Interview with Dr Chris Haynes - The bureaucrat and the man in the creekbed

Spanning 16 years between 1969 and 1985, Chris Haynes, now a Fremantle person, had four different full-time jobs in the Northern Territory‘s Top End. First as a professional forester, for which he was originally trained. Then in national park management, before he became responsible for the early development of Kakadu from 1978 to 1985. After which he was Director of National Parks in Western Australia.

After retirement from full-time work, Chris obtained a PhD degree in anthropology on the joint management of Kakadu, and has since worked as a consultant anthropologist.

Chris has published influential academic papers and books on ecology, anthropology, fire management and tourism in protected areas.

In 1969, Chris met John Hunter for the first time while supervising the Northern Territory Administration’s forestry operations in Arnhem land and Hunter was Maningrida‘s Welfare Branch superintendent. Although their first meetings were far from cordial, Chris came to admire Hunter and how he did that difficult job.

In his recently published book, The bureaucrat, and the man in the creekbed: the work and influence of John Hunter at Maningrida, 1963–1974, Chris tells how Hunter came into the role and how, more and more, Hunter came to admire the Aboriginal people he was working with, and how he was simultaneously a bureaucrat and at one with the people, ‘the man in the creek bed’.

In this podcast (that you will find at the foot of this post), our editor, Michael Barker, speaks with Dr Chris Haynes about: his book; the man, John Hunter, he came to know so well; and the changing times during the 1960s and 1970s when Traditional Owners of Country in the Northern Territory (and beyond) began demanding the right to self determination free from the bureaucratic controls and assimilationist policies of central and local administrations in Canberra and Darwin.

Chris’ knowledge and experience in the field brings back to life, through the pages in his book, those times and helps to explain how Australia got to where it is today, post Mabo and Native Title, in Indigenous affairs. The book also tells as the compelling story of John Hunter, albeit a story that ends like a Greek tragedy.

You can buy Chris’ book online or even better still, order it directly from the publisher, Historical Society of the NT on their website for $42.50 including postage.

Finally, here’s a nice photograph of the launch of Chris’ book at Maningrida at a traditional smoking ceremony.