My Country, Mine Country: Indigenous people, mining and development contestation in remote Australia

Climate Change, Mining and Traditional Indigenous Knowledge in Australia

“…If it is historically that case that 'even who and what Aboriginal people consider themselves to be has been affected by the representations of Aboriginality by others (Merlan, quoted in Martin, 2009, p. 113) then the Intervention has produced a nationwide definition of Indigenous inadequacy, and calls for a return paternalistic controls by the state. Indigenous communities across Australia have been neglected by successive state and Commonwealth governments, leaving the communities with little or non-existent economic and cultural autonomy whenever mining leases are being negotiated (Scambary, 2013).…”

People and policy in the development and destruction of Yagga Yagga outstation, Western Australia

“…Gold discovery and mining took place in the Granites region of the Tanami Desert between 1987 and 2000, driven largely by the significant discovery of the 3-million-ounce Callie gold deposit in 1992-one of the great modern gold discoveries, and leading to some 260 exploration licences granted and pending, and 53 agreements between the Central Land Council (CLC) and different companies across the area by 2000. Royalty payments were described as considerable in 1997 and amounting to millions of dollars to Aboriginal communities and individuals (Manning 1997, quoted in Ellias 2007Manning 2002; also Altman and Levitus 1999;ABA 2006;Scambary 2013). No beneficiaries lived at Yagga Yagga, but all those with country on the eastern side of the homelands were related to people who were.…”

Negotiating Aboriginal culture in the Australian mining industry: a case study of cultural awareness training

“…Aboriginal workers (Scambary, 2007). It also gave pastoralists a reason to oppose the development of missions on the grounds that they would compete for land and…”

“…The Land Regulations Act 1864 gave Indigenous people rights to access pastoral lands for the purposes of sustenance (Biskup, 1973:18) and as such the process of colonisation was initially less intrusive than it had been in other areas of Australia (Scambary, 2007). However, there were times of serious conflict between pastoralists and Aboriginal people.…”

“…Many non-Indigenous people moved to the region to take up employment opportunities in the mining industry and reside in the purpose built company towns (Scambary, 2007:75). This caused significant impacts for Pilbara Aboriginal people, who were excluded from the growing economy through lack of employment opportunities and restricted access to the new company run mining towns (Edmunds, 1989;Scambary, 2007).…”