Antinuclear

Antony Hegarty sings out for the Martu people in their struggle against uranium mining

“For the Martu in Parnngurr, the community nearest the proposed uranium mine, the plan is causing distress,” she says. “Some of the women elders of Parnngurr seem not only to fear the potential danger that any uranium mine will obviously pose to the watershed and the local environment, but they also feel an existential burden of responsibility as the stewards of that land to protect dangerous resources from being exploited.”

Antony Hegarty, the Martu and the mine: land custodians fight corporate might, Guardian,  Paul Daley, 21 June 15 The New York avant garde transgender singer joins the Martu people of Parnngurr in Western Australia to oppose a uranium mine 80km away  When an international mining company surveys the Australian land for minerals it sees few physical impediments.

If necessary rivers can be rerouted, hillocks flattened and giant boulders shifted in order to access the wealth beneath.

Traditional custodians, mindful of the human ancestors and the creationist animals, view terrain quite differently. For them that river is the rainbow serpent, and the hills the spine of a goanna or a crocodile. And those boulders? They could be the eggs – or the newly hatched babies – of the owl or the platypus.

For many Indigenous Australians the sanctity of country transcends the commercial value of what lies beneath. And when Indigenous communities do support mining ventures on traditional lands, assurances are usually sought – if not guaranteed and met – that sacred sites, traditional hunting and burial grounds, will be quarantined and that disruption to the earth and water tables will be minimised.

In the more inevitable clashes between miners – with their millions to spend on PR, community “consultation” and lobbying – and the custodians, outcomes are too often predictable: minerals are extracted and subsequently divided communities ignored; custodians are denied ongoing access to country while the land and waterways are ecologically damaged.

But thanks to the power of visual art and the advocacy of Antony Hegarty, the New York avant garde transgender singer from Antony and the Johnsons, the plight of one such community in the West Australian Pilbara, Parnngurr, is now starting to attract acute national and international notice.

In April the federal government granted conditional approval to the world’s second largest uranium miner, Canada’s Cameco Corporation, and joint venture partner Mitsubishi, to build a mine at Kintyre, inside the Karlamilyi national park, part of the traditional lands of the Pilbara’s Martu people.

While some Martu have supported the proposed Kintyre mine, those of of Parnngurr – 80 kilometres from the proposed open pit mine – are opposed to uranium mining. They want the plans for the mine to be scrapped.

The Martu of Parnngurr will cross the continent and bring their protest to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney next Monday morning. There, with their collaborative visual artwork about the mine area, Kalyu (water), on display, they will voice their objections to the mine while Hegarty will sing in support of them………

Hegarty believes “some corporations have disingenuously sought to divide and conquer locals, and in the dust cloud of confusion, make off with the spoils”.

“For the Martu in Parnngurr, the community nearest the proposed uranium mine, the plan is causing distress,” she says. “Some of the women elders of Parnngurr seem not only to fear the potential danger that any uranium mine will obviously pose to the watershed and the local environment, but they also feel an existential burden of responsibility as the stewards of that land to protect dangerous resources from being exploited.”…….

The Martu of Parnngurr oppose the proposed Kintyre mine on myriad cultural and economic grounds including that the mine will desecrate traditional hunting, fishing and camping grounds, and has the potential to damage complex interconnected ground and surface water systems. These water systems are the focus of the painting Kalyu.

Environmental groups, including the Australian Conservation Foundation and Friends of the Earth, point to several serious safety issues involving Cameco over the years………Hegarty has donated proceeds from her two concerts at Dark Mofo in Hobart this week towards the Martu. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolonial-blog/2015/jun/19/antony-hegarty-the-martu-and-the-mine-land-custodians-fight-corporate-might

June 21, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News