Tree planting project creates jobs for the future in Tennant Creek

Julalikari council and Tennant Mining team up to help Indigenous residents work at Nobles Nob Mon 27 Jul 2026 at 7:33am In short: A tree planting mine rehabilitation project in Tennant Creek is helping residents into employment. Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation is working with Tennant Mining to provide the tree planting jobs, as part of rehabilitation works at Nobles Nob. What's next? Julalikari Council hopes the partnership will create lasting change in the community. In a warm greenhouse in Tennant Creek, Warumungu woman Shauna Graham pats down soil at the base of a seedling in a pot. The young, spindly plant will soon be ready to put down roots and grow on mining land a few kilometres away, as part of a tree planting rehabilitation project. While Ms Graham has been nurturing the plant to grow, a feeling has been blooming inside herself. "It makes me feel happy and proud of myself,"she said. The traditional owner said the rehabilitation site was right next to her country. "It makes me, like, safe, close at home, you know? Building things out there and making plans out there, growing for the future." Partnering for shared knowledge Ms Graham is one of a handful of Indigenous Tennant Creek residents to be employed by Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation, which is contracted by Tennant Mining to plant trees as part of rehabilitation works at Tennant Mining's recently reopened Nobles Nob mine. Julalikari chief executive Lachlan Wilkins said she would not be the last. "Tennant Mining shares Julalikari's commitment to creating opportunities for Aboriginal people to access jobs in the mining industry," he said. "The partnership makes sense in that it creates job opportunities for local people, it helps heal country and it helps ensure that Tennant Mining is meeting its obligations to the traditional owners but also to its regulators." The current contract covers a six-week trial to see which plant species will grow best at the mine site, but a Tennant Mining spokesperson said the partnership would "extend over the long-term" and was "critical" to ensure sustainable operations. "Through this partnership, we are building shared knowledge in how to conduct leading practice rehabilitation in the Barkly," the spokesperson said. "At the moment, planting is focused in and around the Nobles operation, but it will be extended as our shared knowledge grows." Working for change Mr Wilkins said he hoped the partnership would create lasting change by improving employment rates in Tennant Creek. "It creates an opportunity for people to get into meaningful jobs in an industry that's growing and it's got a long-term commitment here," he said. "We love that because kids see their mum and dad or their brother and sister get to work and instead of them engaging in training just for the sake of training. They will see [them] go into a job and then there's a meaningful pathway. "That's what we're really excited to try and support." Ms Graham said while some people would not take up the work, she was determined to involve her family. "Next time I go out there I'm going to show my grandchildren, my sons and daughters, yeah, to keep that for them in future," she said.