Indigenous Elder wins Environment Award

09/06/2007

The Australian Conservation Foundation's (ACF) Peter Rawlinson Award was given to 'Uncle' Kevin Buzzacott, an Arabunna elder, on World Environment Day in 2007 for two decades of work highlighting the impacts of uranium mining and promoting a nuclear free Australia. Uncle Kev has been a tireless campaigner for indigenous rights including reclaiming the kangaroo and emu sacred totems from the Coat of Arms from Parliament House in Canberra and accusing the Federal Government of genocide. [Full Story]

Wikipedia | ACF Award citation |
Video: reclainming sacred totems from Parliament House

Police Extinguish Camp Soverignty Fire

13/03/2007

Police extinguished the sacred flame at the King’s Domain on Monday as Camp Sovereignty supporters celebrated the first anniversary of the successful 60 day occupation held there in 2006. While earlier negotiations had led to an agreement to allow the flame to continue during the celebrations, Police later pushed through the crowd to extinguish the fire on several occasions. [Full Story]

Video 1 2 | Camp Sovereignty site | Camp Sovereignty established]

Manslaughter Charges Announced in Palm Island Death in Custody

28/01/2007

Australia Day. Invasion Day. Survival Day. To indigenous Australians it is a symbol of the ongoing war and genocide of aboriginal people. Outside Parliament House when it was announced "Hurley is going to be charged with manslaughter," people cheered. At last the prospect of a small amount of justice in regards to the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomagee at the Palm Island Police Lockup, North Queensland.. [Read more...]

Robbie Thorpe summed up the mood in Melbourne: "Instead of celebrating the invasion help us stop this war and we can have a real day to celebrate together. Inclusive of all people in this country..." Robbie Thorpe on the Australian Genocide.

In Brisbane there was jubilation as Manslaughter charges were announced regarding the Death in Custody on Palm Island. [Second report]

Australia Day Commemorates the European Invasion | Indigenous Resistance Fighters Remembered | Indigenous Resistance in the Hidden Frontier War in Victoria

Sovereignty Day: March for Justice for Mulrunji

19/01/2007

On January 26 2006 Aboriginal Sovereignty Day was declared, when representatives of Aboriginal Sovereign Nations agreed that the 26th of January would be known as Aboriginal Sovereignty Day (although not without dissent). The gathering from across the land at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 2006 was in response to the continual Government threat to control the Tent Embassy site. Aboriginal sovereignty was first declared in Australia in 1972 at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy...[Full Story]

Aboriginal resistance to the invasion will also be commemorated in Melbourne on Sunday 21 January, the anniversary of the public execution in 1842 of the freedom fighters:- Tunnerminnerwait (Jack of Cape Grim) - Peevay (Robert of Ben Lomond)

Aboriginal community members reject review appointment as another whitewash
Aboriginal Sovereignty can be recognised! | The Indigenous Political Renaissance | Melbourne rally on Invasion Day

No Charges for Police over Palm Island Death in Custody

20/12/2007

The refusal of the Qld Dept of Public Prosecutions to press any charges over the death in police custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee has abhorred Queensland Murris. More than a thousand people marched in Brisbane, with protests also in Palm Island, Townsville, Cairns, Sydney and Melbourne. At the Brisbane rally well known indigenous personality Ernie Dingo attacked the Queensland Government for treating his people like children.

In a surprise finding, the Queensland State Coroner reported (Word doc 1.2MB) that police bashed and killed an innocent Aboriginal man on Queensland’s Palm Island in November 2004, sparking riots against the police with the island being placed in a state of emergency. Police also unlawfully stormed houses, on Palm Island after the riot, according to an inquiry by Queensland's crime watchdog. During the raids, police used Stun Guns and pointed semi-automatic weapons at childrens heads.

Indigenous Times: Man jailed over Palm revenge bashing
Factsheet | 2005 Anniversary | Ratbag Radio Network | Petition

Aboriginal Rock Art under Threat of Development

27/11/2006

A proposed $5 billion liquefied natural gas processing plant (LNG) jointly owned by the largest petrochemical companies in the world and managed by Woodside Energy Ltd will destroy some of the world's oldest rock art on the Burrup Peninsula (or Murrijuga by its Indigenous name) in Western Australia. Michael Anderson, spokesperson for the Gumilaroi Nation, has accused the Australian and WA Governments of “not having the intestinal fortitude to stand against the multi-nationals who seek to destroy Aboriginal culture” and that aboriginal icons are being destroyed for profit. [Read more...]

The World Monuments Fund has put the Dampier Rock Art Complex on its list of 100 of the world's most endangered sites, according to an ABC report. Federal environment and heritage minister Senator Ian Campbell has called for submissions (closing 28 Nov) on a proposal that would see most of the area placed on the National Heritage List. "Would the Egyptians knock down the Pyramids?" asks the activist campaign site Getup.

[Getup Email Campaign | Save Dampier Rock Art]

Aboriginal Activist compares Howard Government to Hitler

02/10/2006

Michael Anderson, a Sydney Aboriginal political activist, has accused the Howard Government of hypocrisy, racism and of an apartheid mentality, and likened "the land policies of the Howard government to Hitler's Mein Kampf...". He condemned a statement by the Attorney General, Phillip Ruddock, as "gross and unforgivable, when he stated that 'The Native Tile decision over Western Australia could block non-Aboriginal from beaches and parks.'" [Read More]

The Nyoongar (Nyungah) people of Western Australia, in a landmark decision by Justice Murray Wilcox of the Federal Court, were granted Native Title to 6000 square kilometres that includes Metropolitan Perth. The decision makes them the first Aboriginal group to successfully claim Native Title over a capital city. Supporters say the decision is a long overdue recognition of the Nyoongar people's identity. The decision does not affect freehold or leasehold land or people's backyards. On September 29 500 Nyoongar and supporters rallied on the steps of WA parliament house.

Perth IMC feature - Nyoongar Call to Action | Noel Pearson: A mighty moral victory | Nimbin Radio: Scan Dot Org - 'Rascism and Resistance'

Kangkushot - Pilbara Indigenous strike leader farewelled (1920-2006)

01/10/2006

Thousands of people travelled to Port Hedland to farewell the passing of one of the legendary leaders of the 1946 Pilbara Pastoral Strike, Peter Coppin, also known as Kangkushot, aged 86. He was widely reverred as an Aboriginal leader, and an activist for Aboriginal rights and social justice, with many tributes including from his community and from the Western Australian Parliament....[Read More]

Wikipedia: 1946 Pilbara strike

Wave Hill Strike Commemorated despite Attacks on Land Rights

22/08/2006

The walk-off in the Northern Territory 40 years ago by a staunch mob of Aboriginal stockmen and their families became one of the most protracted industrial and political disputes in Australian history - resulting in the enactment of the 1976 NT Land Rights Act.

At the township of Kalkarinjee, hundreds gathered to mark the anniversary of the walk-off 40 years ago by Gurindji stockmen from Wave Hill Station. Meanwhile, controversial amendments to the NT Land Rights Act passed in the Federal Senate, with little consultation - virtually dismantling the laws, enabling corporations to lease Indigenous land from the Federal Government...[Full Story]

Wikipedia: the Gurindji Strike | From little things Big Things Grow

A White Grab For Black Land

16/08/2006

Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory have lost communal control of their land under controversial changes to land rights laws just passed in the Senate. Opponents of the amendments say the new laws severely weaken Indigenous people’s control of their land. Greens Senator Rachel Siewert slammed the changes saying "This will be marked as a tragic day for land rights in Australia,"

The ammendments will alter the 1976 Northern Territory Land Rights Act, which gives Aboriginal Australians control and communal ownership over their land. Under the new regime, NT Aboriginal people will be offered loans and 99 year leases in an effort to force private ownership and economic development.

National Indigenous Times | ANTAR | Laws stacked against traditional owners | Perth IMC

Mabo Day Celebrated

3/06/2006

2006 marks the 14th anniversary of Mabo Day, the date when the High Court of Australia handed down its landmark decision in the Mabo case in 1992, finding that there was prior occuption and ownership of the land, thus overturning the doctine of Terra Nullius. It could form the basis for reconcilation based on justice between indigenous Australians and those who have settled here from Europe and other parts of the globe. [Full Story]

Make MABO DAY - 3 June - an Australian Public Holiday

Lake Cowal Easter Protest Halts Mine

20/04/2006

Mining operations at Barrick Gold's Lake Cowal Project in western NSW were stopped for over five hours on Easter Sunday when a group of nearly one hundred protestors walked on to the mine site to highlight concern over the mine’s safety and social implications. The group, including Wiradjuri traditional owners and a cross section of locals and others from around Australia, were part of Easter protests against the newly opened gold mine. [Full Story]

[Desecration of Sacred Site | Save Lake Cowal | Cyanide Watch | The Lake]

Indigenous Camp eviction looms

9/04/2006

The Camp Sovereignty protest site in Melbourne's Kings Domain Gardens faces the threat of eviction after police visited the camp on Friday morning. The camp was established for the Commonwealth Games to serve as a base for actions coordinated by the Black GST campaign to highlight the on going resistance of Indigenous and non Indigenous people to the illegal occupation of the Australian continent. [Full Story]

Background [Black GST | Camp Sovereignty Established]

Desecration of Sacred Site - Lake Cowal

26/03/2006

from the newswire
Looking down on the mine with its open-cut pit, which is still only at about 7% of its total depth, and the cryptic markings of the unlined tailings dams, I reflected on a famous quote by Mark Twain: What's a definition of a gold mine? A hole in the ground owned by a liar. [Full Story]

[Lake Cowal Corroboree planned for Easter]