Central Land Council

The Land is Always Alive

Sacred Sites Protection

When the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was being drafted and redrafted by the Fraser Government in 1976 the CLC and other Aboriginal organisations opposed plans to give the Northern Territory Government power over sacred sites. The CLC argued that the Commonwealth Government should exercise its responsibility in this area and not hand those powers over to an administration that had repeatedly opposed Aboriginal rights; but the Land Councils lost that battle and in 1979 the Northern Territory's Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act came into effect. Although the CLC was not satisfied with the legislation, the Aboriginal Sacred Sites Protection Authority (ASSPA) which it established, did enjoy a degree of independence from government control. The Authority spoke out against government projects like the proposed dam at Werlatye Atherre and eventually brought charges against then Lands Minister Marshall Perron over the desecration of a registered sacred site in 1984 (the prosecution did not proceed because of a legal loophole).

The Northern Territory Government however was also less than satisfied, and in October 1988 it introduced amendments designed to weaken sacred sites protection in line with the recommendations of the Martin Committee Report. The new legislation gave the Minister for Lands the power to overrule the new Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (which would replace the ASSPA), have the final say on whether sacred sites should be protected or destroyed, and decide who should have access to sacred secret information. When the Northern Territory Government refused to negotiate over the amendments the Central and Northern Land Councils launched a joint campaign for stronger sacred sites protection and the chairmen of the Central and Northern Land Councils made a joint statement:

This Bill is completely unacceptable and an insult to Aboriginal people. It will remove Aboriginal control of sacred site protection and give all power to the Northern Territory Government Minister. Aboriginal people have a right to protection of our sacred sites. We want the proposed law stopped. We want the Federal Government to make a stronger law and to help Aboriginal people to properly protect our sacred sites. The right to freedom of religion is enjoyed by all other Australians. Aboriginal people want the same right.

Aboriginal people from Central Australia travelled in from the bush to set up a protest camp outside the Northern Territory Government offices in Alice Springs. At night there was dancing and ceremony, and by day leaflets were handed out to passers by and tourists, while hundreds of signatures were collected on a petition against the Bill. Despite a number of amendments to the Bill the central problem with the new law remained: the Minister for Lands was given the final say on the protection or destruction of sacred sites.

The CLC and NLC continued to push for Federal Government action to override the Northern Territory Government but without success. On Friday 26 May the camp woke to the news that the Bill had passed through the Legislative Assembly in the early hours of the morning. The protestors were bitterly disappointed but decided to continue with the rally they had planned for Monday morning. It was the biggest street demonstration Alice Springs had seen for many years as hundreds of people marched through town and rallied at the protest camp.

Messages of support flowed in from across the country: from church congregations, trade unions, environment and peace groups, school children, politicians and interstate Aboriginal groups. Rosie Furber spoke on behalf of the families of Mparntwe, whose traditional country is in and around Alice Springs:

I'd like to say something about this new law the government is putting concerning our sacred sites. As my cousin said earlier on, we've been moved and we got no where to live now. Some of our people have got places to stop in the town camps, but we got nowhere to live. All our sacred sites have been taken away from us. In the olden days nobody was allowed to walk in our country here and now all the people are walking on our sacred grounds. We've got Dog Dreaming there, and we've got sacred tree here just near the Stuart Arms. And our dreaming trees on the east side, now there's a big water slide there. That's what development has done to our sacred sites around here. We've got a lookout on our sacred sites hill, that's Anzac Hill, and what now the Government's talking about is setting up a big hotel on Billy Goat Hill, that's our sacred sites too. So that's what has happened to our sacred sites, the only place we got left that nobody goes around now is Werlatye Atherre where the Government is talking about setting up a dam. And me and my family we don't want that dam there. Before the Northern Territory Government wanted to set up a recreation dam at our sacred site, that women's dreaming. And we fought with the Northern Territory Government through the old sacred sites law. But now with this new law being put through, they'll be able to do that now, put the dam there. And that would be a very sad thing for us to see the dam there.