MEDIA RELEASE: Saturday, 28th April, 2007

ACTION FOLLOWING ACTION
Kokatha Mula Traditional Owners put Mining Companies on Notice

Action in the State’s Far West by traditional owners to protect local Aboriginal heritage sites has not stopped following a blockade set up by Kokatha Mula traditional owners and supporters to protect the Yumbarra Conservation Park from mining exploration activities.

The blockade raised strong issues of heritage protection, Aboriginal land rights, and the need for cultural understanding across the community, with support of the newly formed Aboriginal Alliance Coalition Movement (AACM), and SA Democrat MP Sandra Kanck.

As the blockade successfully entered its third week, a strong contingent of the Kokatha Mula Nation Far West Division Aboriginal Corporation (KMNFWDAC) travelled 800 km to Adelaide to take part in the ‘Aboriginal Descendants Rally’ on the steps of Parliament House on Sunday 22nd April. The rally highlighted the attacks on Aboriginal culture and land rights given under the ‘Letters Patent’ 1836 and the Proclamation of South Australia.

The KMNFWDAC spokeswoman Aunty Bronwyn Sleep engaged the rally in saying:

“We are not the freedom fighters in the times of Martin Luther King, we are not the Vietnam Veterans, nor are we the Jews in the time of Hitler’s reign, nor are we the Africans plundered under apartheid in South Africa, but our life experiences in this country and its impact are the same. It’s still happening to us today, behind a different mask of assimilation, patronisation, paternalism and bullying.”

A Formal Public Notice has been published today by the Kokatha Mula Nation Far West Division Aboriginal Corporation to the press about mining interference with traditional lands and waters on the Far West Coast stating:

“Notice is hereby given to all those persons and/or companies who have been, or are currently, involved in discussions and/or negotiations of any kind, whether with or without a mining or exploration tenement, over our Kokatha Mula traditional lands and waters on the Far West Coast of South Australia (which also takes in Yellabinna Regional Reserve, and Yumbarra and Pureba Conservation Parks) to be advised forthwith that such activities without the consent of the Kokatha Mula traditional owners thereof are without due regard to our traditional Kokatha Mula Aboriginal laws and customs and according to which our Aboriginal heritage is an integral part of our traditional culture, as that is practised and set down within our unceded Kokatha Mula dominium over all our lands, and that our consent has never been sought or given to such activity.

“Therefore any activity of this description taking place on our traditional domain is unacceptable to us, without a specific authorisation by us, and accordingly has no valid impact on our rights and interests therein.”

This week, Kokatha Mula Nation Far West Division is launching an international appeal for global support owing to the more than disappointing lack of response from the South Australian government after the years of asking to be heard and begging for some reply.

The Kokatha Mula Nation Far West Division and supporters vow to keep fighting and to continue the strong stand to uphold heritage values by their strong message to the South Australian Government: “Munda Yumadoo Iliga” — which means “Leave the Land as it is.”