Are you familiar with what constitutes Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), and the industry protocols regarding consultation and consent?

Indigenous cultural material – language, traditional stories, artistic works, sacred sites, knowledge systems, cultural practices and more – is owned by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and consultation and consent is required before you use, publish, or adapt this material in your work. ICIP is connected to place and will be specifically owned by a particular community, such as the Wiradjuri people.

If you do not understand what ICIP is, you cannot be certain that you’re not using it in your work, or engaging in respectful storytelling practices. Therefore, the ASA considers it essential that every Australian writer and illustrator should not only familiarise themselves with ICIP, but also the appropriate protocols. It is of even more importance if you:

• • Are writing about Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples’ issues

• • Creating Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander characters

• • Incorporating in your work Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander knowledge, traditional stories, ceremonies, language or song

• • Re-telling stories that contain ICIP

• • Using Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander iconography, designs or artwork in your work

• • Using resources or research materials that contain ICIP or refer to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples (e.g. archival materials at your state library)

• • Collaborating with or collecting information or knowledge from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander knowledge holder or community

Acknowledgement of, and respect towards, ICIP is necessary to empower the self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in relation to their heritage. Additionally, it is important to note that where many Australian publishers are concerned, if you have not undergone appropriate consultation, nor followed protocols, this will serve as a reason for a publisher to reject your manuscript submission, and choose not to publish your work.

Most writers and illustrators working in the book industry will be very familiar with copyright and how it allows creators to both control and monetise their creative and intellectual labour. But copyright laws are not well adapted to protect ICIP. To give two examples: 

• • Copyright laws assume there will be one (or maybe two or three) author(s) of a literary or artistic work, who will own and control reproduction of that work. In contrast, ICIP may be owned by a community, rather than an individual, which will have custodial responsibility for safeguarding that material and following protocols about the ways in which it should be shared. 

• • Copyright laws protect a work once it’s written down; given material expression. It’s the expression that is protected by our laws, not the underlying knowledge. Under the Copyright Act, generally, copyright lasts for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years after their death. This does not encapsulate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ tens of thousands of years of history of oral storytelling and sharing of knowledge, which may not necessarily be written down and which endure beyond the duration of copyright protection.

In other words, relying on the Copyright Act to protect ICIP is inadequate. This is one of the reasons why protocols have been introduced to guide best practice on respectful storytelling practices which honour First Nations peoples’ sovereignty.

There are several resources available to writers and illustrators to learn more.

ASA members have access to a free resource, written and researched by Dr Terri Janke, Anika Valenti and Laura Curtis from Terri Janke and Company. More Than Words: Writing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture and Copyright in Australia, is a practical guide for authors, illustrators and publishers on respectful storytelling practices when working with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples, or working with their ICIP, and covers every stage of the writing process. You can download More Than Words from the Resources section of the ASA website.

Dr Terri Janke’s book, True Tracks: Respecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture, is also a valuable guide for anyone wanting to learn more about ICIP, and how their project will affect and involve First Nations communities.

Australia Council for the Arts also provides free protocol guides, which you can download from their website. It is important to note that writers or illustrators who are funded by Australia Council grants are required to comply with the protocols as a condition of funding.