Sacred Land Over Greed
The Timbarra Plateau not only has high conservation value to environmentalists
and locals of the Clarence Valley. It is also one of the most sacred sites to
several local tribes of the Bungjulung people. One of these tribes is the Malera
People.
"Malera country is Gold Dreaming and we as the Malera
people are the children of the Gold Dreaming," said Kathy Malera Bandjalan.
With the voice of her family, Malera-Bundjalan has vowed to stop the mining of
her ancestral land on theTimbarra(Malera) plateau in northern NSW (near
Tenterfield).
"The proposed mine is an attack on the Malera people, their land and
identity," argues Malera-Bandjalan. "Malera is sacred to us as a
people. To attack our land is to attack our people. To mine Malera is to totally
kill our spirit. It is to kill everything we believe in. It is to cease our
existence as a people. We have lost enough without losing any more, especially
our Dreaming and sacred sites. Especially those that are of particular strength
to women."
"There has also been two other land claims by other Tribes of the Bungalung
people who claim this Mountain to be of extremely high cultural significance to
their people. Our right to our ancestral beliefs is one of our basic human
rights.
"So why, as a country of the United Nations, do we not follow by our own
guidelines the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and protect our native
peoples right to sacred land ,belief and culture!?!
"Timbarra Plateau is Aboriginal sacred site, Yet the NSW government will
still allow it to be destroyed. Why? So much has been taken from the aboriginal
people, yet they are still wanting to take more.
"Revered by aboriginal people as their place of creation, law giving,
initiation, healing and communion with god: spared from hunting - Timbarra is a
sacred site."
(John Wilson member of the Timbarra
Protection Coalition.)
Previous studies have demonstrated that the Timbarra
plateau has important aboriginal archaeological and heritage values. The NPWS
considers that, given the aboriginal heritage significance of the area, there is
the potential for the proposal to impact on aboriginal archaeological and
heritage values as a result of pipeline construction and associated clearing and
ground disturbances, and upgrading of relevant access roads to the pump site.
Of particular concern are relic-based aboriginal sites such as rock
engravings recently recorded in the area, open artifact scatters, sacred trees
(resulting from traditional Aboriginal usage of the area) and ceremonial sites
which must be identified in conjunction with the aboriginal community. The
NPWS notes that no assessment of the aboriginal heritage values of the Nelsons
Creek area, impacts of the proposed activity on those values or measures to
mitigate impacts on identified values has been provided in the REF reviewed.
Gary Davey (The Director of Environmental
Services.)
