MEDIA RELEASE
15/3/05
When am I going to wake up from this nightmare? The destruction just keeps on happening at Wattle Point Wind Farm. While the developers, Southern Hydro and Meridian Energy (New Zealand Government owned companies), put out public relations propaganda, they just keep on destroying and desecrating the site at Wind Turbine 4. The destruction is now nearly complete and this state government, the Minister Terry Roberts and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation have just let the developers do exactly what they like.
You'd think with what was found at Wattle Point Wind Turbine 4; our ancestors skeletal remains and hundreds of ancient artefacts and tools (which were desecrated at the site by the developers grader); and after I said to the Minister's Department that the boundary of the protected archaeological site next to Wind Turbine 4 was compromised and put in the wrong place and that Wind Turbine 4 was actually built on the protected archaeological site (2 archaeological sites at Wattle Point were determined to be protected by the Minister, Terry Roberts); you'd think after all that, DAARE would take notice of us and do something to protect the site that the Minister said was going to be protected?
DAARE commissioned a report on the skeletal remains that were discovered at Wind Turbine 4. The report relied heavily on the developer's archaeological report. After reading both reports and looking at the site, I question many of the findings in the report. The bones weren't dated. There was no mention in DAARE's report about the hundreds of ancient Aboriginal artefacts and tools that were found at Wind Turbine 4 or about the protected archaeological site, which I said was compromised and desecrated. And DAARE didn't openly make a connection between the remains, the artefacts and the archaeological site. I asked the Department to carbon date the remains to get a true picture of the landscape at the time of burial, but in a recent letter that came from the CEO of DAARE, he stated that they could not fund the carbon dating and that to carbon date the bones meant that a small piece of bone had to be destroyed. The letter stated that I needed to ask the Minister's permission and seek a section 23 authorisation of the Aboriginal Heritage Act to date the bones. In South Australia it's illegal to desecrate and destroy Aboriginal skeletal remains and objects.
The letter from the CEO of DAARE states:
Once an Aboriginal object or remains have been found, any subsequent damage, disturbance or interference must be subject to a section 23 authorisation under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 (the Act).
The Aboriginal Heritage Act states:
Section 23: A person must not, without the
authority of the Minister:
(a)
damage,
disturb or interfere with any Aboriginal site; or
(b)
damage any
Aboriginal object.
(c)
where
any Aboriginal object or remains are found:
(i)
disturb
or interfere with the object or remains.
Penalty:
(a)
in the case
of a body corporate - $50,000;
(b)
in any
other case - $10,000 or imprisonment for 6 months.
According to the letter from the CEO of DAARE and the Aboriginal Heritage Act, once the skeletal remains and artefacts were discovered at Wind Turbine 4, the developer should have seeked a section 23 authorisation by the Minister to continue disturbing and developing the area? This never happened. So, did DAARE give the developer permission to continue developing the area, knowing what was found there, without seeking a section 23 authorisation from the Minister? Is the Minister in the dark with what is going on here?
So, because the developers, Southern Hydro and Meridian Energy, didn't seek a section 23 authorisation once the remains and artefacts were discovered and they just continued desecrating and developing the area where the artefacts and bones were found, according to the Act and the statement made in the letter written by DAARE's CEO, the developers breached Section 23 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act and should be prosecuted.
It's a disgrace! Our heritage and culture is being destroyed and developers are openly breaching the Aboriginal heritage Act and getting away with it. The penalties for breaching the Act are ridiculous. If found guilty of breaching the Act, developers only face a fine of $50,000. They can easily absorb this fine when their developments are worth millions of dollars. The fine should be $500,000. - 10 times the current fine.
Southern Hydro's Andrew Wilson wont let us go on site at Wind Turbine 4 to take photos or video of the desecration that has occurred there, to show our people and give to the media, but it's OK for his company to allow public relations pictures to be taken and published in the local media as long as it's a positive story? (Re: last issue of the Yorke Peninsula Times 8/3/05)
Since the discovery of the remains and ancient artefacts, Southern Hydro and Meridian Energy have continued developing the sensitive area near Wind Turbine 4; hundreds of metres of trenches have been recently dug and a Tower built near the area, without Aboriginal heritage site monitors or a section 23 authorisation.
Southern Hydro's Andrew Wilson told me about a week ago that because I didn't support the development, they would not pay the remainder ($10,000.) of the agreed site monitoring fees that is owed to the Narungga Heritage Committee and they would not pay the agreed compensation money of $100,000. that was promised to the Narungga people? The developers never signed a heritage agreement, and they've got away with everything so far, so I expect they think they'll get away with not paying the fees or compensation as well. What did Andrew Wilson expect me to do if they did the wrong thing? Did he expect to buy my silence with his money. Did he think I was going to keep quiet and not stand up for my culture and speak out about the desecration that has happened and continues to happen at Wattle Point?
Southern Hydro are saying they'll put up a sign to recognise Aboriginal heritage at the Wattle Point site? What a joke! The sign should be replaced with a grave stone and it should read; "At this site, Southern Hydro and Meridian Energy destroyed and desecrated the ancient burial grounds and archaeological sites of the Narungga people, in cooperation with Terry Roberts, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the Rann Labor Government".
I have written
to DAARE as Chairperson of the Narungga Heritage Committee, asking them
to
investigate this breach of Section 23 of the Act and to pursue a
prosecution
against the Wattle Point Wind farm developers, Meridian Energy and
Southern
Hydro. If found guilty this will be first ever prosecution for a breach
of the
Aboriginal Heritage Act in South Australia.
DAARE is now recommending to developers that they talk to another, more development friendly Aboriginal organization, not the Narungga Heritage Committee, about development and heritage issues on the Yorke Peninsula. An Aboriginal organization that is run by mostly government employees; a mob of people who know very little about Narungga Heritage and Dreaming; who are afraid of loosing their government jobs if they speak out; who in their constitution don't even mention the word "Heritage".
And now, after making a recent determination that the site of Origin Energy's Troubridge Point wind farm, near Wattle Point, is a significant Aboriginal Dreaming site, the Minister, Terry Roberts, has once again authorised the development of a wind farm that will destroy and desecrate another significant Aboriginal site on our country. In addition to the Dreaming site, there is also a significant archaeological site in the area, which we personally showed to the Minister. I also identified the archaeological site in my submission to the Minister's Dept. They didn't take any notice of what I was saying and the archaeological site at Troubridge Point won't be protected either. Another development on the Yorke Peninsula and another significant cultural site is going to be destroyed.
Our Dreaming sites and heritage form part of our culture, traditions and beliefs and they are not being respected or protected by this governement. When is this government going to do the right thing. I'm disgusted with what's happening on our country. This government is not using the Aboriginal Heritage Act for what it was intended for and that is to protect Aboriginal heritage and culture.
Quenten
Agius
Mobile: 0429367121
Interim
Chairperson / Head Senior Monitor for Narungga Heritage Committee (NHC)
Cultural and
Heritage Officer for Goreta Aboriginal Corporation (GAC).
Direct
descendant of the true traditional owners of Adjahdura Land (Yorke
Peninsula)
46 Maitland Rd, Point Pearce SA 5573