MUNDAY SWAMP - SUMMARY OF NYUNGAH CONCERNS
MEETING AT MUNDAY SWAMP IN THE RAIN -25.6.98

NYUNGAH ELDERS AND REPRESENTATIVES: MARGARET GENTLE, ROBERT BROPHO, KATHY PENNY, EDNA BROPHO, JOE WALLEY, WILLIAM WARRELL, VALERIE PICKETT, JENNY WARRELL, MIRIAM SPRATT, NOEL MORICH, JUDY JACKSON, VIOLET RILEY, SHARLEEN GARLETT, GREG GARLETT, NEIL PARFITT, DONNA PICKETT, DIANE PARFITT, MATTHEW BLURTON, MINNIE VAN LEEUWEN, CARRIE HARRIS, GLADYS YARRAN.


Turtle laying places

The fence buggers up the Turtles’ laying places. They should be laying back here. There should be more room left. That fence going around is too close. With their appetite for laying eggs they need space - 300 yards. He is out now laying his eggs. That fence should not have been put there in the first place. We were not consulted.


Vibrations

The runway is a bit too close to the Swamp. It will be shaking the ground (when planes are taking off and landing). It might stop that Swamp. The Turtles should have their sleeping place. They go to sleep. They hibernate.


That Fella Turtle Under Threat

This area is a very very important place. When runway work starts to come into effect, that Fella (ieTurtle) is under threat. Any heavy sewerage work or drainage work will affect the Underground Moist in the Swamp (Spiritual Belief). They’ll have a choice - go away or stay there and die. The airport people want to expand the runaways and don’t take any notice of that Swamp. We saw one Swamp on the corner of West Swan Road and Gnangara Road, a beautiful Swamp, now all the Paperbark Trees are dead, the Water has gone down. Why? Because development (roads etc) came too close. He dug a big hole and made a man-made lake. A similar thing will happen here with vibrations and the runway. Rory O’Connor , an anthropologist, said in 1988 that it is the most important and the richest archeological site in the south-west of Australia.


Other Life

The Southern Bandicoot is supposed to be here. The Frog - you hardly hear them shout all over Western Australia as they used to. We used to hear them shout here. I (William Warrell) remember them here as a six year old. This is last known place of the Rare Snake, on orange snake (‘Rare Snakes of WA’ publication).


Medicine

There is medicine here for us in the Swamp.


Longterm Effects

No-one knows the longterm effects on the Swamp of the runway so close. Longterm pollution. You’ve got to think about those things as well. It is allright for white men to destroy or damage these things, but a lot of Aboriginal people looked after these things for centuries and centuries and we are carrying that responsibility on and on and we pass it on to our children and to their children. We want to know what will happen to the swamp in the longterm. We are worried about oil and fuel spills from the planes.

Other Swamps

There are another two swamps over there just behind the cemetery.


50’s and 60’s

In the 50’s and 60’s we (Warrells) always used this Place for our tucker, with our Grandmother . We moved to the swamp. We continue our tradition. We used to camp there under the Big Trees. This place used to be alive with turtles. I (Noel Morich) used to come with Old Nyinda Bropho.


Botanical Survey

We would like you to look at the Botanical Survey by CALM, through UWA - by Eleanor Bennett.


Shortnecked Turtle

CALM wanted to shift the Shortnecked Turtle here. He never belonged here. They wanted to use us to say that he was here.


Our Beliefs, our Religion, our Heritage

We know all the Swamps here. Nyibra Lake used to be behind Ashfield. It is destroyed now. We still hurt for what has been done to them. It is our Belief, our Religion.


Environmental Process

We want to be consulted in the environmental process. There is no protection under the Aboriginal Heritage Act as the Minister for the Environment has stated. Any anthropologist has to be acceptable and trusted by us.


Sinclair Knight Merz Report

It has been asked of Sinclair Knight Merz that a copy of the Concerns of the Nyungah People will be sent out with their Report to whoever the Report is sent to. From the word go so far everything has been finalised and everyone has been left out, that is the indigenous Nyungah people. From this day onwards is it fair to say you are taking on our concerns? We are saying ‘What about giving us natural justice?’ Are you going on planning and progressing as if we don’t exist? Are we not allowed to voice our concerns? Can we say here and now, can you put down what we are saying and include it in with your Report? Let us be in it too for the next 5, 20, 50 years.


Further Meetings

We would like to go to further meetings concerning the Swamp. Contact 2 or 3 Elders with 1 month or 2 or 3 weeks notice.





Nyungah Circle of Elders