Mining Sacred Ground: stories from our earth

  
To view some of the artwork visit the Boomalli Website at http://www.boomalli.org.au/

Aboriginal artists tell stories about the impacts of mining activities across NSW, in some cases on their traditional lands, and for others, about the places they now call home . These include the construction of Barracks gold mine in the Lake Cowal area, and the extension of Opal mining areas adjacent to the Narran Lakes Nature Reserve recently approved by the State Government.
 
Both wetlands and their surrounding areas are recognised as environments of national and international significance. Lake Cowal, in the central west of NSW, is listed on the Register of the National Estate and the Directory of Important Wetlands. Narran Lake Nature Reserve, in the north west of NSW, is listed as a site under the Ramsar Convention, thereby receiving world recognition as a wetland of international importance.

Mark ‘Guudamah’ Powell, Condobolin, Wiradjuri Nation: Mark Powell from the Wiradjuri nation, is a traditional custodian of Lake Cowal and the neighbouring mountain. ‘Lake Cowal is known as the heart of the country,’ said Mr Powell.
‘The gold that is in the earth is the blood of Biame, the creator. If the gold is taken from the land, the balance will be changed and this will affect the weather and wildlife, as well as the people who are responsible for country.’

Gowal Dreaming 'When we ‘dream’ we are able to travel in spirit form, above the land and rivers. It is only from above that we can fully see the interconnectedness, the songlines and the sacred sites that were formed by the ancestors and the creator. Lake Cowal, Narang Cowal, Manna Mountains and the Calara River have always been of particular significance to the Calara River people from Condobolin, as well as neighbouring Wiradjuri people.
It is a place of ceremonies and traditional hunting and gathering, and was the focal point for the Wiradjuri Nation in NSW—it is known as the ‘heart’ of country.
The gold that is in the earth, is ‘the blood’ of Biame, the creator. If the gold is taken from the land, the balance will be changed and this will affect the weather and wildlife, as well as the people who are responsible for country. The mining company plans to dig deeply into the lake and surrounding land, and they are motivated by their greed for money, they do not want to listen to the old people and the traditional Lore, they have been warned of the desecration which will follow from their mining—they do not understand the terrible consequences of cutting into the earth. Once the land is destroyed it can never be replaced, the trees and animals and people will lose their power and die.’

"I was born  in Condobolin—my father came from the Bogan river near Peak Hill in NSW and my mother was born on the Kalara river at Condobolin, both being part of the Wiradjuri Nation.
I grew up surrounded by the traditional stories and teachings of my uncles and aunties, and my dream is to be able to keep the culture strong by working with the next generation.
I have been associated with performing and visual arts since childhood, and attended the Eora School of Arts in Sydney, dancing and playing yidaki with bah-Ta-bah and Yidaki Didge and Dance, as well as being a member of the country rock band, Daroo.
I am currently interested in handcrafting traditional artifacts such as boomerangs, yidakis and clap sticks, which have designs done with poker work burning.
My paintings are original designs in acrylics or natural earth pigments—ochres—based on the stories of my land and old people.
As a Wiradjuri man, and a traditional custodian of the lake and mountain surrounding Lake Cowal, I strongly support Uncle Chappie in his fight to protect our sacred and irreplaceable sites that Barracks Gold mine want to destroy. "

Kalara Gilbert, Wiradjuri Nation: " My name is Kalara Gilbert, born in 1981. I am a proud member of the Wiradjuri Nation. My people’s country is Central NSW. I am a young artist and mother of one.

Greed is poison. Barrick Gold is going to destroy our sacred heartland bringing 6000 tones of cyanide each year into a life-giving wetland. Why would the Australian government commission this to happen? Pure greed, the poison of the mind, that’s why. Progress these days is no longer about cherishing living things, but rather destroying them. What is more important—superficial beauty, the economy, or life?
Australian gold is tainted with Aboriginal blood.
Is there blood on your hands?

I am waiting for the day when Aboriginal People’s Sovereignty will be recognized as the one true sovereignty of this land and we will be given back our country with the respect right fully deserved as the original owners and caretakers. The killing and destruction of our lands and Peoples’ must cease. For over five years our families have been fighting the Lake Cowal gold mine.
The government still refuses to recognize the sovereign authority of our proper traditional owners and chooses to coerce those who can be bought off at a price. Lake Cowal always was always will be our country. Wiradjuri forever!"

Eve Brown, Lightning Ridge: "I was reared and still live in Lightning Ridge, a unique and distinct place from anywhere else in the world. I have heard various stories of other times: ‘...it was like a ritual for indigenous families to go to church in the mornings and after church be working hard on the plains in search for the colour’.‘The exchange of Opal for food mainly flour and sugar was an interaction of necessity and survival for Aboriginal people. This prompted relations between Europeans and Aborigines’.
The spiritual dimensions of these lands give me a strong sense of place.
I document history, my history. My work establishes a narrative of the mistreatment of Aboriginal people and the resulting confusion in forming the Australian identity. I look for compositions, cameos and expressions, which reveal something deeper.
This narrative gives my work a healing value, not only to me, but also to my family, my race and the broader community. "

Craig Cromelin, Lake Cargelligo: "I’ve been fortunate to have grown up in an era when the old people where still practicing our culture. I guess I stayed long enough to listen and learn. I was fortunate to have grown up in an era when TV wasn’t that accessible and our pastime was spent enjoying the great outdoors.
I remember with great fondness of the times that we would go hunting with our ‘boondies’ for rabbits, kangaroo and whatever we could get. For back then usually, what we got from hunting was all we had to eat. And we was good at it, hunting that is.
Times where tough and we had to do whatever to get by. We had to adapt to survive. But we enjoyed the beauty along the way, through the tough times. And somehow managed to maintain some of our culture, while moving with the times and the trends. " 

Aunty Ellie Gilbert: "Lake Cowal is the Sacred Heartland of the Wiradjuri Nation and is a wetland of national and international significance. Home to precious birds and other species, Lake Cowal is listed on the Register of the National Estate and the Directory of Important Wetlands." 

Narran Lake Nature Reserve is listed as a site under the Ramsar Convention, thereby receiving
world recognition as a wetland of international importance (NPWS, 2006). It was determined in 1999 that the Narran Lake wetlands are an excellent yet rare representative of a ‘relatively undisturbed terminal lake system in NSW’ (NPWS, 2006).
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/parks.nsf/parkcontent/n0589?opendocument&parkkey=n0589&type=xo

For more information, please contact:

Techa Beaumont
Executive Director

Workphone: +61 2 9557 9019
Mobile: +61 (0) 409 318 406

Created: 22 Mar 2006 | Last updated: 22 Mar 2006

This page: http://www.mpi.org.au/ campaigns/indigenous/sacredground_stories/

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