Native title body CEO quits, no comment from chair

19
1912

p2334-Rosalie-Kunoth-MonksBy ERWIN CHLANDA
 
Rosalie Kunoth-Monks (pictured), the chairperson of Lhere Artepe, is understood to have resigned, and Ken Lechleitner has confirmed that he has quit as the CEO.
 
Ms Kunoth-Monks, when contacted, declined to comment.
 
This is the latest turmoil in the organisation which set up by the Federal Court to represent native title holders in Alice Springs.
 
Lhere Artepe was named by Chief Minister Adam Giles this week as the body negotiating plans for a national Indigenous culture centre in Alice Springs, worth up to $300m.
 
There has been ongoing internal strife in the organisation for years, and the latest upheaval is believed to be linked to violence resulting in the banning of some members from the premises.
 
The Registrar of Indigenous Corporations, Anthony Beven, has reportedly been asked to take over the administration of Lhere Artepe. He said because of stringent privacy rules he could neither confirm nor deny the reports.
 
 

19 COMMENTS

  1. Does Ken Lechleitner’s resignation as CEO of Lhere Artepe have any bearing on his continued participation of the Alice Springs Flood Mitigation Advisory Committee?

  2. Can’t believe she is speechless or is she hiding. The cancelling of memberships and banning of people has also been done wrong.
    People who signed advised they were forced to sign the papers by the chair.
    Directors have resigned as they do not agree with the Chair’s decisions which must be followed.

  3. These Lhere Atepe people should let those nutters from Antulye estate group and the crazys up at 16 Mile … yes those ones 🙂 take over the whole show.
    Between the two groups there are some absolutely shining stars! Mbantua people couldn’t manage the toothaches from Antulye and 16 Mile and neither could the queen of Mbantua. Let em in please, we want to watch a real circus with real clowns!

  4. Lhere Artepe might work if the views of traditional owners were ever included in its running and decision making.

  5. To the person or persons of statement
    (No Comment) Posted June 19 at 7:25 pm
    First of all put your name on your comments. Ow, that’s right, you are all gutless. I talk up for my people, the Arunta people.
    Lhere Artepe has been in a hole long before I walked into the place and seen the real things going on behind closed doors.
    Lhere Artepe is for all Arunta people not the chosen or self proclaimed. Money and power don’t concern me, the living conditions and poverty of our people do.
    When certain people in this town start thinking about our people instead of themselves we might actually improve the lives of our people, not our own pockets.
    So keep on rubbishing me and my uncle and the Antulye mob as I know we aren’t worried about filling our pockets with money from our own countrymen’s LAND with behind doors meetings with the NT Government and the Central land Council.
    And for all you mob’s information, my grandmother is Mary Perkins, sun dreaming, Burt Plain, and her husband was Billy Bray King of the Caterpillar dreaming and law man for Alice Springs.
    Mbantua is a Sacred Site not a tribe. Lots of Arunta Families have connections to Alice Springs, as long as Lhere Artepe is divided into three groups it will fail.
    Ps.: Law men talk for country. That’s Arunta Aboriginal Law.

  6. King of the caterpillars. This sounds exciting. Just going to get a chair and some popcorn and wait for more info!

  7. Hehehe … don’t you just love it when the circus comes to town? Oh, silly me, these clowns are always here and so hard to get rid of.

  8. Oh wow, finally Lesley Tickner has admitted that his grandparents are from Burt Plains.
    So how come your family are sitting pretty on 16 Mile and trying to claim the land as your family land?
    Like No Comment has stated, Burt Plains is a long, long way from 16 Mile!

  9. Lhere Artepe is not for all Arrernte people. It is for the native title holders of three estates antulye, irlpme and mparntwe.
    The native title holders are those direct descendants of the original owners and recognised as such by apmereke-artweye. That Lhere Artepe doesn’t acknowledge the apmereke-artweye authority is why there is such a mess.
    How did the chair get to even be a member? Where are her grandfathers from?

  10. Reading the pages and pages of Lhere Artepe news over the years here on Alice News, really is a sight for sore eyes. What dysfunction! But most of all, how depressing. Far too many players now hanging onto their own ideologies for dear life, despite how mislead and misguided the knowledge given to them may have been.
    What Les is stating in regards to the sun dreaming, also known as Aherrke, is correct.
    There is a sacred site of great importance on the Burt plain (Mpweringke) for which the Aherrke totem belongs.
    Les also states correctly that Mparntwe IS in fact, a sacred site, a fact disputed by some on occasion who say from time to time “there is no Mparntwe”.
    Equally, Irlpme and Ntulye are also sacred sites. I get the sense though that Les is trying to undermine the existence of Mparntwe by saying “it is not a tribe”. Well, FYI Les, the original owners of Mparntwe belonged to the Peltharre / Kngwarraye subsection.
    To dispute the existence of the original Peltharre / Kngwarraye apmereke-artweye ancestors of Mparntwe (or Choritja, Artepe Ulpaye, Lhere Artepe – whatever you want to call it and all validly used names in historical texts) is to dispute ones own intelligence.
    In relation to Mparntwe it is not uncommon for countries and places to have several names, a concept which some Arrernte people today struggle to understand. The name of any estate would be at the owner’s discretion, but none are essentially wrong.
    Additionally, the original and current owners of the Irlpme site and surrounding estate belong to the Ampetyane / Angale and Ntulye to the Penangke / Pengarte. Today’s owners are very important and must be listened too. They also must assert themselves.
    Today’s Mparntwe estate is descended from the original Peltharre / Kngwarraye owners. If they do not have an unbroken patrilineal (male) line to these owners then they may enjoy kwertengwerle responsibility for the estate, based on their knowledge of language and culture and responsibility for stories, places, but NOT solely because they have a connection and know nothing else.
    Isn’t that how its supposed to work? This is no different than any other Arrernte estate and no different for Irlpme and Ntulye.
    In response to the claims about ‘Kings’ – attached below is an excerpt, found after conducting research (that needs to be shared with some on this thread) about the man who was the King (along with his brothers and sister(s) – Queens), circa 1894 when he was Frank Gillen and Baldwin Spencer’s main informant.
    A man, who if he had the benefit of time travel, would turn in his grave at the site of what his land has become in 2016, the circus that exists within the Lhere Artepe fabric and the disarray of Arrernte people with claims to Alice Springs and the surrounding estates.
    King, Irrapmwe, Unchalka – Referred to as Irrapmwe in Museum displays. ‘Irrapmwe was the headman of the Alice Springs Arrernte in the late part of the nineteenth century. He probably died in about 1905. Spencer and Gillen knew Irrapmwe by other names – King Charlie or Ntyarlke, which refers to a species of caterpillar that was Irrapmwe’s personal totem. According to Arrernte law, large parts of the Alice Springs area were created by caterpillar ancestors. It was Irrapmwe’s direct connection to these ancestors, combined with a distinguished ritual career, which gave him the influential role as headman of his group.
    Irrapmwe was a highly knowledgeable man with great authority in his own domain. He was a ritual expert. Irrapmwe and his people gave Spencer and Gillen a great deal of material and information. He worked particularly closely with Frank Gillen, who often relayed information, specimens to Spencer in Melbourne.
    Arrernte people say that Irrapmwe was a good friend to the white settlers who invaded his country, welcoming them, guiding them to water sources and generally working in concert with them. Yet Irrapmwe’s relationship to the settlers was not always cordial.
    Sometimes, like when Gillen sent his sons to jail in South Australia, Irrapmwe protested violently against the unfair treatment of his family. TGH Strehlow’s genealogies note that a Charley Ntyarlke was also known as Erapmua Paltara.
    To ‘Maths’ – Rosie is a descendant of Irrapmwe. That’s how she qualified for membership.
    Those who throw stones and spend their lives questioning others associations tend to be very unhappy or unfulfilled in their own knowledge. The good news is that if that same energy was applied to something positive, people could be learning language, benefiting from the rich resources developed by some of our brilliant Arrernte people (MK, Veronica, Mrs Wallace etc) that are easily purchased through IAD, cleaning out soakages and waterholes, eradicating buffel grass from sites around town which are in a state of decay and accumulating knowledge that would be to yours and your families benefit.
    Attending LAAC meetings, jockeying for power, undermining other families connections, other estates etc etc, will only cause you ill health and unwanted stress and at the end of the day, responsibility should fall on the apmereke-artweye and knowledgeable kwertengwerle to be the decision makers.
    Good luck to you all.

  11. In comment to Burt Plains – Mbweringe Country, do have their own dreaming stories for that country with the correct skin names as owners for it, as passed down in generations by grandfathers (not grandmothers) and so on.
    Not sun dreaming as stated, we have our traditional owners and caretakers who live on their outstation.
    More popcorn please its getting more ridiculous by the day!
    PS.: That’s Arrernte Lore.

  12. To Mr Popcorn / No Comment: 16 mile for your information is on Burt Plain. Get your facts before writing useless info. Where is your knowledge, hay? Have some peanuts, please.

  13. The king of the caterpillar myth is what I really want to hear about. I’m gonna get some padding around the chair so I don’t hurt myself when I start rolling around the floor with laughter! Get the vacuum ready to clean all the popcorn up. Ha, ha, ha.

  14. Oh dear, obviously Mr Tickner you don’t know where your boundaries are. Hate to bust your bubble but 16 Mile is NOT on Burt Plains, in fact Burt Plains boundary ends at MacGrath Creek.
    I know that according to Google Earth, it states Bonds Springs, Burt Plain but us country men know where each family groups come from according to elders of the land. I still cannot understand why your family think they have the rights to be out at 16 Mile?
    As you and your family have been told by many elders that 16 Mile is NOT your family land. So move along!

  15. To Things that make you go Hmmm: Google earth, hay, this is your knowledge, I know where it is, my great great grand parents told me in 1977 in the river of 16 Mile Creek.
    My family know where our country is and our skin names and our lines so why don’t you go and get some knowledge by sitting on the country like I did. And yes, I have been to many ceremonies and I am an Arunta Law MAN, OK.
    Put your name up and speak to me face to face.

  16. I can’t belive this is happening. She is the best CEO, I think. Why there is no comment at all?

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