Hundreds of Aborigines and supporters are preparing to defend the kutalayna Aboriginal site in Tasmania’s lower Jordan Valley, in a protest that some say has the potential to be as big as the huge Save Franklin River protests of the 1980s.
In dispute is the route of the Brighton bypass highway, north of Hobart. The Tasmanian government is pushing ahead with a bridge that will damage the historic site. Aboriginal activists and their supporters want the bridge to be moved at least 300 metres away.
Already the campaign has drawn support from high-profile figures.
These include: US actor Michelle Rodriguez (who stared in Avatar); musicians The John Butler Trio and Daryl Braithwaite; Greens politicians Bob Brown, Christine Milne and Helen Burnett; Independent MP for Denison Andrew Wilkie; former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser; and Launceston Mayor Albert Van Zeten.
Organisations such as the Socialist Alliance, Still Wild Still Threatened and Climate Action Hobart also back the campaign.
The kutalayna site is part of an old travelling route of the Mumirimina people, beside the Jordan River in the state’s south.
The site is rich in ancient artefacts, dating from 40,000 years ago right through to the 1800s.
Archeologists around the world have recognised it as a vitally important site for learning about the history of Tasmanian Aborigines, and humanity generally. This is something the Tasmanian government should be proud of.
In 2009, after the dating of artefacts showed they were of global significance, Aboriginal Heritage Officer Aaron Everett led protests that showed the strong community opposition to the bridge.
Several members of the Aboriginal community and the Socialist Alliance were arrested in these protests.
Instead of diverting the bridge, the government has promised it will solve the problem by lengthening the bridge’s span so it passes over the river levee that borders the site.
But this is spin doctoring by the Tasmanian government. The kutalayna site is extensive, running alongside the river for 500 metres and extending 250 metres from the river bank.
Archaeologists have said important artefacts are spread throughout the site. The bridge works will physically destroy the site even though it will span the 60 metre wide levee.
The protesters say they want to keep the site’s integrity: as a place of respect for the Aboriginal people who lived there for thousands of years, and as place people can go to understand Aboriginal history.
Surrounding it with a highway defeats this purpose. Kutalayna is not simply a bunch of artefacts that can be dug up and put in a museum — it is a living site, connected to the ancient travelling route, the river beside it and the quarry nearby.
Non-Aboriginal protesters responded to government inaction by attempting to have the Tasmanian Heritage Council intervene to protect the site.
The Heritage Council refused to consider the application because the heritage is Aboriginal rather than European. A challenge to this ruling has been launched in the Supreme Court, on the grounds it breaches the Racial Discrimination Act.
After this, an Aboriginal delegation travelled to Canberra in September to meet with federal Environment Minister Tony Burke.
Delegation member Michael Mansell, the Legal Director of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, told Green Left Weekly the delegation called for federal intervention to force the state government to the negotiating table.
On December 17, new Tasmanian heritage minister Brian Wightman announced he had approved the “permit to destroy” required to proceed with the bridge.
He had replaced former minister David O’Byrne less than three weeks earlier. Aborigines responded by calling for the federal government to take over Aboriginal heritage responsibilities from the state government.
Nick McKim, Greens member of the Tasmanian government and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, has visited the site and has criticised Wightman’s decision.
However, this is happening under his watch as minister. The Aboriginal community has criticised McKim for not taking a stronger stand.
As part of the campaign to stop the bridge, Aborigines have placed a ban on any survey studies of Aboriginal heritage in Tasmania.
Mansell said on December 22: “This means projects that require study to determine if Aboriginal heritage exists will be stalled. The Bagdad, Richmond and Kingston bypasses will be affected, along with the Midlands water scheme, the Meander gas pipeline scheme and a host of other projects.
“The ban will remain in place until decent laws are enacted to protect, instead of destroy, Aboriginal heritage.”
As community pressure grew, Burke announced on December 24 that he had placed the site under an emergency heritage listing.
The listing is not permanent, but is subject to an independent assessment that may not conclude until October 2011.
In the meantime, questions remain about how much protection the emergency listing gives. The state and federal governments have insisted the bridge works can still go ahead.
Protesters have set up a camp at the site and will stay until the area is protected. Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre activist Adam Thompson told GLW: “We are not moving. This is our land and we have the right to be here and to protect our heritage.”
Aborigines want the bridge moved and have called for a formal public inquiry into how planning and construction progressed to this late stage without leaving any alternatives.
The site is now sandwiched between two pieces of highway, ready to be joined by a bridge. Refusing to divert the route to one of the alternative options has put the Tasmanian government in the ridiculous position of potentially having to pay many millions of dollars to re-route the highway at the last minute.
Mansell said: “The Aboriginal community is grateful to Tasmanians, and in particular Bob Brown and Andrew Wilkie, for their public support in recognising the site's significance.”
This struggle marks an important moment in Tasmania’s history.
Is the Tasmanian government mature and confident enough to embrace the Aboriginal history of the land? Or is it still gripped by the need to “whitewash” history so that the rights of the Aboriginal people, the owners and custodians of this land, can continue to be denied?
This selective amnesia may give comfort to some in the community, but it is useless for those who seek to move forward to a just, fair and decent society of which we can be proud.
[Visit Tacinc.com.au for more information on the campaign.]
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