Swan River Under Attack

21 October 2009

The latest attack on the Swan River is the deep dredging of the Fremantle Port and the Native Title Holders of the Swan Coastal Plains, especially the Swan Valley Nyungah People, the Spiritual Elders, are deeply concerned over the damage to the Spiritual Dreaming in the Swan River.

The tampering with the Swan River has been going on for too long.

There’s been toilet spills, the huge one in the Caversham area, it polluted the waterways and the Spiritual Dreaming, killing fish. There have been many attacks, bursting of drainage pipes, be it polluted water or sewerage spills.

There has been no concern for Aboriginal People’s Basic Human Rights with our Land and Waterways, our Spiritual Dreaming and Culture.

The white Government that got into power in the past and is still in power now, is plotting and planning, drilling and polluting and upsetting the Stillness and the Sacredness of our Spiritual Waterway Dreaming and our Culture.

The Elders of the Swan River and Swan Coastal Plains and the whole of the Perth Metropolitan area have made complaints time and again but the State Government and Swan River Trust are riding roughshod over Aboriginal People’s concerns.

The State Government has gone berserk, it has become lawless, making up rules and regulations of selfish power to destroy the Culture of the whole of the Swan River.

They damaged the shorelines at the Swan Brewery, South Perth and Canning River and forced the disappearance of the Swans. Heirisson Island is damaged from underground digging and laying of pipes.

We are calling on State Government and Federal Government, the Aboriginal organisations like Aboriginal Medical Service and Aboriginal Legal Service to become concerned over the pollution and the forcible destruction which will lead to the disappearance of our Priceless Culture.

The long term plan that is in store to keep laying pipes and dredging is going to kill the Waterways completely.

The concerns of all the Spiritual Dreaming in the Fremantle area and under the City itself has got to stop.

The Basic Human Rights has been ignored by Colin Barnett’s State Government and Kevin Rudd’s Federal Government and they are riding roughshod over the Aboriginal People.


Robert Bropho
Senior Elder
Swan Valley Nyungah Community