The ACT Government has established an interim joint community-government committee to oversee the transition of Boomanulla Oval to Aboriginal community control.

The committee, which held its first meeting this week, will guide the handover of the Narrabundah site under the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement 2019-2028 and the Closing the Gap Implementation Plan.

Members include community co-chair Kim Davison, government co-chair Bruce Fitzgerald, Ngunnawal representative Aunty Caroline Hughes AM, ATSIEB representative Maurice Walker, and committee representatives Christine Dragisic, Stella De Cos and Buddy Martin.

The move follows years of calls for the oval to be returned to Aboriginal management. In 2023, Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services chief executive Julie Tongs criticised the government for abandoning a 2016 tender process that sought proposals for Indigenous management of the site, saying the community had spent years waiting for action.

The issue also featured in the 2024 ACT election campaign, when the Canberra Liberals pledged to return Boomanulla Oval to Indigenous control if elected. The ACT Government has now begun the formal process of transferring the culturally significant site to community management.

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