ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Winangakirri Aboriginal Corporation members wish to thank and acknowledge the cultural information and advice from our Elders, senior people and knowledge holders. We greatly appreciate the Ngiyampaa Language advice forthcoming from Brad Steadman and the use of Dr Tamsin Donaldson’s work in relation to place names, flora and fauna recordings in language. We thank the previous Minister for the Environment the Honorable Peter Garrett, who committed two thirds of the purchase funds through the National Reserve Program. This was complimented by one third funding through the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC). We would like to particularly acknowledge the assistance of William Hill at the ILC who finalised the purchase and provided valuable advice during the past four years. We acknowledge the kind contributions of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Indigenous Protected Areas program (formerly administered by the Department of the Environment) and the assistance of the staff in developing this plan. We applaud the Western Lands Commission for their work on facilitating the Western Lands Lease conversion. We acknowledge that this purchase would not be possible without, Peter Lette and his family whose vision to see Mawonga back in Ngiyampaa hands paved the way. We are grateful for the efforts of Bush Heritage Australia in supporting our vision and in particular Sarah Eccles who carried our argument forward. Special thanks go to Nigel Jones, from the Nature Conservation Trust of NSW whose field visits contributed greatly and the Steering Committee for all their hard work and effort to assist in the writing of this plan. Finally, this would not be possible without the hard work and support of our members.