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1996

1997

1998

1999

The History of Our Struggle

The Fight Against the Ranger Uranium Mine

Uranium was discovered throughout Northern Australia from the 1950’s.

By the mid-1970’s the Australian Government was faced with a major political conflict over uranium mining operations in the Kakadu region. On one hand powerful mining companies were offering jobs and export income. On the other, many Australians were opposed to participation in the nuclear fuel cycle.

Like most Government’s facing a difficult situation, the Australian Government commissioned an inquiry into the issues facing uranium mining in the Northern Territory in July 1975. The Inquiry was chaired by Justice Fox and became known as “The Fox Inquiry”.

At the same time as the Fox Inquiry was taking place the Australian Government passed legislation which allowed traditional Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory to gain legal title to their land (the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (Cth) 1976) . It was clear that the Kakadu region was one of the areas likely to be successfully claimed by
traditional owners and so the Fox Inquiry looked in some detail at local Aboriginal attitudes to uranium mining in the Kakadu region.

In the Second Report of the Fox Inquiry a summary of Aboriginal attitudes to uranium mining was included:

The evidence before us shows that the traditional owners of the Ranger [uranium] site [the Mirrar] and the Northern Land Council (as now constituted) are opposed to the mining of uranium on that site ... Some Aboriginals had at an earlier stage approved, or at least not disapproved, the proposed development, but it seems likely that they were not then as fully informed about it as they later became. Traditional consultations had not then taken place, and there was a general conviction that opposition was futile. The Aboriginals do not have confidence that their own view will prevail; they feel that uranium mining development is almost certain to take place at Jabiru, if not elsewhere in the Region as well. They feel that having gone so far, the white man is not likely to stop. They have a justifiable complaint that plans for mining have been allowed to develop as far as
they have without the Aboriginal people having an adequate opportunity to be heard ... it is not in the circumstances possible for us to say that the development would be beneficial to them. There can be no compromise with the Aboriginal position; either it is treated as conclusive, or it is set aside ... In the end, we form the conclusion that their opposition should not be allowed to prevail (Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry 1977, 9).

When discussing the land claim, the Inquiry made a number of other comments in relation to Aboriginal attitudes to mining:

While royalties and the other payments referred to in (b) are not unimportant to the Aboriginal people, they see this aspect as incidental, as a material recognition of their rights ... Our impression is that they would happily forgo the lot in exchange for an assurance that mining would not proceed (Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry 1977, 269).

So it was clear that Aboriginal people did not want mining in the region and clear that the Government was determined for mining to go ahead.

The Government’s intentions to proceed against Aboriginal wishes were confirmed when it exempted the Ranger uranium mine, which is on Mirrar land, from the traditional owner “mining veto” provisions of the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act 1976. As a result, negotiations between the Aboriginal representative body (the Northern Land Council) and the Australian Government with regard to the Ranger uranium mine proceeded as a fait accompli in 1978.

However the Mirrar continued to voice their dissatisfaction with the idea of the Ranger uranium mine proceeding. It was reported that a meeting of 40 traditional owners at Gunbalanya in early October 1978 had told the NLC that they did not accept the draft Ranger mining agreement. According to newspaper reports 12 of the traditional owners “spoke at length on their dissatisfaction with the present agreement”.

The then Mirrar Senior Traditional Owner, Toby Gangale (Yvonne Margarula’s late father) was quoted as saying: “I don’t like that [Ranger] agreement. I wish it would go away for six months ... I wish it would go away for five years” (The Northern Territory News, 12 October 1978).

In the end, when the agreement was finally signed, the evidence demonstrates that the NLC did not act on the instructions of the traditional owners. Stephen Zorn, who was one of the negotiators of the agreement, wrote to the Chairman of the NLC arguing that “Mr Yunupingu and the NLC staff had pressured members to ratify
the Ranger agreement”.

“There was indeed pressure, and there was not the sort of real, effective consultation that is required both by Section 23 of the Land Rights Act and by ordinary common decency”, Dr Zorn said ... “For all of these reasons, I think it quite reasonable for people to conclude that the NLC leadership and staff, pushed, it is clear by the Commonwealth government, have created a situation in which many Aboriginals are not satisfied...”
(quoted in The Northern Territory News, 30 October 1978).

At the so-called signing of the agreement the Mirrar Senior Traditional Owner, Toby Gangale, when he was finally asked to speak, was quoted as saying:

"I've given up. It's been six years now. I'm not fighting anymore" (National U, Special Supplement, November 1978).

The Ranger uranium mine has continued for twenty years against the wishes of the Mirrar. In 1998 the Mirrar were informed that the Ranger mine would require an extension of its 21 year lease which expires on January 9, 2000. They were informed that their right to say “no” to Ranger remained exempted. Once again Mirrar opposition to mining will not be allowed to prevail.
 

The Jabiluka Fight Begins

In 1971 Pancontinental Mining Ltd and Getty Oil Development Company Ltd entered into an agreement for uranium exploration. The first of the Jabiluka ore bodies was discovered in November 1971. The Environmental Impact Statement was submitted in 1979.

The Jabiluka Ore Body is approximately 25 km from the existing Ranger uranium mine. Both are wholly within Mirrar land.

Aboriginal opposition to the Jabiluka project was well known from the outset. According to business magazine Rydge's in September 1978:

There is well-known [Aboriginal] opposition to the Jabiluka development. This opposition is more deep-seated than that to Ranger (Rydge's, vol 51, September 1978).

Land Rights News had commented on the views of two of the senior traditional owners of the area in early 1978:

If there is to be any mining, it should be kept to the Ranger mine which should be kept small. They did not want the Pancontinental mine at Jabiluka. Toby Gangale and Bill Neidji said they did not want the Pancontinental mine (Land Rights News No 20, April 1978).

The Commonwealth Government gave approval in May 1978 for Pancontinental to drill at the proposed mine site so that it could complete the Environmental Impact Statement (see The Canberra Times, 13 May 1978). The Government pointed out that there was no legal requirement for Aboriginal people to consent to the
proposed work.

Strong opposition was expressed by Aboriginal people, the NLC and the Australian Labor Party spokesman on Urban and Regional Affairs Mr Uren. The Government's approval for the drilling was given during the negotiations over the Ranger agreement and the work included an extension of the Arnhem Highway to the Jabiluka project area.

The announcement surprised and angered the chairman of the Northern Land Council, Mr Galarrwuy Yunupingu, who has told the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, that Aborigines in the region are totally opposed to the Jabiluka project because of the dangers it poses to the environment (Sydney Morning Herald, 13 May 1978).

The NLC Chairman conceded that mining would probably proceed at Ranger:

"... but we will fight it to the end at Jabiluka ... There is no way we are going to give in to Pancon, we don't want to see any development there ... the traditional owners of the land are already moving back to the area after having been displaced by the whiteman" (Northern Territory News, 2 June 1978).

One of the problems confronting Pancontinental was how to get permission from the traditional owners to undertake certain preliminary activities on the proposed mine site given their opposition to the mining. A number of meetings were organised by the company to “walk over” the site of the proposed mine

Tapes of one of the meetings between the company representatives and a selected group of traditional owners have been obtained and transcribed. The tapes clearly show how:

the traditional owners were pressured into accepting, step by step, the beginning of mining activity on their land; the company presented its proposals in a way that did not explain effectively the full ramifications of what was being proposed; some of the proposals directly related to the mine were presented as though they had no connection to mining.

In 1980 the Mirrar and other Aboriginal people in the region lodged a claim for their land under the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act 1976. In 1981, Pan Continental agreed with the Northern Land Council not to oppose the land claim if negotiations on Jabiluka proceeded.

The Mirrar maintain that over the next eighteen months they were tricked, cajoled and pressured by the NLC and Pan Continental into believing that mining at Jabiluka was inevitable - just like at Ranger. A fuller account of this process is outlined in a publication titled, The History of Duress and the Jabiluka Project. As a result of this
allegedly unconscionable conduct the Mirrar “consented” to the Northern Land Council and Pan Continental entering into the Jabiluka Mining Agreement in July 1982.

However in 1983 the Hawke Labor Government was elected to office with a policy of halting expansion of the uranium mining industry. The Jabiluka Project was caught by this policy which remained in place for the next thirteen years.
 

The Sale of the Jabiluka Mineral Lease in 1991

By 1991 Pan Continental had effectively given up their hopes of mining at Jabiluka. They informed the Northern Land Council that they wished to sell their interest in Jabiluka to Energy Resources of Australia Ltd - the operator of the nearby Ranger uranium mine.

The terms of the 1982 Jabiluka Agreement clearly stated that the NLC could not reasonably withhold agreement to the sale of the Jabiluka Mineral Lease. However the NLC were able to negotiate terms of the sale which formed a document known as the 1991 Deed of Transfer.

One of the terms in the this Deed of Transfer - that ERA will require the consent of Traditional Owners before being able to mill Jabiluka ore at Ranger - is now of enormous significance. Many market analyists believe that the entire Jabiluka Project is completely economically unviable without the ability to mill uranium at the existing Ranger facilities. In 1997 the Mirrar formally announced the withholding of their consent for milling at Ranger and have since vowed to never to allow ERA to proceed with this option.

In the mid-1990’s, ERA attempted to get around the Labor Government’s policy of not allowing expansion of the uranium industry by renaming Jabiluka “North Ranger”. Nobody was fooled and Jabiluka remained stalled for the life of the Labor Government.
 

Pressure for money: 1991-1994

By the 1990’s it was obvious to all local Aboriginal people that the Ranger mine had failed to deliver any of its promised benefits. Despite the payment of royalties, the Aboriginal people of the region lived in desperate poverty and appalling conditions.

A few Aboriginal people from the region - not Traditional Owners of the Jabiluka Lease - were advised to lobby the Government to allow Jabiluka to proceed in order to raise money for much-needed services. This lobbying effort took place in 1991. Senior Traditional Owner for the Mirrar, Yvonne Margarula, attended at least two of
these lobbying meetings to ensure Traditional Owner opposition to Jabiluka was not misrepresented.

Yvonne has opposed Jabiluka since becoming Senior Traditional Owner in the late 1980’s. She maintains her deceased father instructed her to protect the Jabiluka site despite the 1982 Agreement. In 1992 she and other Mirrar instructed the NLC that the Mirrar and other Aboriginal people did not wish for the mine to proceed. In
1994 she wrote to the Australian Labor Party urging them not to change their policy on the non-development of Jabiluka.

The Mirrar opposition prevailed until the election of the conservative Howard Government in 1996.
 

The Election of the Howard Government

Despite inferring throughout the 1996 election campaign that Jabiluka would not proceed, the Howard Government began fast-tracking approval of the Jabiluka project immediately upon coming to office. The Howard Government decided to recognise the 14 year old Jabiluka Agreement - signed by a different generation for a
different project with a different mining company under very dubious circumstances - rather than respect the long-held opposition to Jabiluka by Traditional Owners.

Realising the dire implications of the Howard Government’s policy on Jabiluka for the future of their people, the Mirrar created a specific Traditional Owner organisation out of their own funds. The organisation was called the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation after the language of the Mirrar people. Yvonne Margarula recruited her
relative, Jacqui Katona, to be the Corporation’s Executive Officer.

After conducting much research into the history of the Jabiluka Agreement and participating in many discussions with Government officials and Ministers, the Mirrar and their small team of staff were convinced that Traditional Owner opposition to the project would not of itself achieve any change in the Commonwealth or Territory
Governments’ policies about the development of Jabiluka. The Mirrar also encountered an inability to exercise their perceived rights to country under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NT) 1976.

As a result the Mirrar decided to embark upon a public campaign which has since become Australia’s highest profile land rights and environment case.

By the end of 1996 the Mirrar public campaign to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine was in full swing. There had been National Speaking Tour in September of 1996 which created unprecedented media and public attention for the Mirrar. Public forums had been held in the Northern Territory and alliances had been formed with
other Aboriginal communities facing the prospect of unwanted uranium mines on their traditional country. International bodies such as the World Heritage Bureau had been sent submissions from the Mirrar. The Mirrar had co-produced a feature documentary which was to appear on national television.

In June 1997 the first year of full-scale campaigning activity was marked with the placing of an enormous anti-Jabiluka mine banner on an escarpment located within the Jabiluka mineral lease and visible from the Oenpelli Road.

Also in June 1997 the Senior Traditional Owner, accompanied by other Traditional Owners and staff, travelled to Darwin, Goulburn Island, Croker Island, Maningrida and Waiark with the key purpose of conveying information related to the Mirrar opposition to the Jabiluka uranium mine.

It was also at this time that the Mirrar discussed and responded to the Government-dominated agenda of the supposedly independent Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist (ERISS), which culminated in blockading of ERISS premises and picketing of an Alligator Rivers Region Advisory Committee meeting.

In July of 1997 the Mirrar initiated Public Meetings in Sydney and Melbourne to build community support for their campaign to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine.

Mirrar and staff from Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation travelled to the Australian Universities Environment & Human Rights Conference in Townsville (“Students & Sustainability”) and received overwhelming support for the Mirrar fight against Jabiluka. As a result some 70 students travelled to Mirrar country and from 21-27 July participated with the Mirrar and support groups from around the nation in a National Week of Action on the Jabiluka issue.

In August 1997 that Federal Environment Minister Robert Hill handed down his recommendation for approval of the Jabiluka mine pursuant to an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which had been prepared by Energy Resources Of Australia. The Government received thousands of submissions to the 1997 Jabiluka EIS urging
the project not to proceed, including detailed submissions from the Northern Land Council and ATSIC. In reporting to the Minister for Environment and Heritage, Environment Australia raised serious concerns about long-term damage to the environment, Aboriginal people and World Heritage values.

Nonetheless, Senator Robert Hill recommended that the Jabiluka Project proceed. The Minister for Resources, Senator Warwick Parer, then approved the Jabiluka Project and in the process watered-down 95% of the conditions recommended by Senator Hill.

In September and October of 1997 the Mirrar worked on a native title claim over Jabiru as part of their overall aim of restoring Aboriginal jurisdiction in the region. Jabiru is currently an enclave of non-Aboriginal land within Mirrar country.

It was also at this time that the Mirrar hosted a visit by survivors of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster.

In November of 1997 the Mirrar travelled to Alice Springs to meet with other Aboriginal people and a variety of support organisations in a forum the Mirrar had organised and titled “Alliance Against Uranium”. Mirrar and other Aboriginal people also conducted much work in seeking registration of the Boyweg-Almudj Sacred Site Complex
which is located in part in the area of the Jabiluka Uranium Orebody.

In December 1997 the Mirrar and staff travelled to Sydney to appear in Federal Court proceedings challenging the validity of the Jabiluka Mineral Lease.

In February of 1998 the Mirrar and staff spent three weeks on a National Speaking tour associated with the growing national and international campaign to stop Jabiluka and launched the feature documentary “Jabiluka”.

In March of 1998 the Mirrar prepared for the arrival of thousands of people seeking to “blockade” the Jabiluka uranium mine in support of the Mirrar. Mirrar had to consider protocols, staff allocation, infrastructure, permits and many other issues associated with an activity of such a scale. In addition there was major protest activity
led by the Mirrar at this time.

On 19 May 1998 the Senior Traditional Owner was arrested with three other Aboriginal people for “trespassing” on the portion of the Mirrar estate currently subject to the Jabiluka Mineral Lease.

In late May the Mirrar and staff were worked on preparation and proceedings associated with seeking an injunction against the Northern Territory Minister for Mines and Energy issuing a permit to begin instruction under the Uranium Mining (Environmental Controls) Act (NT).

In the beginning of June of this year the Federal Minister for the Environment announced that a Public Environment Report would be required for the Jabiluka Milling Alternative for the Jabiluka uranium mine. The Mirrar had necessitated this decision by earlier withholding consent for Jabiluka ore to be milled at ERA’s Ranger uranium mine.

Also in June the Senior Traditional Owner and the Executive Officer attended the UNESCO World Heritage Bureau Meeting in Paris and were successful in convincing the Bureau to send a Mission to investigate the dangers to Mirrar living tradition and environment associated with the Jabiluka uranium mine.

Campaign activities involving the Mirrar escalated in July 1998 with the impending Federal Election, mass arrests at the ongoing blockade, a plethora of media requests and a National Campaign Meeting. Meetings commenced with the Shadow Minister for the Environment.

In August the Senior Traditional Owner and the Executive Officer attended over 40 meetings and media conferences in Germany, Holland and England as part of the growing international aspect of the Jabiluka campaign.

On September of 1998 the Mirrar organised a meeting of Senior Traditional Owners from throughout the region to discuss ERA growing “divide and conquer” tactics within the region. There was also considerable media attention and activities associated with Jabiluka being the major land rights and environment issue in the Federal Election campaign. In October of 1998 the Mirrar participated in the UNESCO World Heritage Committee Mission to Kakadu and Canberra.

In November of 1998 the UNESCO Mission handed down its report finding that the Jabiluka mine posed serious threats to the cultural and natural values of the Kakadu World Heritage Area. Mirrar and staff travelled to the World Heritage Committee meeting in Kyoto, Japan.

In December of 1998 the World Heritage Committee accepted the UNESCO Mission Report and resolved that construction at Jabiluka should cease until the Australian Government could prove that the identified threats to Mirrar culture and country were being avoided. The Australian Government refused to comply with the UNESCO resolution.

In February of 1999 the Senior Traditional Owner appealed her conviction for trespassing on her own land. Mirrar and staff met with Minister Robert Hill who rejected Mirrar concerns about the impending desecration of the Boyweg-Almudj Site Complex.
 

Why the Mirrar Oppose the Jabiluka Uranium Mine

The Mirrar are very concerned about the environmental safety of the Jabiluka uraniun mine as detailed in other parts of this website. However the most pressing concern of the Mirrar is the destruction of Aboriginal living tradition which will result from continued mining on Mirrar land.

Mirrar country encompasses the Ranger and Jabiluka Mineral Leases, the mining town of Jabiru and parts of Kakadu National Park. This is confirmed by bininj (Aboriginal) law and by balanda (non-Aboriginal) law under the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act 1976.

The enclave boundaries of the Jabiluka and Ranger Mineral Leases are not recognised under bininj law. The mineral leases do not concur with any “borders” established by the Mirrar or other bininj. This has been reiterated in recent discussion between senior bininj at a meeting held in Kakadu where it was stated:

“A lot of argument is caused by balanda making lines on maps to show how Aboriginal land ownership is represented. It isn’t like that...Arguments are forced on us when we are forced to make decisions in the interest of some group of balanda or government...we are continually forced and harassed until they get what they want.”
(minutes, Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, 15/9/98)

Mirrar are the only clan group with ultimate rights and obligations to the land within the Jabiluka excision. Other clan groups are affected by the area and the Mirrar owe responsibilities to these groups.

The Mirrar and other bininj have dreaming tracks which traverse country. These dreaming tracks cross both the Jabiluka and Ranger Mineral Leases and the World Heritage Area. These spiritual connections to country should only be described by particular Traditional Owners and Custodians to particular people at particular times.

The Mirrar and other bininj have many sacred sites all over country. These sacred sites exist within the Jabiluka and Ranger Mineral Leases and are interconnected with the spiritual and cultural significance of the entire Mirrar estate and other bininj country, including the World Heritage Area. Again, these spiritual connections to country should only be described by particular Traditional Owners and Custodians to particular people at particular times.

There are many sacred sites which are not afforded “protection” by the mining company of Government.. One that has been publicly identified by the Traditional Owners and Custodians is the Boywek-Almudj Sacred Site Complex which is very close to the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine. There are many other sites on the Jabiluka excision which have not been identified by bininj for a range of cultural reasons. Some of these sites are at present being directly and severely impacted upon by the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine.

The Mirrar and other bininj have traditionally hunted, gathered, held ceremonies, lived and died at places all over the Mirrar estate, including the Jabiluka Mineral Lease. Balanda scientists have “proved” this by discovering ancient remains and rock art all over Mirrar country, including the Jabiluka Mineral Lease. The Australian
Government believed one of the archaeological sites inside the Jabiluka Mineral Lease (Malakananja II) to be so important that it specifically referred to it when seeking inscription of Kakadu National Park on the World Heritage List.

The Mirrar and other bininj believe that culturally significant sites will be damaged by the construction of the Jabiluka uranium mine. Damage to these spiritual sites not only destroys living tradition from a balanda anthropological viewpoint - the Mirrar believe that damage to these sites will have actual cataclysmic consequences.

Mirrar are less likely to go to the area of the Jabiluka Mineral Lease because it is country which has been taken from them and damaged in a way which makes the country dangerous.

The Mirrar believe that mining activity on the Jabiluka Mineral Lease presents a genocidal danger to their living tradition. The Mirrar base this belief on their knowledge of land and culture inherited from ancestors since time immemorial and from their experiences of the Ranger uranium mine over the past twenty years.

The Mirrar believe that their living tradition has sustained an extreme attack as a result of the process by which industrial development has taken place. This attack lies in the refusal by the Australian government to recognise fundamental Mirrar rights to land and the exercise of those rights by the Mirrar.

The Jabiluka uranium mine project will bring more balanda to the region and entrench the power of balanda organisations and systems in the region. It is the opinion of the Mirrar that balanda cultural, economic and political systems destroy bininj living tradition. Further, the Mirrar believe there is a cumulative impact of the Jabiluka mine proceeding at the same time as the Ranger operations.

This loss of cultural significance impacts negatively on all aspects of Mirrar living tradition, including food collection, ceremony, customary law, spiritual connection and socio-political systems.

The Mirrar and other bininj recognise that the practice of living tradition is declining at a disturbing rate. There are many social problems associated with a decline in living tradition - including alcoholism, community violence, chronic health problems, disinterest in education, structural poverty and collective despair and hopelessness. These social, economic and political problems impose further constraints on Mirrar and other bininj exercising their living tradition and have served to create a dangerous cycle of cultural decline.

The Mirrar and other bininj have been identifying the dangers to living tradition since first contact with balanda. The Mirrar believe that nearly all these dangers to living tradition are products of the failure of the balanda world to recognise bininj law and jurisdiction. They include government practices such as stealing children and
ignoring established political systems; church practices such as preventing the observance of traditional religions and customary law; and individual actions such as rape, murder and enslavement.

However in recent times the Mirrar and other bininj have identified one particular balanda activity as the primary source of danger to living tradition in Kakadu - mining.

The Mirrar do not argue that mining alone is impacting on living tradition - the Mirrar argue that mining and its associated social, economic and political impacts are the single greatest impact and that an additional mine will push bininj culture past the point of cultural exhaustion to genocidal decay.