Enough Is Enough — Native Title Fails to Uphold Truth for Kokatha Mula Land, People and Culture

We, the Kokatha Mula peoples, are reaching out to the world to expose the incorrect Native Title procedures that the South Australian (State) and Australian Federal (National) Government’s Native Title regime have taken in the case of our sacred lands and waters.

We know that Kokatha Mula are not the only peoples hurt and betrayed by Native Title — often it is our own people doing it — however, it is the Government that has set this system up.

It is time to look at the list of injustices committed upon the Kokatha Mula people from the time of colonisation, which includes the separation of our families and the British atomic testing North of the Kokatha Mula peoples’ region. Having survived so much disruption to our culture, we are now required by the Government to prove our connection to country through the Native Title procedures ... We want the Australian government to prove their connection to this land, and then we’ll compare the two.

This government fails to see how insulting and disempowering this demand is.

It is encouraging division amongst our communities and it is Government once again using “divide and rule” tactics to destroy the unity of the people they are taking from. Selling out and negotiating the land was never a part of our culture. It is a part of a system that is not of this land, but it is used to generate money and feed an industry that benefits only the few.

At present our country is under greater threat than ever, with exploration leases having been granted over the Yellabinna, Yumbarra and Pureba regions with the extensive vision of sand and heavy mineral mining, North of Ceduna in South Australia.

There is also the horror of the Olympic Dam uranium mine at Roxby Downs, which has been in operation for over twenty years and is now at the dawn of a new expansion. We object to these and other developments, because there is no trade of land for money in our law and culture, and there is no compensation for a broken heart.

Native title for the Kokatha Mula is a farce and an insult, given that the government proposal for the function of a regime of Native Title has never served its original purpose. First, there was the rejection of the original claims by Yabi Dinah-Kokatha Mula and the subsequent forced amalgamation of Yabi Dinah-Kokatha Mula with other nation/claimant groups, creating a distortion of traditional land boundaries.

Secondly, in 2004, a Native Title meeting was held at Spear Creek, where our elders were asked to put Kokatha Mula boundaries down on the map. They did so, but only later found out that these boundaries and their responses were to be ignored.

Thirdly, there seems to be no protection available through the State Government.

This was shown last week when its P.I.R.S.A. Department ignored the proper advice of the sister Department of Environment and Heritage, as P.I.R.S.A issued exploration licences to Adelaide Resources & Inco Ltd. in an environmentally important area, and which, more importantly, is a culturally and spiritually important area to the Kokatha Mula.

Fourthly, there was no true consultation with the Kokatha Mula peoples, who have been closely connected and in contact with the land since time began.

Mining and exploitation of the natural gifts of the land threatens our very existence.

It has become clear that we cannot rely upon the South Australian or Australian governments to have a true indigenous interest at heart through any of their sectors.

Finally, the following signatories are Kokatha Mula people who will never sign off on their country, nor enter into a Native Title agreement nor any ILUA (indigenous Land Use Agreement), as there is no trust or assurance that it is of any proper benefit to the land or to our community.

Our Kokatha Mula families will never sell out on our country, despite the apparent representation or consents given by any Kokatha Mula through Native Title or otherwise. As far as we are concerned, representation or consents by any Kokatha Mula do not hold.

We will stand and fight until truth and justice is upheld for the true Kokatha Mula people, land and culture.

May this letter be read and circulated far and wide to let others know of the strong Kokatha Mula people that are working in unity to take action to prevent the massacre of the land through mining, Native Title agreements and the illegal genocidal laws of the Australian Government.

We are the caretakers. We take this stand not solely by choice, but because we have a responsibility to our ancestors, and to the future generations to come, for all people.