Antinuclear

Canberra travellers learn of South Australian Aboriginals’ fight against nuclear waste dumping

MAGALI MCDUFFIE  http://www.magalimcduffie.com/travels/2016/9/26/south-australia-no-nuclear-dump Over two years ago, my partner Alexander Hayes met Bruce Hammond, of the Tanganekald & Western Arrente people, South Australia, who brought to his awareness the ongoing struggles and challenges that his people and other Aboriginal communities face, particularly in light of the South Australian proposal for a nuclear waste dump in the Flinders Ranges. With over three months of logistics and planning, and at Bruce’s invitation, Alex and myself will be travelling through many different communities in South Australia, listening to the voices of people on country, who have not been consulted by the government in an appropriate manner.

So on September 24th we started our journey from Canberra to South Australia.

Our road trip took us through Wagga-Wagga, the Hay Plains, Benanee Lake, Balranald, Mildura, finally arriving in Adelaide on the morning of the 26th.  On 26 September, 2016 we had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Karina Lester, Co-Manager and Aboriginal Language Worker at Mobile-Language Team, at the University of Adelaide. Karina is the daughter of well-known Yankunytjatjara Elder and Activist Yami Lester, who was blinded by the ‘black mist’ from the first Atomic Test Bomb at Emu Junction, South Australia.

Karina told us that the idea of a nuclear waste dump in South Australia is not new – her grand-mother and her family successfully fought against it back in the 1990s. But now it is on the agenda again, and Aboriginal communities whose land the nuclear dump would be built on are not being properly consulted. Even though the South Australian government is sending representatives to a hundred different communities, under the guise of consultation (Get to Know Nuclear), they are not engaging language experts and interpreters to communicate directly and effectively with these communities. Aboriginal people are therefore not getting all the information on the nuclear waste project, thereby contravening the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on Free, Prior and Informed Consent. 

Well, September 27th turned out to be a full day! We had the great privilege to interview Tauto Sansbury, Steven Harrison, and Bruce Hammond about their perspectives on the nuclear waste dump.

Tauto Sansbury asked, with good reason, why it is that no other country seems to be putting their hand up for the ‘privilege’ of getting a nuclear waste dump, if it is that great an opportunity!

Senior Corporate Officer Ruth Miller at the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute then welcomed us with open arms to show us through the amazing ‘Nuclear‘ exhibition retracing the stories of the people affected by the 1950s British nuclear tests in South Australia, through videos, archival footage, paintings, and creative objects. There, we interviewed artist Steven Harrison about his perspectives on the nuclear waste dump and how his art practice has been underpinned by a need to tell the stories of the country affected by the British Nuclear Tests. We also sat in the eye-opening ‘10 minutes to Midnight‘ 360-degree art installation.

In the afternoon, Bruce Hammond talked to us about the ongoing cultural genocide of Aboriginal people: in his opinion, the nuclear waste dump is simply a new act of dispossession in a long series of genocidal acts perpetrated against Aboriginal people since colonisation – taking away land, language, culture, separating families, dividing communities, and now ignoring cultural protocols and custodianship of country, putting money first, appropriate consultation last – politicians come and go, he said, but Aboriginal people are still here, fighting on.

With Bruce, we planned our trip ahead – with invitation, we look forward to connecting with Elders and community as we travel from Adelaide, through Port Augusta, Quorn, Hawker, Leigh Creek, onto Nepabunna tomorrow. Weather permitting we will 4WD (Nissan Patrol) across to Marree onto Cungmurka, William Creek and up to Oodnadatta – two days filming and back via the Kempe Road, through to Coober Pedy, Coondambo, Woomera, Port Augusta then back to Adelaide…

I am now sorting the interviews and putting together footage as we go… But I need to get ready for the big drive tomorrow! So long…

September 28, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, South Australia, wastes