8.17 Maria Stewart, SA Maria Stewart is from Oodnadatta, South Australia, with connections to Arrernte and Wangkangurru, as well as Yankunytjatjara and Walka Wani. Maria is the Chairperson of Dunjiba Community Council, which was previously the Oodnadatta Aboriginal Housing Society, founded in 1973. Dunjiba runs a number of community services such as the general store and café, hotel, railway museum, playground and free camp. Dunjiba also advocates on behalf of residents for improved employment, health education, and community services. Maria described her family connection to Oodnadatta and the surrounding country through her grandfather, a traditional Law man, and her mother. My grandfather was a Law man. He was a big traditional man, went through Law and he lived and worked on a station just out of Oodnadatta where he was born. His grandfather is buried in that Country and my mum and all his children were born on that country on that same station … some people from the land would say it’s men’s country … My grandfather was one of the Law keepers, he looked after the country and the sacred sites around that area up until the 70s … Even us kids we were actually brought up on that country as children, when families were working on cattle stations around that area – Oodnadatta – the pastoral companies around Oodnadatta – and all our families are buried on that country, and our families still live there today. Maria’s story was of her family’s exclusion from a native title claim over their Country. Maria told us that her family was not consulted by the anthropologists and lawyers, who instead grounded the claim in inaccurate information recorded by non‑Indigenous explorers. Maria described how, due to this, her family has since been unable to join the PBC after the determination over the claim area was handed down, meaning that, at the time of her interview, decision-making was the responsibility of people who ‘do not know the Country’. Maria described how it is particularly hard for her and her family to see people who are not familiar with her people’s law and women’s business enter into mining agreements that she considers have destroyed sacred sites and cultural heritage. Maria’s experience has been that the benefits from agreements made by PBCs regarding acts on Country are not benefiting the communities who are actually living on Country. Despite the PBC receiving royalties from mining agreements, those who are living in Oodnadatta are living in poverty and ‘get nothing’. Maria believes that PBCs are not acting in the collective interests of the communities that they represent and are not being held accountable in a meaningful way. Maria expressed how she would like to see the emphasis shift from funds being directed primarily to individuals who live all over the country for immediate expenses such as bills and travel, to a strategic investment of funds back into the long-term development of the community. Maria described how the issue of PBC accountability is exacerbated by community conflict and lateral violence, which prevents community members from attending PBC meetings and staying involved in native title decision-making. In Maria’s experience, the conflict is perpetuated by poverty, as well as the loss of traditional structures and culture at the hand of native title, which she described as cyclical and self-perpetuating. 100 Women in Native Title: Native Title Report 2024