Expansion of Twiggy’s Pilbara mine threatens 60,000-year-old sacred site, inquiry hea

Lorena Allam 6 hrs ago

Traditional owners in the Pilbara, whose lands are near those destroyed by Rio Tinto’s blast at Juukan Gorge in May, say two ancient rock shelters – one of which is estimated to be at least 60,000 years old – are under threat at a site where Fortescue mining is planning expansion permitted under Western Australia’s Aboriginal heritage laws.

In a submission to the Senate inquiry into Juukan Gorge, which will hold its first public hearing on Friday, the Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation (WGAC) said the two rock shelters contain evidence of use and occupation by humans dating back 47,800 years in one, and 60,000 years in the second.

“A third site contains petroglyphs – engraved rock art on a series of five stone panels – that depict animal and human figures, animal tracks and geometric motifs,” WGAC said.

Eastern Guruma traditional owners describe the petroglyphs as the Guruma “sacred text” because figures representing the major dreaming narratives in the area are all contained within the same site.

“These highly significant sites have not had the benefit of years of excavation and study, like Juukan Gorge,” the WGAC submission, prepared by heritage manager Dr Kathryn Przywolnik said.

WGAC represents the Eastern Guruma people, whose native title over 6,000 sq km of the Hamersley Range was the first claim to be finalised in the Pilbara, in 2007. Mining tenements cover 93% of Eastern Guruma country, WGAC said. There are currently seven mines and three rail lines operating on their lands, with new ones under construction.

“It is in this environment of expansion, heavy industry and unprecedented cultural losses that WGAC has made major and significant discoveries about its heritage in recent years, pushing the oldest dates for occupation of the Hamersley Range further and further back into the deep Pleistocene past,” WGAC said.

It said a recent review found at least 434 heritage sites have been destroyed, a further 285 are “very close” to current mining operations and more than 20,000 drill holes have been made.

“Within two generations, Eastern Guruma people have seen their country change from a remote place teeming with wildlife, fresh water and unbroken sacred narratives that networked through the Pilbara, to a heavily industrialised mining hub, now dissected by railways, dry and devoid of animals,” WGAC said.

It had particular concerns about a site west of Spear Hill called Weelumurra, where there are dozens of rock shelters, stone structures, camping sites and painted and engraved rock art.

Fortescue Mining Group (FMG), owned by Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, had sought approval under s18 of WA’s Aboriginal Heritage Act to destroy the first batch of several sites in the area to expand its operations.

But Fortescue CEO, Elizabeth Gaines said the WA Government has agreed to pause consideration of the s18 AHA application for two months, so additional consultation can occur.

Gaines said the company had previously agreed on a boundary around Spear Hill after working with Eastern Guruma people and Aboriginal heritage professionals nominated by WGAC, and “consequently designed our mining operations to stay outside of the agreed boundary”.

WGAC was critical of the WA Aboriginal heritage act, which it said makes it “all too easy” for the minister to make “poor decisions” in approving s18 applications, to rely on “work-arounds and compromises” and give mining companies “a disproportionate degree of discretion in whether to preserve cultural sites”.

“The minister’s decision is a high stakes one, in the sense that once destroyed a culturally important site cannot be restored, reinstated or recreated,” WGAC said.

Since 2017, WGAC said it has responded to 15 applications for mining by Rio Tinto and FMG in Eastern Guruma country.

Of 123 sites affected, 12 sites were identified by Eastern Guruma people to be of great cultural importance, “being sites where customary law originated, birthing places, rock shelters dating back to earlier than 40,000 years ago, ceremonial sites, sites for storing sacred objects and rock art sites”.

WGAC’s native title agreement with Rio Tinto, signed in 2007, is confidential and traditional owners are unable to discuss its specifics. WGAC said the Eastern Guruma people are in a similar situation to others in the Pilbara, who “also find themselves with tightly contained agency, unable to object to or seek recourse on heritage or tenure decisions.”

WGAC said they are “relying upon Rio Tinto’s better nature” to not impact sites.

The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), which monitors the environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices of Australian-listed companies, and is a shareholder in Rio Tinto, said the Juukan Gorge destruction was a “textbook case” of the materialising of serious ESG risk.

“Human rights abuses are generally classified as ‘S’ risk, and failures of leadership or non-application of company commitments are generally classified as ‘G’ risk. This case has both elements,” the ACCR said.

Since the blast, the ACCR said it has been involved in briefing institutional investors accounting for well over $20tn in assets under management.

“It is difficult to imagine more compelling evidence of severe corporate reputational damage than being compared to the Taliban, as Rio Tinto was by multiple commentators, and on social media, following the blast.”

The Northern Australia Committee, which is conducting the inquiry, will hear from Rio Tinto on Friday, as well as the federal and WA governments.

Committee Chair, Warren Entsch said it was important to find out what happened at Juukan Gorge and find ways to prevent such incidents occurring again.

“We will be holding extensive consultations with Indigenous stakeholders during the course of the inquiry, and expect to visit the affected sites,” Entsch said.

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