Robin Chapple MLC

For 20 years in the WA parliament I have been trying to protect the heritage and culture of our state and now a year after Juukan Gorge, here's what Aboriginal people want you to know about protecting land and culture

A year after Juukan Gorge, here's what Aboriginal people want you to know about protecting land and culture This month marks one year since Rio Tinto blew up 46,000-year-old rock shelters at Juukan Gorge. Now more than ever we should listen to Aboriginal people who want to protect land and culture, writes Hannah McGlade.

This is renewables under Labor (WA).

We cannot pave over Indigenous cultures on our way to a green future.

The petroglyphs at Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula) predate the construction of Stonehenge, the Pyramid of Giza, and even the last glacial maximum.

The Labor (WA) Government and their Industry friends will continue to leverage green technology against First Nations heritage, aiming to drive a wedge between environmental and cultural groups.

Tell the EPA that we will not pay for renewables through destruction and erasure of First Nations' culture, and mankind's history on this land.

To have your say on the protection First Nations cultural heritage, make a submission to the EPA via the link below by Monday 10 May.

https://consultation.epa.wa.gov.au/open-for-submissions/ammonia-plant-murujunga-add-info/

So what was the 1946 Pilbara Strike?

75 years ago, on May 1, 1946, hundreds of Aboriginal workers began walking off dozens of pastoral stations across the vast Pilbara region to fight for wages and better living conditions.

Committed Aboriginal leaders had for months secretly travelled to stations all over the Pilbara to alert Aboriginal workers to the strike, timed to take place just before shearing began in May.

After a hard-fought three-year struggle, the strikers finally achieved their original aim of ‘30 bob a week’, as well as establishing their own communities independent of the previous domination of ‘pastoralist, policeman and native welfare officer’.

The Strike was supported ‘down south’ by church and women’s groups, lawyers, unions, and the Australian Communist Party:

The WA Government’s hand was finally forced in July 1949, when the Fremantle-based Seamen’s and Lumpers’ Unions voted to black ban wool from Pilbara stations still holding out against the Aboriginal strikers’ demands.

The Pilbara Strike movement reshaped colonial race relations in WA and helped to inspire later and better-known acts of Aboriginal resistance like the 1966 Wave Hill walk off in the Northern Territory and the 1980 Noonkanbah blockade in the Kimberley region.

Since then, the 1946 Pilbara Strike has been recognised by the ACTU as the longest strike in Australian history, and has been regularly commemorated by WA unions at their annual May Day event on Fremantle Esplanade.

This May Day weekend we invite you to join us and members of the Pilbara Strike families in Fremantle to honour the courage and determination of the strikers, and commemorate this pivotal, yet little known event in our shared history.

We can always rely on Calla Wahlquist and the Guardian to hit the nail on the head. Great piece, it’s all gone incredibly quiet during election time!

Juukan Gorge 'cop-out': talk about protecting Aboriginal sites goes curiously quiet in WA In the lead-up to the state election, Indigenous heritage has barely been mentioned, despite concerns about new draft laws

We need a person of culture to look after culture.

We need representation in our Government.

Vote #1 Naomi Pigram, Greens (WA) candidate for Kimberley

Naomi Pigram, Greens candidate for The Kimberley

💚

SHAME!

As we've seen throughout the pandemic, the people get less, Governments and their corporate buddies get more.

SHAME!

The destruction at Juukan was gut-wrenching, and these people got bonuses of 46%.

SHAME!

"...the man who led the internal inquiry into the disaster, Michael L'Estrange, was paid an extra 46 per cent on top of his annual director fees for his efforts.
Subsequently, his director fees for 2020 totalled $US227,000 ($288,386)..."

[photo courtesy of the ABC]

Even after the Juukan fiasco, Labor (WA) is not listening.

We have lost another rock shelter because of the Mining Industry and their friends in Government.

We need to protect First Nations Heritage and culture.

Culture belongs on Country, not in a museum.

Check out the 2021 Greens (WA) Heritage policy here:
https://greens.org.au/wa/platform/firstnations

This needs to stop. A registered Aboriginal heritage site has been damaged at one of BHP’s Pilbara iron ore mines, despite the major miner pledging in June to consult with traditional owners before disturbing sites in the area.

The truth of the matter is this has been happening in WA for years, the people of Western Australia have lost scores of caves, artefacts and sacred spiritual places. Tens of thousands of pieces of ancient rock art have been destroyed on the Burrup and heavy industry is still being proposed in the area. We’re losing our history – something we can’t get back.

Although the details are still emerging, what’s happened at BHP’s site, and what happened at Juukan gorge last year are symptomatic of a much larger issue of how indigenous heritage is treated in WA.

BHP, Rio Tinto and the State Government have failed our First Nations communities because of lacklustre mechanisms that still exist today which allow companies to destroy Indigenous Heritage anywhere in the state.

With an election coming up we desperately need more Greens voices in WA parliament to hold WA Labor to account when it comes to aboriginal heritage reform