Senior Waanyi and Gangalidda lawmen have told the Federal Inquiry into the WA Juukun Gorge matter that the Magazine Hill damage cannot be undone and a native title veto on mining was needed.
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The testimony given by video to a Canberra on July 9 hearing follows a Mount Isa hearing in May where Waanyi men spoke of the destruction of Magazine Hill at Century Mine.
The issue for the elders at the Mount Isa inquiry was that the company made the agreement with the Waanyi PBC (Prescribed Body Corporate) whereas the elders represent the Waanyi Advancement League who say they have been excluded from negotiations.
Waanyi PBC chair Alec Doomadgee told the Canberra inquiry that the Magazine Hill approvals were done with great sadness due to the long history of Magazine Hill, "but were done to the letter of the law with the involvement of the Waanyi people, with the involvement of the Carpentaria Land Council and with the involvement of very senior tribal lawmen."
Mr Doomadgee said a deal was struck in 2009-10 with the newly established Waanyi PBC board and a board called GADC, the Gulf Aboriginal Development Company, to destroy the main ceremonial ground called Ten Mile Waterhole.
"When the Ten Mile Waterhole ceremonial ground was destroyed in 2009-2010, they had effectively switched the lights off and took any significant cultural bearing on Magazine Hill," Mr Doomadgee said.
"I was not on that board, nor was I involved with the negotiations around the destruction of the main ceremonial ground in 2009-2010. But the dissenters and people that are currently arguing and causing obstruction around the current deal on Magazine Hill were on this board and approved the destruction of the old main ceremonial ground back in 2009-2010."
Mr Doomadgee said they re-established the main ceremony ground in 2018 on Waanyi country near the Lawn Hill River.
He also said Magazine Hill sits very close to the mine pits, and due to 20 years of mining and cutting the open pit closer and closer to where the hill is, "it's in a very precarious position and is going to fall in one way or the other anyway."
"The destruction of sacred sites at Century Mine has happened from day one. They destroyed No Name Hill, they destroyed Discovery Hill, they destroyed the Ten Mile Waterhole ceremony jumangi ground. In 2001 a huge body of red ochre ore was struck in the pit. You think the mining stopped? No, because billions of dollars were coming out of Waanyi country for white man's greed and white man's need," he said.
Gangalidda Garawa Native Title Aboriginal Corporation's Murandoo Yanner said Aboriginal groups needed a veto on mining development.
"Cultural heritage isn't really something we can put aside or negotiate on. That's been the problem with Century all along, that the legislation has been weak," Mr Yanner said.
Mr Yanner said Magazine Hill destruction started originally in 1994.
"We had pushed through (Aboriginal Affairs Minister) Robert Tickner earlier, a year or so before, under federal heritage legislation to preserve the sacred sites, because we knew Century was ramping up," he said.
"He appointed a former Supreme Court judge of New South Wales, Hal Wootton, to come and do a report. Hal's report strongly recommended the preservation of those sites. However, because the legislation didn't allow a veto, we obviously couldn't get that."
Mr Yanner said they should amend the federal legislation and therefore force the states to come along with it.
"Because you will see far more destruction of sacred sites in the future, like the Juukan Gorge incident, if we do not strengthen that legislation," he said.
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