Mining companies in control of Aboriginal land; the battle for land rights continues
“This time it is [for the] economic side of the land rights, [for] the money that comes into the hands of the Aboriginal people through their own country and not to the mining company or contractors,” he said. “We want to develop our country and we want to develop our own soil.”….
Land rights are empty, Yolngu elder tells Rudd on bark petition anniversary Oliver Laughland, guardian.co.uk, 10 July 2013 Galarrwuy Yunupingu throws down gauntlet to PM over ‘economic side of land rights’ at Yirrkala commemoration Fifty years ago the Yolngu people of Yirrkala in remote east Arnhem Land changed history, but to this day respected leaders of the community say not enough is being done for Indigenous land rights.
The Yirrkala bark petitions, signed in 1963 to protest against the federal government’s approval of a bauxite mine on their reserve, were the spark for a land rights movement that engaged much of Indigenous Australiaand resulted in the first formal acknowledgement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in law.
The two petitions, signed by 12 Yolngu clan heads, called on the House of Representatives to reconsider the mine approval and resulted in a parliamentary inquiry which concluded that the Yolngu should receive compensation for their lost land. The 1967 referendum, which recognised Indigenous Australians to be recognised in the census, followed, and then the landmark 1976 Aboriginal Land Rights Act in the Northern Territory.
At a commemorative ceremony in Yirrkala on Wednesday, the prime minister, Kevin Rudd, hailed the documents, which are the theme of this year’s Naidoc (National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee) week, as the “Magna Carta for the Indigenous peoples of this land”, adding: “These bark petitions present a bridge between two ancient and noble traditions.”…….
Yunupingu continued: “We have looked forward to the land rights giving us something, at least they gave us something in its name. The land rights is for Aboriginal people but the land ownership and use of land ownership is not for Aboriginal people, it’s for mining companies. For white fellas.”
The crowds applauded again.
“This time it is [for the] economic side of the land rights, [for] the money that comes into the hands of the Aboriginal people through their own country and not to the mining company or contractors,” he said. “We want to develop our country and we want to develop our own soil.”….
He [Kevin Rudd] said to Yunupingu: “It should not be for white fellas to tell you how to use your land.”…….http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/10/land-rights-empty-yolngu-rudd
No comments yet.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
Leave a comment