wants to be included in future decision-making processes impacting their land.

Jaala, you’re currently raising the point that ever since the Rubibi Community native title determination of 2005 recognised both the native title rights of the Yawuru Nation and the Djukun Nation, ongoing developments have been leading to the systematic erasure of the Djukun people from the landscape of Broome.

So, can you explain how this has come to pass, even though the two nations were involved in the claim, yet since it was successfully made the rights of only one nation has been recognised to the detriment of the other?

It’s quite simple. For the Rubibi Native Title Claim, the Djukun combined with the Yawuru to lodge a combined claim over Djukun Country and over Yawuru Country.

What has happened is Yawuru claimants, former senator Patrick Dobson and Professor Peter Yu, are in a position of power at the Kimberley Land Council, and Dodson has used his political power, and Yu has used his corporate power, to fabricate a story that Djukun Country is Yawuru Country.

This was a 10 year native title process, whereby they carefully constructed and fabricated Broome being Yawuru Country, when, in fact, Broome is Djukun Country.

They convinced the Djukun people to join their Yawuru claim in a show of unity to the state of Western Australia. The Djukun people were not allowed to testify on the stand throughout the Rubibi native title process. So, only Yawuru voices were heard on the stand.

The Yawuru used all of the Djukun cultural information that was handed over to the Kimberley Land Council. This included all of the Djukun place names and the Djukun cultural connection to Broome.

Djukun cultural information was used and rebranded as Yawuru information, throughout the native title claim. You’ve got to remember, this was a 10 year process.

The Kimberley Land Council had hired lawyers, and they had access to anthropologists, who were being paid full-time wages over a 10 year period, to carefully construct this story that Broome is Yawuru Country.

The attitude of Patrick Dodson back then was the Djukun people were not capable of winning native title over their Country, so we should combine. The Yawuru people would combine with the Djukun people and help them win native title.

So, this is where we are today. We are being erased. We are being outvoted. We don’t have any platforms. We are not given any say in our Country.

The Yawuru Prescribed Body Corporate has 1,200 members on their books right now. We are always outvoted. We have to be Yawuru to sit on their boards, or to be a PBC director, you have to be Yawuru. And historically, Djukun people are not voted into these positions.

So, we are being outvoted and erased all over town. They are wiping the Djukun people from the Broome landscape.

That 10 years of native title process you’re talking about, are you referring to from 1995 until the court outcome of 2005? 

Yes. It was actually 1994 when they started to have discussions on the ground. They started carving out our Country in 1994.

In 2025, we are still having our identity erased and they’re attempting to convince Djukun people that they’re Yawuru people and part of them. So, we come under their umbrella and speak Yawuru language and so forth.

Some Djukun people are members of the PBC group, but they are oppressed. They are not given a voice within the PBC group.

For example, we had two Djukun elders nominate to be directors last year, when they were calling for directors. They nominated and they didn’t hear back anything from the PBC when they were calling for people for the director positions.

The Djukun people are specifically named in the Rubibi native title claim. The Djukun were considered a minority group within the Rubibi claim.

When the native title was handed down, the development corporation Nyamba Buru Yawuru was set up and they combined the Djukun apical ancestors with the Yawuru apical ancestors and branded them all Yawuru.

So, we have combined Djukun and Yawuru apical ancestors, under the Yawuru umbrella.

So, how are the Djukun people classed or referred to in the Rubibi claim? 

We are a minority within the native title claim. They have branded us a subgroup of Yawuru. The Djukun strongly dispute we are a subgroup.

We are a clan in our own right. We have our own borders of our land. We have our own law, customs, traditions and cultural heritage.

We have our own language. Our own Djukun language. We are not a subgroup. We have clear borders for our Country.

It is very simple: Yawuru Country is south of Crab Creek, while Djukun Country from Crab Creek all the way to Willie Creek. There is a very clear border.

In having its rights recognised and with the establishment of the 2010 Global Agreement between the Yawuru Nation, the Shire of Broome and the state government, the Yawuru people have had benefits flow in their direction.

Overall, how would you say the Yawuru recognition under the Global Agreement without recognising the rights of the Djukun served to penalise your people?

Yawuru have set up the Global Agreement to ensure that they are the only group with native title over Broome that governments, corporations and private entities are to deal with.

So, this automatically excludes the Djukun voices from having a say on their Country and even being part of decision-making and consolation processes.

We are seeing the creeping erasure of our identity in Broome due to this Global Agreement. We are seeing signage all over Broome, which is branded with the Yawuru language. For example, there is a sign at Broome airport, “Welcome to Yawuru Country”.

If the Djukun people are joint native title holders along with Yawuru, why aren’t the Djukun people mentioned on all the signage throughout the Broome region?

We are being erased from Broome. The Djukun people’s identity is being erased, which is a violation of our human rights.

So, why is this systematic erasure of the Djukun people occurring? 

Yawuru PBC want to silence Djukun voices. Patrick Dodson and Peter Yu want to silence Djukun voices. They want to tell the world a false narrative that Broome is Yawuru Country.

Historically, our borders and on the anthropological maps of Broome, the area is Djukun Country.

Djukun people don’t need a map to tell us where our Country is. These are clear borders that have been well established before colonisation in the Broome township.

Jirr-Ngin-Ngan is the name of Broome. The name of Broome is not Rubibi, that is a waterhole. Jirr-Ngin-Ngan is the name that encompasses the Broome township. This is another rewriting of the narrative.

The government will do whatever suits its narrative. The Global Agreement is giving rise to corporate entities and their control over native title land.

The agreement was set up to erase the Djukun identity from the Broome landscape.

So, what sort of benefits would you say are flowing from this agreement and the establishment of native title, that the Djukun people are locked out of? 

When the native title settlement was handed down to the Yawuru, it was $56 million, and they also additionally received $140 million in land assets.

The Djukun people have not received any of those benefits that were initially handed down as part of the native title settlement on Djukun Country.

Since that money was paid, Djukun people have been locked out. They have not received any benefits from Djukun Country. Everything is controlled by Nyamba Buru Yawuru and their subsidiary the Yawuru Prescribed Body Corporate.

The Yawuru PBC is making all the cultural heritage decisions on Djukun Country, and they’re not including the voices of the Djukun people.

This is the systematic erasure of the Djukun people from Djukun Country.

What sort of developments are happening upon Djukun Country that the Djukun people are not in agreement with?

We are seeing various government projects being given the greenlight by the Yawuru PBC. The Yawuru PBC is making all of these decisions and giving the government the greenlight to develop our land.

We are seeing the industrialisation of the Kimberley region right before our eyes.

A $200 million floating jetty was approved. The Yawuru PBC gave the government the greenlight to build a floating jetty on Djukun Country. The Djukun people were not a part of the decision-making process and nor were they consulted.

So, the floating jetty’s first pylons smashed into a sacred reef in November 2024, and they’ve since continued to cause destruction of Djukun Country. For example, they’ve poured concrete all over the shell middens that are Aboriginal heritage listed.

How can they do that? We took Djukun elders to protest the destruction of our Country. We are being locked out of decision-making.

While yesterday, I had been down to the Cable Beach foreshore redevelopment. I witnessed a digger on the sand digging up sand dunes that are sacred to the Djukun people. These sand dunes have cultural heritage sacredness. The sand dunes were used as burial grounds for our people in this area.

I’ve seen the very distressing sight of an excavator, digging up the sand dunes, loading up trucks and carting the soil away.

When the developers said they were going to redevelop Cable Beach foreshore, they said they were going to reprofile the sand dunes. They did not say they were going to dig them up and cart away the soil.

This is a distressing sight. My heart breaks when I see these decisions being made about Djukun Country, while not including the voices of my people.

We do not want to see large-scale developments and destruction of our Country, without voices of the Djukun people included. We are not being consulted. We are being locked out of the decision-making.

We want to have a say in matters affecting our Country. For example, they are bowling over large native trees – our bush medicine trees and our bush fruit trees. These trees take decades to grow, yet they’re destroying them in minutes.

If they are going to have large-scale developments, they should think about keeping mature, native trees that don’t need lots of water to be maintained. They are bowling over all of our natural trees and vegetation to plant trees that require watering and resources.

You’ve also raised that due to your advocacy around the Djukun Nation having not been recognised whilst the Yawuru Nation has been, you’ve been the subject of threats and stalking incidents.

Could you describe what’s happened to you?

I’ve been vocal about the Yawuru land acquisition of Djukun Country, and secondly, I’ve been vocal about Yawuru people conducting Welcome to Country ceremonies on Djukun Country and erasing the voices of Djukun people and the Djukun identity in the process.

From that, I have been subjected to stalking, intimidation and threats. This is not something that is new happening to Djukun people. It has been going on for decades.

It started before the native title process, and then they started carving up our Country throughout the native title process, as well as post-the process.

Djukun people are subject to daily lateral violence on their Country. I have been the most vocal in recent years, and I have been stalked and intimidated. I posted an attack recently on Facebook.

This is native title lateral violence that Djukun people are experiencing daily on Djukun Country, and on this day, I happened to pull out my phone and record these individuals.

So, this has been happening for decades now. This is not a new thing, but the change is we have our phone and social media now to expose the injustices and the lateral violence relating to native title that has been going on behind the scenes.

This is not talked about. Djukun people are scared for their lives. This could be fatal for me speaking out. A lot of people are scared for me, but I will not stay silent.

I will continue to expose the Yawuru land acquisition of Djukun Country, and I will continue to expose the lateral violence perpetrated daily upon the Djukun people.

And lastly, Jaala, you’re highlighting that the Djukun Nation is being erased, as another people’s native title rights over Jirr-Ngin-Ngan-Broome have been recognised, while your nation’s rights have not been.

So, in raising awareness around the issue, what are you ultimately hoping to achieve for your people going into the future?

We are joint native title holders of Djukun Country, and we want to be acknowledged. We want to be included in the decision-making process and consulted in matters related to Djukun Country.

We want to speak for our Country, and we do not want our identity erased. But we are not being given the platforms to do that.

Why are we being silenced? Why are we being outvoted on the Yawuru PBC? Why are we being out voted and silenced?

This is Djukun Country, and we are standing up because we want to be acknowledged, and we want to be part of all this decision-making.

We don’t want our voices being erased anymore. This is our Country: the land of our ancestors.