Check out SLFP’s new video: Song for the Rainbow Serpent! Three percent of the world’s zinc lies beneath the serpentine riverbed of northern Australia’s McArthur River — and the zinc will soon be headed to China’s steel mills. For Aboriginal Australians, the entire river is respected as the Dreamtime pathway of the Rainbow Serpent, one of the most important of the ancestor spirits who formed the land and still enforces the law. Xstrata Zinc is starting to excavate an open pit mine at McArthur River and is building a 5.5 kilometer diversion channel to redirect water around the deep hole the mining company is digging. When we tried to enter the area with traditional owner Harry Lanson, the mining company threatened to arrest us for trespassing and ordered us to leave. As Harry Lanson asserted his right to visit the land he was born on, to show us his sacred sites, a helicopter landed within 100 feet of our “mob” — which included more than a dozen children. We retreated back down the road to the river. Even after the humiliation and stress, the Aboriginal women proceeded with the dance they had come to do next to the river, to honor the female form of the Rainbow Serpent, which in English they refer to as a “mermaid.”
Check out a new two-minute film: A Song for the Rainbow Serpent
Entries (RSS)
January 6th, 2008 at 12:45 am
I was looking at the clip of film by the Mc Arthur River and the Rainbow Serpent Dance, I was struck by the simple ownership picture of the Aboriginal people there. They had no title deeds to the property of the sacred land which were signed in the Courts of an invading people, an industrialisation for wealth of the few. But in their simple dance they pounded out the document with their feet, Grandmother, Mother and Grandchildren as had the generations before them and whose Spirit was still in the Land the river and the Sky. Rights and documentation are flimsy words and paper which can be ignored by Corporations and Government when it suits their purpose to turn their back on them. The simple dance and stamping feet will for generations to come join with the sound of those ancient feet in the background, growing louder and louder until the day that Truth and Spiritual rights free the land to those who guard it for the sake of their Ancestors.
November 4th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Whilst not intending to diminish the Aboriginal culture in any way, I do find the whole land rights issue more than just a little contradictory and ambigious. Back in the early 1980’s Aboriginal culture, art and history began to become more widely recognised troughout Australia and the world, many tribal leaders stood up to promote the simple and nomadic life as being close to utopian. They claimed that prior to the arrival of Europeans, their traditional people led an ideal existence with simple laws, environmental harmony, sharing of resources and no concept of ownership. That all changed when the likes of Michael Mansell, Noel Pearson and others realised there might be a fast buck in it if they could convince someone that they did, in fact, “own” the land. This foolish approach has severely damaged the credibility of the Aboriginal people and has merely promoted racism by fuelling the “black Australian” vs “white Australian” issue. The only way the problem of racism will ever be resolved in this country is if we all accept that we are “Australian”; not white, black, Christian, Moslem, rich or poor, tall or short… just simply AUSTRALIAN.
I have travelled and worked in many parts of Australia and I have lived and worked with many Aboriginal people. The majority of those with whom I have discussed this issue state that they just want to be considered equal. There cannot be any equality as long as those terms continue to be used with a context or implication that the Aboriginal people are (and should be treated) inherently different.
Incidentally, your description of your attempted entry to the McArthur River Mining Lease leaves the reader in no doubt at all that you are a careless fool. The McArthur River mine is located entirely on land held under Freehold Title. Nobody has the right to enter this land without permission of the legal owners; there is no doubt that the area is important to the indigenous people of that region, but your attempt to enter the Mining Lease illegally was a careless and foolish stunt. Traditional or family connection to the area does not override the Law. Furthermore, Northern Territory law prohibits any person from entering a Mining Lease without (i) seeking permission through the correct channels, (ii) completing a mine induction, and (iii) wearing & using the specified safety clothing & equipment. Even if you had satisfied all of these requirements, the company has a legal duty of care which gives them complete jurisdiction over your movements and activities whilst on the Lease. The company was therefore reacting within the Law by attempting to halt your entry. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for attempting to take unauthorised people (especially children!!) onto the Mining Lease in complete disregard and/or ignorance of the Law and their safety.
For the record, I do not work for Xstrata, nor do I live in Borroloola. I simply have a knowledge of the area and its history… and I do my homework thoroughly before planning any of my expeditions.