FMG imposes ‘apartheid-like’ rules on Yindjibarndi visits to country

From Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation
Friday 9 December 2011

Having acquired a limited right to mine in Yindjibarndi country, FMG is now demanding that Yindjibarndi people stay out of their traditional country and apply to FMG ‘managers’ for permission in writing to enter.

The Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC) advised FMG on Wednesday that members were heading to Ganyjingarringunha (Solomon mining project) to record the cultural history of the area and to conduct
certain religious rituals which are required to be performed each year.

However, FMG has demanded that, before going on country, Yindjibarndi people must:
• lodge an official "Access Authorisation Request";
• not bring or use any video or photographic equipment;
• report to security gate officers the make, model, registration numbers and intended routes of all vehicles – on both the inward and outward journeys;
• report the names of all vehicle occupants;
• report full names of all guests and the organisations they represent.

At the same time as obstructing Yindjibarndi traditional rights of access, FMG states that it will:
• photograph and video all Yindjibarndi sites;
• photograph and video all Yindjibarndi people going about their cultural business and performing their rituals;
• photograph and video all heritage professionals undertaking archaeological and ethnographic work for the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC);
• and bar all Yindjibarndi children from entering lands where FMG have a right to mine, thereby preventing them from learning about heritage and rituals within country that Yindjibarndi people call Ganyjingarringunha.

YAC has rejected FMG’s conditions.

Link to FMG Access Authorisation notice and other Primary Documents: http://tiny.cc/cict3

At the end of Thursday, as Yindjibarndi people moved through their country, tracked by an FMG spotter plane and security personnel, FMG followed up their notice of “Access Authorisation” with a hand-delivered
letter from FMG Lawyer, Mr Ken Green, which threatened to seek “injunctive relief and related costs against one or more of YAC, Juluwarlu and the Travelling Group” if they entered the area where FMG has a right to mine.

This signals FMG’s intention to escalate their strategy of vexatious and intimidating litigation to other targets, including volunteers wishing to help with heritage recording.

The Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation has made it clear to FMG that the purpose of their visit is not to prevent FMG from exercising any of its mining rights, but to peacefully go about their cultural business.

YAC CEO, Michael Woodley, said, “We have come here to record our heritage for our future generations, sing our jawi songs for the country, collect ochre for ceremony, check on the safety of and purify our ancestral burials, and talk to the country. Ganyjingarringunha is the main river travelled by the Yindjibarndi through this mountain country. Our most senior Yindjibarndi elder, Ned Cheedy, came here as a boy and was taught by his elders about its ancient cave burials, men’s sites, ochre sites, springs – right through to his initiation into
manhood. He still knows this country like the back of his hands and he has passed on his knowledge to our generation. We are very disappointed by FMG’s attempt to impose these ‘apartheid-like’ conditions.”

In an attempt to negotiate access to Ganyjingarringunha, YAC asked FMG to identify the locations of any current mining activity, such as blasting, which might risk the safety of visiting Yindjibarndi people, however, FMG has refused to identify such locations and instead compelled Yindjibarndi people to get permission, or keep out of a “controlled area” covering in excess of 14,000 hectares.

FMG has not indicated by what right (under the Mining Act or any other Act), it seeks to contain and control Yindjibarndi cultural and religious practice in the greater parts of its mining tenements, which are not being actively mined, and that have, to date, survived blasting and massive land disturbance.

These controls would effectively prevent Yindjibarndi traditional owners from recording heritage that is most critically endangered by the expansion of FMG’s Solomon mining project; and simultaneously prevent independent archaeologists and anthropologists, who have volunteered their professional assistance, from getting a close-up view of, and recording with digital media, the songs and ceremonies for that country, and the country itself, before it is destroyed by FMG.

Mr Woodley said that FMG had acquired a right to mine Yindjibarndi traditional country without the free prior and informed consent of his people, and there was no legal foundation for FMG’s draconian ‘conditions’: “This notice is a throw-back to the pre-1967 laws that controlled when and where our people could go, made us beg for travel permits, and kept us under constant surveillance and the fear of punishment,” said Mr Woodley. “It was laws like this that tried to break the connections of our people to country and all the rituals that are the foundations of our religious beliefs and language. Such laws were abolished half a century ago because they were destructive and unjust, and because the Australian people recognised that they rubbished our Human Rights as the first Australians. Now, in country they wish to mine, FMG want to bring back these dark ages.”

Mr Woodley said, “Since FMG came into our country, our people have been treated like unwanted aliens, or foreigners in their own land. To accept their conditions would be to accept FMG’s belief that we have no
rights in our country except for those that they want to give us. We are not surprised by how low FMG will stoop to boost its profits, but Yindjibarndi people place great faith in the international Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Australia has endorsed, and the support of the Australian people once they discover what FMG and billionaire Andrew Forrest are actually doing to kill our human right to carry on our traditions.”

This journey of ceremony and cultural recording may be the last opportunity Yindjibarndi elders have to make a full record, which can be used by future generations of Yindjibarndi to restore and revive traditional connections – once FMG’s 40 year right to mine ceases, and the enormous task of rehabilitation begins.

While on country, Yindjibarndi elders can be reached on satellite phone – 0147 164889

Alternatively, contact George Irving, YAC legal counsel – 0417903785 gmirving@tpg.com.au

Michael Woodley YAC CEO – 0419 097 130 mwoodley@juluwarlu.com.au

Phil Davies YAC Anthropologist/Public Officer – 0429 110 451 pdavies@juluwarlu.com.au

For video, photos & research materials please visit: www.yindjibarndi.org.au

For media materials please contact: media@juluwarlu.com.au

http://yindjibarndi.org.au/