2 pages including this one
WATTLE POINT WIND
FARM
DEVELOPMENT A DISGRACE.
"We are one mob, with one life and one Dreaming and it's all disappearing in front of my eyes"..
The old people, they put stories in my mind, stories about our ancestors and their Dreaming and how they lived. And a fella got to learn how to handle seeing all our cultural landscapes get destroyed.
I'm the head Aboriginal Heritage monitor for the Narungga Heritage Committee and a direct descendent of the traditional owners of Adjahdura Land. What I witnessed in the first week of development at Wattle Point was a disgrace.
Our ancient heritage is disappearing in front of my eyes. We are fighting developers, government and some of our own people, to save what's left of our heritage. Some say it's gone already. Once the Minister, Terry Roberts, made a decision to ignore our wishes and ignore our Dreaming and gave the go-ahead to destroy the Wattle Point site, that was it, the rest will all go. What's left of 40,000 years of our cultural landscapes will be swept clean of this land by development and very little evidence that our ancestors lived here for 40,000 years, will exist. And the minister, this government, developers like Meridian Energy and some Aboriginal people who are not connected to this land and don't know our stories, just don't understand what they are destroying. What will happen to Native Title claims when all our cultural landscapes are destroyed?
In the first week of development at Wattle Point, the developers, the government, and some Aboriginal people have acted without respect. The government and the developer didn't give us time to consult properly. I turned up at the Wattle Point site on Monday to find the developer had already dug 4 large holes. I was disgusted with what I saw. It freaked me out. The developers commenced work at Wattle Point before the date they gave us to start monitoring and before they were given cultural awareness training. The work at Wattle Point also commenced without a workplace agreement and heritage agreement being put in place.
The Minister, Terry Roberts, determined that the whole of the Wattle Point development area is a significant Aboriginal Dreaming site and then gave the go ahead to destroy it, but at least these developers could have shown us some respect and waited for us to start monitoring the site and waited for us to give them cultural awareness training, before they started digging up the ground.
The Minister determined the whole of the Wattle Point wind farm development area a significant Aboriginal Dreaming site, so didn't these developers break the law when they started digging without Aboriginal monitors? What will the government do about that? Will government use the Aboriginal Heritage Act to protect our rights? What has the Aboriginal heritage Act done to save what's left of our cultural landscapes? This Rann State Labour government has used the Act against us not for us.
How do I feel about getting paid to watch these developers destroy our cultural landscapes in front of my eyes? I feel wild, upset, pissed off. How can government get away with this? Some of our people have been sucked-in and blinded by compensation payments. This whole thing has been a stuff-up from the start. There has been a lack of communication and a lack of respect shown for Aboriginal culture.
How do you think I feel when some Aboriginal people are more worried about fighting for the money than fighting to save what's left of our heritage? Who is to blame for starting this conflict? Organizations that were previously dependent on funding from ATSIC, are now fighting their own people to survive. How are we going to deal with this?
At the end of the day, we have no control over anything that's going on and all our cultural landscapes will be lost.
What's important to me and my family is that we save what's left of our heritage and cultural landscapes before they all get swept clean of this country.
When the excavator was crashing against the ground I wandered how my ancestors spirits will react to all of this? People will be getting sick, I tell you this now and the government can take the blame.
QUENTEN AGIUS
Direct descendant of the true traditional owners of Adjahdura Land (Yorke Peninsula, SA).
Head Senior Monitor for the Narungga Heritage Committee.
Aboriginal Consultant.
Mobile: 0429367121
46 Maitland Rd,
Point Pearce SA 557