Serious Offences by Westralia Airports Corporation

NYUNGAH CIRCLE OF ELDERS
c/o PO GUILDFORD WESTERN AUSTRALIA
T: 08 9377 3550, 08 9279 6706 F:08 9377 3559

The Last of the Nyungah Elders who are standing to Save and Protect our Ancient Religion and Culture and Sacred Beliefs in the Land and not take money to sell our Sacredness

25 October, 2007

The Chairperson and all Members of the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee
The Registrar of Aboriginal Sites
The Legal Department of the DIA

We are writing concerning the S18 Application by Westralia Airports Corporation which appeared in the West Australian newspaper on Wednesday 24 October 2004 for a car processing facility, Grogans Road, in the area Munday Swamp. Any development in the area of Munday Swamp will affect it. As Elders and People with Knowledge, we were consulted by the anthropologist, Bob Chown, working for Joe Mattner. (We have asked Joe Mattner a number of times for a copy of the Report, and all the Reports on the work done by Bob Chown, but they have not been sent to us).

We ask you not to make any decision but to defer the decision -

- Until: there has been a thorough investigation of serious offences by Westralia Airports Corporation under the Aboriginal Heritage Act, listed below,

- Until: the ground water draining out and flowing away and diverted in the drain that was dug from Poison Gully Creek away from Munday Swamp has been completely blocked to restore the water table and to restore water back to Munday Swamp,

- Until: a legal Aboriginal Heritage Agreement between the Nyungah Traditional Owners and Elders and the Westralia Airports Corporation has been legally finalised with advice from our lawyer, Marcus Holmes and from DIA lawyers, which process began at a meeting between us and WAC and Bob Chown yesterday Wednesday 24 October 2007. Until this Agreement happens, we ask that everything be put on hold with no Section 18 consent to damage or disturb any Aboriginal Sites, including the S18 for the car processing facility, to be given by you, the ACMC or the Minister to the Westralia Airports Corporation.

We ask you not to make any decision but to defer the decision until these processes have been completed.

We outline below the serious offences under the Aboriginal Heritage Act by the Westralia Airports Corporation.

(We are not including the offences committed at the Coles Myer Site, as WAC has been charged and they are pleading not guilty and a date for the Trial is due to be set next month by the Magistrates Court, November 6, 2007.)

1. Airport Land at the end of and on Adelaide Street was damaged and a wetland and a creek running to Munday Swamp were destroyed and Balga Trees and Zamia Palms carted away and removed and everything above ground and all the bush important to us damaged and destroyed in about September 2002 by Westralia Airports Corporation.

There was no Aboriginal Heritage Survey. We were not consulted. There was no section 18 permission given to disturb and destroy an Aboriginal Site.

2. The Aboriginal Site where in 1983 the archeologist Professor Sylvia Hallam identified a Major Site with an estimated 600,000 artefacts of our Ancestors was damaged and destroyed for the Driving Training Centre in *** by Westralia Airports Corporation.

There was no Aboriginal Heritage Survey. We were not consulted. There was no section 18 permission given to disturb and destroy an Aboriginal Site.

3. Poison Gully Creek which is coming down from the Darling Ranges, and is a Registered Aboriginal Site, north of Grogan’s Road was dug up and made into a drain 3 metres deep and diverted totally away from Munday Swamp to the Swan River at Garvey Park in 2002***. Bushland 50 metres on each side of the Creek was cleared. The depth of the drain has lowered the Water Table dangerously affecting Munday Swamp. We went there with Robert Reynolds and made a complaint, and expected DIA to stop the work until the proper processes of the Aboriginal Heritage were followed. This did not happen. In 2002 and 2003 and also in 2005 when we questioned Robert Reynolds we were told by Robert Reynolds that the Airport Act over-rode the Aboriginal Heritage Act. We do not know who gave that advice. We knew that advice was wrong and incorrect.

There was no Aboriginal Heritage Survey. We were not consulted. There was no section 18 permission given to disturb and destroy an Aboriginal Site.

4. Precinct 2A and 2B, alongside Tonkin Highway where 16 Aboriginal Sites registered by Professor Sylvia Hallam in 1983, and about 110 hectares, was completely cleared and destroyed and de-watered in October 2006 with permission of the Federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage at the time, Ian Campbell. He has since been chucked out as a Minister for possible corruption.

There was no Aboriginal Heritage Survey. We were not consulted. There was no section 18 permission given to disturb and destroy an Aboriginal Site.

5. The Airport Land where underground streams go into Munday Swamp where the Brickworks is planned has been completely disturbed and everything above ground destroyed. At the meeting yesterday with WAC, we voiced our concerns for the underground streams flowing into Munday Swamp being contaminated by the planned Brickworks.

for
Nyungah Elders,Traditional Custodians and Owners of the Swan River and Swan Coastal Plains.