Tales of Tiwiness
Tourism in an Australian Aboriginal society
By Eric Venbrux
Indigenous people figure prominently in the international marketing of Australia as a tourist destination. Increasingly, indigenous Australians also participate in the industry. In Australia expectations of the development of tourism involving Aborigines are high, especially in remote areas where Aboriginal people face a lack of employment opportunities and often depend heavily on the welfare state. Simultaneously, the supposed attractiveness of Aboriginal lands and culture to tourists is considered to assist the development of Australia's tourist industry in general. Views of the impact of tourism on the Aboriginal host societies differ widely, ranging from seeing it as a means for both the improvement of economic status and cultural survival to an endeavour undermining local autonomy and identity. The local response to tourism sometimes takes the form of an active engagement, as in the case of the Tiwi Aborigines from Bathurst and Melville Islands, which enables local people to represent themselves in a way they consider proper.Tiwi people have been at the forefront in the development of so-called Aboriginal tourism. Because of land rights legislation (passed in 1977), the Tiwi are and have been in the position to exert control over access to their lands as well as the development of tourism in the islands. The Islanders have established their own land council. Since the early 1980s tourist enterprises have been operating on their lands. In 1986, the Tiwi, represented by the Tiwi Land Council, went into business themselves. Their business holding reached joint venture agreements with non-Tiwi operators. The next step was when the holding got an equity share on behalf of all Tiwi. In 1995, total ownership of the tourist enterprises was obtained after a buy out of joint venture partners. It became the task of the newly established Tiwi Tourism Authority to control tourism on the islands for the benefit of Tiwi interests. The Tiwi Aborigines, in other words, have taken tourism into their own hands.
Despite limited direct economic benefits, in terms of financial income and employment, Tiwi people have gained from their involvement in tourism. My point in relation to the Tiwi case is that the involvement in tourism, by means of articulating 'Tiwiness', generates symbolic capital. The increased visibility of the Tiwi because of their tourism and, and closely related, arts industry pays off in the wider political arena. It also accommodates competitive entrepreneurship in terms of the local prestige economy. Local guides are in charge. Contacts with international tourists, access to transport, and the surplus food obtained in foraging trips with tourists appear to be a matter of prestige at grassroots level. At stake are not only prestige and goodwill (especially of the development-oriented governments), but also the need to curb local political fragmentation for the sake of maintaining a certain measure of autonomy.
Tiwi communal identity happens to be a fairly recent phenomenon: the term Tiwi ('human beings') was coined by an anthropologist who needed a name for 'his tribe'. It has gradually become accepted by the Islanders as a label to distinguish themselves from other people in the second half of the twentieth century. The tourist encounter might be seen as a dialogue in which both parties engage in an exploration of 'Tiwiness'. This mutual construct in flux results from the meeting of tourist demands and the hosts' attempts to give the former a feel of what it is like to be Tiwi Aboriginal. Tourists, for instance, might find themselves in the muddy mangroves, fishing in a creek, visiting workshops or a Roman Catholic church, or being a spectator at football games. Tourism is kept small scale and performed with a great deal of flexibility, albeit not everything is exposed to the tourist gaze. Tourism has given the islanders the opportunity to educate other people about their way of life, to counteract stereotypes, and to preserve their dignity. While Australia is in the process of redefining its national identity, the symbolic value of Aboriginal tourism has only increased in the context of a politics of reconciliation with 'the oldest surviving culture on earth', which would also improve its international standing and uniqueness as a tourist destination.
Eric Venbrux is Research Fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences at the Centre for Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.