Telephone: 0429001024
Email: margaret.castles@adelaide.edu.au

This course is available by selection. Students who express interests will be asked to complete a short questionnaire and attend a brief meeting with the course coordinator, before students are selected. Priority will be given to students with indigenous, environment, planning, mining, climate change electives, or those who are planning to do those subjects. There is no GPA requirement. We will aim for a mix of students from different year levels.

You can apply to do the course using this linked form:

https://law.adelaide.edu.au/intranet/biodiversity-planning-regional-australia-study-tour


(you may have to cut and paste this address into your browser, the course outlines facility does not enable it to be linked direct).

If the link does not work or you do not get a receipt for your form, email margaret.castles@adelaide.edu.au


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This course is a 7 day study tour. The final date is  yet to be cofirmed but is most likely to be 3-9 July.   It requires students to travel as a group in two small tour buses up to Port Augusta and from there across to Roxby Downs , the Vulkathana-Gammon Ranges and then the Ikara- Flinders Ranges National park before returning to Adelaide. There will be travel over almost 1800km in that one week period and approximately one third of that travel will be on dirt road, the bulk of it on the Borefield Track which runs across the top of Lake Torrens  to link up with the bottom part of the Oodnadatta track. Accomodation and facilities at most places are fairly basic although clean and comfortable. Depending on the number of students enrolled it may be necessary for some students ( and the Course Coordinator) to volunteer to camp in tents or swags at the Arid recovery reserve ( which of itself can be a quite magical experience as you sleep in the arid dunes and see the magnificent sunrise). The draft itinerary for the trip can be found under the Learning Activities Summary. The substance of that itinerary  is unlikely to change.

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1.Identify the operation of laws both past and present which have had an impact and continue to impact on indigenous people in South Australia, including native title and the impact of mining and pastoralism.
2. Explain the key requirements of biodiversity law in Australia, the importance of policy and the practical difficulties associated with the implementation of such laws.
3. Explain the importance of land use planning laws and the relationship between such laws and the processes associated with major projects and environmental impact assessment and the complexities of the range of laws impacting on rural areas.
4. Evaluate, synthesise and critically analyse information from a wide variety of sources and experiences.
5. Independently undertake self-directed legal research and analysis at a high level, including through the use of online technologies.
6. Demonstrate good inter-personal and communication skills in both written and oral communication, working independently and as a member of a team.

There are no required resources for this course. There are many written and on line references that may be useful for students who wish to further explore matters dealt with in the course. There will be a document prepared by the Course Coordinator which provides information of a background nature on many of the places visited during the Study tour and explains how those places have a link to biodiversity and environmental law, or planning and regional development law , mining and land use tenure laws and laws affecting indigenous peoples and their culture and traditions. That document will also have website links to many government and NGO sites which much more detailed information will be available. The background explanatory document (which will also contain a list of other reading sources) will be available on MyUni. There will be readings provided for each day of the trip which coincide with the key issues covered and the presentation topics.

There are a range of readings recommended to students who would like to pursue further some of the issues canvassed during the study tour. References to those readings will be provided via MyUni together with web links where appropriate and available.

The study tour is very much an experiential learning course. Students will learn from active engagement in the field and through meeting and observing various people actively engaged in their occupations. On line resources will be used to provide students with background information to enable them to understand much of the practical work and activities which they will observe and in some cases participate in during the study tour.In particular, prior to departing on the trip all students will be required to view some background video material on biodiversity and planning controls in order to provide them with a basic understanding of the key requirements of both areas. All assignments will be submitted online through MyUni and marked online with feedback in both written and verbal form through the MyUni portal.

This study tour is unusual in that there is little in the way of formal lectures or tutorials. The week before departure on the tour ( on a day to be fixed) there will be a 5-6  hour pre-departure briefing session. The purpose of the session is to provide students with an introduction to indigenous culture and heritage in readiness for the period to be spent at the Iga Warta Aboriginal Culture Interpretative centre and to provide some basic information on the South Australian land use planning system and the requirements of the Biodiversity Convention. We will also have guest speakers from Olympic Dam discussing environmetal issues in resource extraction, to discuss the use and management of Woomera Prohibited Area, lawyers involved in disputes cocerning Australia's international obligations to Aboriginal people under international conventions. We will  provide some background and logistical information to various aspects of the Tour. This will be reinforced by video presentations on both subjects which it will be compulsory for students to view pre-departure.
During the Tour there will be presentations from a range of people at the various points we visit as well as an ongoing dialogue with the Tour leader highlighting points of interest and explaining their relevance.
During the evenings we will conduct a regular debrief where students can comment on the day's events and share with the group their observations and thoughts on what has been seen and heard during the day. Each day 5-6 students working in pairs will be nominated to prepare a short presentation on a nominated topic relevant to the day activitis. This is done in an informal and relaxed atmosphere.Students will find that very useful in terms of the subsequent preparation of their reflective journal entries. We will allocate days/topic at the pre departure session.

This is an 7 day study tour and as such there is 24 hour involvement although obviously there is sleeping time, travelling time and meal times which are part of the tour but not the educational requirements. The only required attendance outside of the 7 days is at the 1 day pre-departure briefing. Students will be expected to have read the compulsory reference material provided through MyUni prior to departure on the Study Tour and also have viewed the biodiversity and planning law videos.

The Course involves a 1 day pre- departure briefing in Adelaide( date to be determined) and the following itinerary on the Tour itself.

DAY 1-

Depart
Adelaide ( from Uni of Adelaide Campus-Barr Smith lawns area) at 7.30am
Travel to Port Augusta in 20 seater bus provided by Words on Wheels
Comfort stops and morning tea on the way plus some possible sightseeing ( where appropriate
and time permitting) Arrive Port Augusta around midday. Lunch at Port Augusta ( at student’s own cost)
Afternoon in Port Augusta spent at  Aboriginal Legal rights Movement and Special Aboriginal Court at Port Augusta Magistrates Court( to be confirmed). Late afternoon travel to Woomera where we are accomodated in Woomera Cabin park.
Dinner in Woomera.
Accomodation in cabins.


DAY 2-

Travel to Arid Recovery Park via Woomera, Andamooka and Roxby Downs to arrive at Arid recovery around 3.30pm.There
is an excellent museum at Woomera which outlines the area’s history and its development in conjunction with the British as a rocket testing range and satellite launch site). Lunch to be supplied at suitable place along the way.Andamooka and Roxby Downs are complete contrasts. Both are urban settlements created to service the mining industry. One is well planned and regulated, the other a mish mash of shacks, houses and huts originally built in no orderly fashion around each opal miner’s individual mineral claim. The benefits of regulating land use, particularly from an aesthetic and service provision perspective are readily apparent.
3.30pm-6.00pm-Set up camp/accommodation options, familiarise ourselves with site, undergo induction program run by Arid Recovery staff.
6.00pm onwards-Dinner Possible nocturnal walk in reserve to hopefully spot assortment of animals( Bilbies, bettongs, sticknest rats, spinifex hopping mice etc)

DAY 3 – 

Dawn-8.00am– Wake up, breakfast , view the glory of the arid environment on a (hopefully)
sunny day
8.00-8.45am– Travel to Olympic Dam mine site for tour of mine site and explanation of
proposed expansion (at present deferred indefinitely)- Tour to be conducted by
BHP
12noon –Return to Arid Recovery for lunch
1.00pm-5.00pm– Provide assistance to Arid Recovery staff with volunteer work- likely to be
vegetation removal and fence maintenance
5.00pm onwards- Dinner maybe another nocturnal walk, campfire.

DAY 4 –

Dawn—8.30am Wake up ,breakfast , and pack for departure by 8.30am.
8.30am-Depart for Iga Warta, near Nepabunna on the edge of the Vulkathunha –Gammon Ranges
National Park in the Northern Flinders ranges via the Borefield Road, (north of Lake Torrens),then onto part of the Oodnadatta Track via Marree,Farina,and Lyndhurst. Possible slight diversion to look at Leigh Creek mine site ( open cut coal mine)( providing public access allowed and also visit ruins of old township of Farina( State Heritage place).
Arrive at Iga Warta late afternoon. Evening briefing by Iga Warta people lead by Mr Terrance Coulthard.

DAY 5 –

Dawn-8.00am Wake up ,breakfast.

Program to be determined by Iga Warta Indigenous Cultural Centre. Likely to be along following lines:
9am-12pm Contact history tour / Cultural Awareness workshop/Ochre painting ceremony
12pm –lunch
1pm – 3pm Malkii tour, visit a painting site that has been dated to be 35,000 years old and can still be interpreted through oral history that has been handed down from generation to generation.

6:00 pm- campfire experience including story-telling, singing and the sharing of Adnyamathanha culture, as well as supper of damper (cooked in the fire in the traditional Adnyamathanha way), with urti (quandong) jam and billy tea.

DAY 6 –  

Dawn-8.00am Wake up, breakfast, pack up
Departure at 9.00am for Flinders Ranges National park. Depending on road and weather conditions travel through Vulkathunha –Gammon Ranges National Park to Balcanoona then down to Blinman ( where if possible we do a guided tour of the old underground Blinman Mine) Wilpena and Rawnsley Park where we spend 2 nights.

DAY 7 – 

Dawn-8.00am Wake up,breakfast , pack up.

8.30am-Trvel to Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park.

Options of climbing Mt Ohlsson Bagge  to get magnificent views of Wilpena Pound and to the east of the Ranges.
Also possible walk along Wilpena Creek into the Pound.Return to Wipena rangers Station by 1pm  and then
Return to Adelaide viewing aboriginal cave paintings at Yourambulla Caves on the way, Goyder’s line and various rural towns and
settlements.

It is a requirement that students attend  the 4 hour pre-departure briefing to give themselves the best opportunity to fully engage with the various matters to be dealt with on the study tour. Attendance on the Tour itself is obviously compulsory.

Assessment Task	Weighting	Due	Task Type	Length	Redeemable	Learning Outcome
Attendance and Course Participation	10%	During tour	Individual	N/A	No	2,3,4
2x Reflective Journal Entries	30%		Individual	800-1000 words each	No	1,2,5,6
Research Assignment	50%		Individual	3500 words	No	1,2
End of day presentation/discussion	10%	During tour	Small group			2,3,5

It is compulsory to attend the pre-departure briefing session as explained above, partial or full exemption will  be permitted on compassionate grounds only.

It is obviously compulsory to attend on the Tour itself.

1. Attendance and course participation 10%. This requires students to not only attend the pre-departure briefing and on the Tour but also actively participate in the evening 'roundup' sessions each day on the Tour and in the question and answer sessions with the various presenters.  Failure to attend either or both the pre-departure briefing and on the tour itself means a student cannot pass the course.

2. Presentation and management of a daily roundup session in small groups 10%. This presentation will require students to present some information about the matters covered during the day. Reference to readings, sum up what has been learned during the day, and ask  questions to prompt discussion among the student cohort. The presentation sessions will take approximately 1/2 an hour each evening, often around a campfire.

3. The completion of 2 Reflective Journal entries, each of a maximum of 800-1000 words in length on the following matters is required:

a. The concept of biodiversity conservation and how international law influences both national and state laws on this topic.
b. The impacts of European settlement on indigenous laws and customs.
c. The interrelationship of domestic legal regimes over mining, environment, land use and Aboriginal interests.
d. Future management challenges in mining, agriculture, climate change, or land use;
e. Integration of competing economic and environmental values in decision making
f.  Addressing climate change impacts in diverse contexts in the region
g. The social political and legal interactions that Aboriginal people must navigate to manage their unique rights in this country.
h. Any aspect of justice access in this regional context
i. On a matter of the student's own choosing.
The reflective journals are worth 30% of the final grade (15% each) and are non redeemable.They must be submitted online through
MyUni on the date specified in the Assessment Summary.

4. A Research assignment of a maximum of 3,500 words (including Bibliography and attachments not exceeding 4 pages), on one of a number of allocated topics (or with the Course Coordinator's approval on a topic of the student's own choice). The research paper is worth 50% of a student's final grade. It must be submitted through MyUni on the date specified in the Assessment Summary The assignment may be in the form of a report rather than a typical essay, and may include up to 4 pages of attachments which may draw on multidisciplinary sources, or other explanatory material.

All assessments will be submitted and monitored through text or code comparative software (e.g. Turnitin) where possible.

PRESENTATION OF ASSIGNMENTS

1. Students must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.

2.Both the Reflective Journal and Research assignments must be submitted electronically through the Turnitin portal. Details of the process for electronic submission( through MyUni ) will be provided during the early part of the semester.

3. The on-line quiz will be available on MyUni through Turnitin.

MyUni

Consistent with Law School policy, the primary communication mechanism for this course will be through placing announcements on MyUni. It is essential that students regularly check the announcements page for information. It is your responsibility to check MyUni regularly to ensure you have the most recent information. Any urgent information will be sent to you by email as well as placed on MyUni.

RETURN OF ASSIGNMENTS AND FEEDBACK

Assignments will be returned to students via the Turnitin portal within 4 weeks of the due date with feedback. The Relective Journal and Research assignment are both to be marked on an iPad.Feedback will include a mixture of written and verbal comments which will be able to be retrieved through the Turnitin portal. Students will be notified by email when assignments can be retrieved from the Turnitin portal.

Late Submission: 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend. For example, an essay that is submitted after the due date and time but within the first 24 hour period, and that has been graded at 63%, will have 5% deducted, for a final grade of 58%. An essay that is more than 24 hours late will lose 10%, etc. 

Word Length: Assignments which exceed the allocated length (word length or page limit) will be subject to a penalty of 5% of total marks possible per 100 words or part thereof (ie with a word limit of 4,000, an essay graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is 4001 words long, for a final grade of 58%, 10% if it is 4101 words long, etc). Words are calculated including all footnotes and headings within the text but excluding cover page information. Quotations and all referencing information are included in the word count.

Courses for which a result of conceded pass has been obtained may not be presented towards the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Laws or the Honours Degree of Bachelor of Laws programs, or any postgraduate law program, nor to satisfy prerequisite requirements within any law course.

Finality of Assessment Grades

Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).

Moderation

In accordance with the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:

• assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
• detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
• sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
• reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
• comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
• automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
• the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.

Approval of Results by Board of Examiners

Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the University are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester.

The University Writing Centre provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the University of Adelaide.

The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

Lex Salus Program

Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.

Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our Facebook page, website and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.

Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.

Student Life Counselling Support

The University’s Student Life Counselling Support service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life.

Academic Integrity

All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Integrity Policy. Academic Misconduct is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic Misconduct (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia. Academic Integrity is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.