ABOUT
Nungaroo is a small to medium sized Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC) based in the town of Quirindi in the Liverpool Plains Shire area of the mid-northern tablelands in New South Wales. It has nominally over 460 members and an asset base of just over $2,000,000. It is a quiet rural community, modestly prosperous, but with the usual legacy of social issues concerning Indigenous people in this country; lower socio- economic factors, poorer health and educational profiles and residual prejudice.
The Caroona / Walhallow community was once a 'mission' and remains a significant centre for Indigenous residents, and has its own LALC, even though there are fewer than 200 people in total now living there. A large number of previous residents have moved to Quirindi for better access to work, schools and services. Werris Creek Township has a substantial number of Indigenous residents. In February 1984 at a meeting called for the specific purpose of forming the Quirindi, Werris Creek Local Aboriginal Land Council.
The name was later changed to Nungaroo Local Aboriginal Land Council. Nungaroo originally began in Werris Creek and was only moved to Quirindi because office accommodation was available. The topography of the town shows why this was a place where the Aboriginal people have always gathered.
Quirindi is the major urban centre in the Liverpool Plains Shire Council. The Shire was created in 2004 by the amalgamation of Quirindi Shire with parts of Parry, Gunnedah and Murrurundi Shires.
OUR TEAM
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Noel Downs
Chief Executive Officer
I have been an office manager/ CEO for most of the past 27 years, all up about 30 years experience in administration and accounting (both stock control and financial), and almost 20 of that in Land Councils. For the last 3 and half years I have been the CEO of Nungaroo Local Aboriginal Land Council. I have an excellent working knowledge of the Land Rights Act, working with the zone and regional staff over some 20 + years, I have demonstrated my ability in reading and interpreting the ALRA. It was during my time in the military I was taught the necessary skills to read and interpret legislation. Beyond the ALRA, I am also very well versed in the NPWS Act, and AHO Act among others. I have very good organisational, consultation, and negotiation skills and my communication skills, both oral and written, are excellent. I am well able to respond in writing at all levels of government and non government organisations. I have extensive experience in responding to developer cultural reports, and reporting on the content and deficiencies of these reports to LALC members. I am well versed in the compliance requirements for land councils, and am a capable book keeper completing all accounting functions of the LALC, including drafting the annual budget and meeting budgetary and funding agreement obligations. I am very good with mapping and databases. These skills enabled me to submit some 17-1800 land claims while with Wanaruah LALC. Beyond that I also digitised all Wanaruah, Nungaroo and Tamworth Local Aboriginal Land Councils’ land claims and mapped them in a Geographical Information System to better enable the management of LALC land and land claims, improving the visibility of both. I have also researched and mapped place names, places of cultural significance, dialects and clans for the community. I have a reputation for being an excellent advocate for Aboriginal people and the community. I have a good understanding of issues and their causes faced by Aboriginal people and the community.
Alyssa Patterson
Chairperson
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Donald Peach
Deputy Chairperson
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