00:01A sporting hub, a centre for culture, a place held dear to the capital's First Nations community.
00:09Kim Davison has worked and played at Boominalla. She's even celebrated her wedding here.
00:15I've got huge memories from here, on different levels.
00:19In the mid-80s, the Oval was placed in community hands by Charlie Perkins, then Secretary of Aboriginal Affairs.
00:25There it remained for three decades until financial problems forced the gates to close.
00:32It was a community hub. It was our safe space.
00:36We had a lot of events here. We had funerals here. We had weddings. We had NAIDOC activities.
00:42You know, you drop in and have a yarn.
00:43The closure was caused by a withdrawal of Commonwealth funding.
00:47The ground fell into disrepair and returned to the ACT Government in 2015.
00:52Since then, it's been renovated and maintained, with a promise to return ownership to the Indigenous community.
00:59Some people might see it as just a sports field. It's much more than that.
01:02And you could hear that from the stories that people were telling and their close connection to that place.
01:08The name of the Oval comes from Mervyn Bumanala Williams, a legendary Aboriginal rugby league player from the 1940s.
01:16Bumanala means speed and lightning, not terms that could be used when it comes to progress on the Oval.
01:22Return to community control has been promised for more than a decade.
01:25Now there's hope a new management group, made up of Indigenous leaders and governments, can hand back control, possibly by
01:332027.
01:34It'll take as long as it takes and I think it's important, after such a long period of time and
01:39how significant it is,
01:41that the interim management group take the time to get it right.
01:45A decision could be put to Cabinet by the end of the year.
01:48Day 4
01:49Go on.
01:54Day 4
01:54Day 4
01:54Day 5
01:55Day 5
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