Aboriginal land claim processes in Victoria (through the Native Title Act 1993 and Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010) expect Traditional Owners to submit to research on their people, culture and Country. This is undertaken largely by non-Aboriginal researchers using western academic methodologies and ultimately is assessed by the State Government. In applying for recognition of their ancestral lands, Traditional Owners have their identities challenged and their connection to Country and culture interrogated. Tensions arise between competing and contradictory evidence from the written records created in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the cultural knowledge and oral histories held by Traditional Owners. While the Traditional Owner Settlement Act process was designed to centre the Traditional Owner voice, in practice, Traditional Owners’ knowledge and perspectives face challenges from the colonial archive.

This paper will examine the research process for Traditional Owner groups seeking to claim their Country in Victoria, in particular for the Dja Dja Wurrung, who celebrated the signing of their Recognition and Settlement Agreement with the State of Victoria in 2013. I will explore how Aboriginal knowledge is engaged with throughout the application and negotiation process, and ask, have we been successful in centring the Traditional Owner voice?