Photo (by Julia Rau) - Goolarabooloo Matriarch Teresa Roe with son, Senior Law Boss Phillip Roe who said he would die first before surrendering Goolabaraloo Country to the proposed LNG hub. They stand on sand dunes where there are burial sites within proximity of the proposed gas hub.
Gerry Georgatos - Goolarabooloo Senior Law Boss Phillip Roe said that he hoped that come May that Woodside will decide to not proceed with the $40 billion giant gas hub at James Price Point (Walmandan). If the go-ahead is given Mr Roe said that he is prepared to die for his Country, and that hundreds of Goolarabooloo will stand their ground. He will never give up the fight.
Mr Roe pointed out the graves of his ancestors to the National Indigenous Times - they are buried at the top of the dunes right nearby the proposed gas hub site. "I will die before giving up on my Country, our home, and its nature," he said.
"For thousands of generations this pristine Country has taken care of us."
Walmandan Tent Embassy, now nearly two years old, is well set up with Goolarabooloo community members on site, and seasoned activists complementing their numbers. They even have a doctor and nurse and numerous professionals in support, and who can be on site.
The majority of Broome residents are in support of the Goolaraboolo's fight to preserve their nearby pristine environment, and scores have promised to sacrifice their bodies in a human blockade.
Resident Nik Weavers said, "We are waiting for the word and we are willing to be arrested. There are thousands from all walks of life who will come, Indigenous and non-Indigenous."
During the last two years more than 100 protestors have been arrested, with an en masse arrest of 26 people on the one day when Woodside workers and their machinery were blockaded.
Woodside refutes that in the event of the gas hub getting the go-ahead that there would be extensive damage to local Aboriginal heritage, songlines, and sacred sites. A spokeswoman said that the venture-partners would work closely with Traditional Owners to manage the preservation of such sites.
Last year the National Indigenous Times broke the story that the gas hub is not a done deal, that Chevron would pull out and a couple of months later it did, and that Woodside and other joint venture partner Board members were disapproving of Premier Colin Barnett's compulsory acquisition threats. The National Indigenous Times also broke the story that the venture partners would consider an offshore floating LNG plant, and they are considering it as it is more cost effective and with less negative public perceptions. The Goolarabooloo are hoping that they will be spared the fight for their Country, however if in mid-May the decision is one to break their hearts they will not lie down and give up said Mr Roe.
Two years ago Goolarabooloo and Jabirr Jabirr Joint Native Title claimants under the duress of compulsory acquisition voted by majority for the deal and then signed a $1.5 billion agreement however many also refused to vote.
Mr Roe said Aboriginal land rights is a joke, and that as long Aboriginal peoples aren't allowed a 'veto' against development - as compulsory acquisition can be pulled on them - then there "are no Aboriginal land rights in this nation."
Until 1865, the Aboriginal clans of the Dampier Peninsula still had their Law, language and culture intact. However, in that year, the first colonialists arrived with 4.000 sheep. Dispossession commenced. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Djugun and Ngumbarl clans had been virtually wiped out.
Passing of custodianship involves the future custodian being walked through the land and told the names of its key features, the songs in which the names are encoded and the often complex stories of their significance. Holding the songs remains crucial to the capacity to care for the land. If the Law-keeper has this information, they can start at one end of the land and traverse its entire length, reciting the name, song and story of each sacred place.
Paddy Roe was born in Roebuck in the early twentieth century, and in 1931, with his wife Pegalilly he found only about 60 to 100 elderly people, including Walmadany, the greatly respected leader of the remnant Jabirr Jabirr still on their land. The young people had been taken away to missions in other places. There were no women of child-bearing age.
Walmadany and the old law-keepers Narbi and Kardilakan, had been entrusted with full custodianship of the lands of the Ngumbarl and Djugun people, which were overlain by station leases. They maintained the land in the Traditional way, in spite of the hazards associated with contact with non-Aboriginal people.
Within months of their coming to Jabirr Jabirr Country, Pegalilly became pregnant. Mindful they were all soon to die, the Jabirr Jabirr Elders bestowed their knowledge on Paddy Roe, and walked him through the land many times. He was given full knowledge of the place names, songs and stories of the land, and made Keeper of the Law of the Jabirr Jabirr, Ngumbarl and Djugun peoples. He was later to bury many of these people in their Country – and at the sand dunes.
Paddy Roe settled his family north of Broome and established the Goolarabooloo community.
In 1987, he initiated the Lurujarri Heritage Trail as a trigger to encourage the members of the Goolarabooloo community to be walking in the Country again, as had always been done; to conserve, renew and stay connected with their heritage and Traditional skills and to keep the same alive for generations to come. He also sought to wake up non-Aboriginal people to a relationship with the land. Paddy Roe was a masterful storyteller and many of his stories are recorded in his two books, ‘Gularabulu’ and ‘Reading the Country’.
Paddy Roe's standing and his work for the community over many decades was recognised in 1990 when the Governor-General awarded him the Order of Australia Medal. “However his work and our Country is now under threat and we are saying we will never give up, our Country will come first,” said son, Phillip Roe.
His elder brother, Senior Law Boss Joseph Roe said once the Country is disturbed it will destroy historical and cultural identity, the children will be at a loss. "What happens to the culture and country? What happens to that? It’s just like the snake story, mate. Here's the snake crawling across the dust every time. Somebody goes to it with a shovel and cut him in half. And I asked the question can you put that snake back in 30 years and make him crawl back to do the same thing? No you can't. Once you kill him, he's dead, finished, gone. This is the same thing that happened here.”
BARNETT'S DREAM FOR A GAS HUB GETS A LIFT
Gerry Georgatos - With Goolarabooloo Senior Law Bosses Phillip and Joseph Roe and Richard Hunter holding together the burgeoning two year old Walmandan Tent Embassy and with legal actions by them against the Woodside joint venture and the State Government, Premier Barnett’s dream of the $40 billion gas hub at James Price Point on the Kimberley coast is no sure thing. However, his dream was given a life support despite the fact he was also confronted by nearly 200 protestors while on a visit last week in Broome.
Sources within some of the Venture group have told the National Indigenous Times that onshore liquefied gas appears the only way to “ensure local supply to Western Australia.” For quite some time sources within Venture group partners had told the National Indigenous Times that an offshore LNG site was becoming more likely and would be “more cost-effective.” They said that they also did not want to “relive Noonkanbah and a huge protest movement.”
The sources said that it “is all now up in the air.”
“Months ago it looked like we would go offshore and in effect go out of sight, out of mind. As I told you Chevron would pull out but now it seems without knowing which way it’ll go that indeed we are now considering the onshore site and the government is pushing for it in the belief it may be able to offset a supply and cost crisis to its constituents.”
The source said that Premier Barnett has promised all sorts of subsidies and assistance to the Venture partners in the event their May decision is a “go-ahead for the hub.”
Western Australia depends on gas for 70 per cent of its electricity and once again on gas for half its energy. With a high supply of local gas Western Australia nevertheless has among the world’s highest residential user pays gas prices in the world. WA has a policy of 15 per cent of gas produced to be retained for local supply however this only applies to onshore gas production facilities and not to offshore. If gas is not landed for processing onshore it therefore cannot be included as part of the local supply reserve.
The Browse Basin holds more than 15 years’ worth of gas supply for WA and the Venture partners know this and therefore the opportunity to leverage various opportunities from the WA State government.
The source said, “It is high stakes and a lot of pressure from all quarters with minds not yet made up, and this is why offshore and onshore are both equally as likely.”
Premier Barnett attended a Sundowner at the Broome Civic Centre however he dealt head on with the peaceful but angry protestors. “I know most of you don’t agree with me but the gas hub is important for the whole of the State,” said Premier Barnett.
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal campaigners said they were angry at the proposed gas hub which would “destroy the Kimberley, Goolarabooloo Country, and pristine environment.”
Mr Roe said the proposal looked more likely than had been hoped was the case in recent times. “It is proposed that a workers camp will be approved and accommodate workers to construct the new town for up to 8,000 construction workers.”
“We will not lie down, and we will stand on Country and defend it. I am prepared to die first than surrender our Country,” said Mr Roe.
Broome resident and anti-gas hub campaigner Nik Weavers said, “We are being bullied into submission by the Barnett government to accept this project. It will destroy our community, our culture, our country and we are not prepared to lie down.”
Mr Roe and Ms Weaver called upon Premier Barnett to meet with the affected community and nearby Broome residents. Premier Barnett has agreed to meet with them.
BARNETT PREPARED TO PULL OUT ALL STOPS
Gerry Georgatos - WA Premer Colin Barnett is prepared to block all alternatives to the $40 billion James Price Point LNG hub proposal to ensure the hub is built. Woodside venture partner, Shell, favours a cheaper floating LNG distant from Kimberley's pristine coastline - this story was first broken in The National Indigenous Times middle of last year.
Premier Barnett signalled that he has the power to stop the offshore alternative.
"It is the State's gas, the gas belongs two thirds to the Commonwealth and one third to the State and any development, onshore or offshore, requires both Commonwealth and State approval," said Premier Barnett.
He claimed the offshore alternative would cost jobs. A Government insider said that Premier Barnett has the power to stop the alternatives. For instance he could refuse to grant the production licence for the Torosa gas field, one of the three main gas fields that constitute the Browse region LNG resource.
For the Woodside led venture partners to proceed with either an onshore or offshore facility they would want the Torosa field, even more so than the remoter Brecknock and Calliance fields.
When Premier Barnett was asked about whether he would withhold the licence if the venture partners preferred an offshore alternative he would not say one way or the other.
"We are not in that place. What we are doing is working with Woodside as joint venture partners to see an onshore development at James Price Point."
"They have spent perhaps already a billion dollars already on that work, and their project is focused on James Price Point."
Goolarabooloo Senior Law Boss, Phillip Roe, said Premier Barnett had bullied the Jabirr Jabirr and Goolarabooloo Native Title claimants with compulsory acquisition and with continued poverty if they did not surrender their lands, and Mr Roe said they expected no better from "the single-minded Premier."
