Aboriginal water values and resource development ... - Informit

Aboriginal water values and resource development pressures in the Pilbara region of north-west Australia Marcus Barber and Sue Jackson CSIRO, Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre, Darwin Abstract: The Pilbara is a remote arid region with a significant Aboriginal population, rich mineral resources and rapid rates of mineral resource development. Pilbara Aboriginal people claim deep ongoing connections to the land and waterscapes of the area and value water sources and features for a range of socio-cultural, economic and environmental reasons. Those water sources have come under increasing pressure from a new phase of development in the mining sector and so Aboriginal people have a strong interest in the long-term sustainability of this activity. We outline research generated through an agreement between the CSIRO and a major mining company in which fieldwork interviews were combined with the first peer-reviewed synthesis of the diverse and scattered literature describing Aboriginal people’s water interests in the area. The paper describes and contextualises Pilbara Aboriginal peoples’ relationships to water, highlighting its significance as part of the creative legacy of the ancestral beings, as an elemental resource for life, as reflective and constitutive of group and individual identity by relating people across time and space, and as a key focus of concerns about the ongoing effects of resource development. The scale of water use pressures in the Pilbara and the depth of feeling among its Aboriginal traditional owners and residents emphasise the need for greater resource allocations and engagement by those involved in mine water management and regional water planning, as well as in Aboriginal advocacy and research.

Introduction There is a growing body of literature explicitly documenting and analysing the ways in which Aboriginal Australian societies attribute meaning to water and the place of water in their formalised systems of knowledge and social institutions (Barber, M 2005; Barber, K and Rumley 2003; Jackson 2006; Langton 2002, 2006; Rose 2004; Strang 2001; Toussaint et al. 2005). Water is a key constituting feature of Aboriginal cultural landscapes and people conceptualise water sources and rivers, as with the land, as having derived from the actions of mythic beings during the Dreaming, when the world attained its present 32 Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2

shape and the socio-cultural institutions governing water use were formed (Barber, K and Rumley 2003; Langton 2002; Toussaint et al. 2005). The importance of water is evident in myth, painting, film and dance, as well as in practices, beliefs and ideas (Magowan 2001; Morphy and Morphy 2006; Toussaint et al. 2005; Yunupingu 1994). As well as examining this ‘intellectual use’, as Trigger (1985) describes the symbolic, metaphorical and conceptual significance of water, these studies also reveal the material use of water and water’s economic significance as a vital element underpinning the Aboriginal harvest and intracommunity distribution of aquatic life (Altman

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1987, 2004; Barber, M 2005; Behrendt and Thompson 2004; Finn and Jackson 2011; Keen 2003; Strang 2001). Historically, Aboriginal interventions improved rates of harvest of certain species. For example, river flows were manipulated with the construction of fish traps, weirs and small dams in numerous Australian river systems (Bandler 1995; Keen 2003). Water emphasises the interconnectedness of places from an Aboriginal point of view and associates the material and the economic with notions of sociality, sacredness, identity and the giving of life (Jackson 2005, 2006). Its vitality in unifying the mythical and material in sustaining Aboriginal lives is evident in accounts from across Australia (Barber, M 2005; Langton 2002; Weir 2009). Consistent with accounts from other regions of Australia, Aboriginal people in the Pilbara perceive water as a crucial constitutive element of the broader cultural and ecological landscape, held and managed under customary systems of law. Water sources are the most important features of the country, having been derived from the actions of mythic beings during the creative period described in one of the local languages as ‘when the world was soft’ (Ieramugadu and Rijavec 1995). People directly associated with water places have responsibilities to sustain and protect them; contemporary guardians feel they have obligations to ancestors, subsequent generations and living people with kin and historical connections to those places. Care of water sites also implies a responsibility to those living downstream — water is not a static resource associated with a particular country alone, but part of an interconnected series of surface and subterranean flows. The research reported here was initiated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO) in 2010. It was motivated by an internal awareness within the company that future water use in the Pilbara is projected to increase rapidly, and that the company as a whole needs to ensure it is well informed about Aboriginal water values and interests in order to manage its share of that increase. In 2007 it was estimated that the overall volume of water used in the Pilbara is expected to treble in the next 25 years and the mining sector’s share of that overall total is estimated to increase from 72 percent to 87 percent (Economics Consulting Services

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2007). The massive overall increase in mining and natural gas development activity is one reason for this change, but a substantial proportion of existing water use and a greater proportion of the expected increase will come from pumping out mine pits lying below the water table. Ore extraction from these deeper pits requires the pumping and disposal of large quantities of groundwater in a process known as dewatering. Therefore mining development will be a primary driver in the overall regional water use pattern (Department of Water 2010), where shortages are experienced near the coastal towns and mine ports such as Karratha (Figure 1) and excess water from dewatered mines at inland sites generates disposal problems. Aboriginal peoples’ perspectives on mining are diverse, ranging across the spectrum from direct participation in the industry through to vehement opposition to any and all mining developments. A range of views was encountered during the research reported on here, with individuals and groups in the Pilbara positioned differently with respect to particular issues, particular companies and with respect to direct involvement in the industry, either their own or that of close family members. In general, there is acknowledgment that large-scale mining has been demonstrably destructive of areas of the Pilbara landscape and that this damage is an important issue. However, efforts by mining companies to consult with Aboriginal owner groups about managing developments, to engage Aboriginal people as employees, and to negotiate agreements containing long-term cash and other benefits from mining activity have also affected changing local and regional perceptions of the sector (Altman and Martin 2009; Holcombe 2005). In light of these developing relationships and of corporate concerns about increases in water usage, RTIO wished to better understand Aboriginal values and interests in water across the region and requested assistance from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in 2009. Aboriginal legal rights and interests in water do play a role in current and future developments in this area (Armstrong 2008; Gardner et al. 2009), but the primary corporate motivations emerged from the desire to proactively manage current and future impacts rather than legal requirements. The implicaAustralian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2 33


tions of this research for Aboriginal attitudes to mining developments, company consultation processes, social impact assessment and water planning in the mining sector are considered elsewhere (Barber, M and Jackson 2011, in review). The priority in what follows is to synthesise and describe the major characteristics of Aboriginal water values and Aboriginal water issues in the Pilbara and their relationship to recent developments in wider Aboriginal advocacy around water planning. Our research suggests that Aboriginal people in the Pilbara would benefit from greater attention from, and greater participation in, wider regional Aboriginal discussions and alliances with respect to water issues, as well as from state and private sector efforts to better plan for increased mine water use. Despite recent activity

Figure 1: Map of Pilbara surface waters and major towns

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in the Aboriginal water rights domain at international, national and intra-Australian regional scales, little attention has been given to the Pilbara region, even with its acute water use pressures.

The Pilbara region of Western Australia The Pilbara is an arid region heavily reliant on perennial groundwater sources recharged by episodic rainfall events, including cyclones. Average rainfall is 200–350 millimetres across the region, which, combined with evaporation rates exceeding 2500 millimetres, means that surface water is usually minimal. There are five major drainage basins (Figure 1) and surface expression of groundwater creates important water features such as springs, perennial pools along the dry river beds and the extensive natural wetlands in the

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area of the Millstream Chichester National Park. Some of these areas are nationally or internationally significant in terms of biodiversity and/or rich in Aboriginal cultural sites and patterns of past occupation and use, as well as being of fundamental importance to contemporary Aboriginal people (Barber, M and Jackson 2011; Rumley and Barber, K 2004). The total Pilbara population of approximately 45 000 people is expanding rapidly, largely due to the intense mining activity in the area, and the Aboriginal population of approximately 6000 is expanding even faster because of the influx of Aboriginal people working in the mines and high birth rates among the local population (Taylor, J and Scambary 2005). Taken as a whole, the Aboriginal population is young, relatively undereducated and under-employed (Taylor, J and Scambary 2005). In socio-cultural terms it is internally differentiated into language and/or territorial groupings, and although intermarriage and the impacts of colonisation mean that there is substantial overlap between groups, the recent processes of claiming Native Title have required some of this contemporary group organisation to be more clearly developed and articulated. Nevertheless, the precise boundaries remain contested in some cases and the Native Title demarcations in the area are complex.1 The spelling of group names varies (for example Innawonga and Yinhawanga, Yindjibarndi and Injibarndi, Gurama and Kuruma) but the main groups listed in Native Title documents and which formed the basis for contacting relevant organisations and individuals for this study include the Innawonga, Bunjima, Jurruru, Kuruma Marthudunera, Martu Idja Banyjima, Ngarluma, Nyiyaparli, Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura, Thalanyji, Yaburara and Yindjibarndi. Colonisation in the Pilbara stretches back more than 140 years, and describing this history in detail is beyond the scope of this paper (but see Brehault and Vitenbergs 2001; Holcombe 2005; Olive 1997, 2007; Rijavec 1993; Scambary 2007; Wilson 1980). Although initial colonisation occurred in the 1800s, in comparison with other areas that experienced early and extensive disruption and violence (such as southern Western Australia), pre-1960s colonisation in the Pilbara involved primarily cattle and pearl-


ing industries, minimal mission presence and low non-Aboriginal population levels. This meant that Aboriginal people were more easily able to go on living on or near their traditional country, enabling greater retention of a strong sense of attachment to, and knowledge about, those places into recent decades. However, much has changed since both the initial mining boom of the 1960s and the developments in equal wages and citizenship rights, particularly with respect to settlement patterns. The great majority of people now live in towns such as Newman, Tom Price, Karratha, Roebourne, Onslow, Wickham and Port Hedland, as well as in some smaller Aboriginal settlements. Cash income is derived from paid employment and social welfare payments, and despite the ongoing socio-cultural importance of hunting and fishing, people buy much of their food and material possessions from stores in the major towns. Places in the region that were important residential sites in the past are now not permanently inhabited, and for a range of reasons, particularly accessibility, some may rarely be visited. However, areas that are not permanently inhabited or frequently visited may nevertheless be crucial in peoples’ lives, sustaining a distinct individual and group identity, as well as connections to past ancestors and future descendants (Palmer 1977). Notwithstanding the difficulties of access, Aboriginal people in the region aspire to have members of their communities re-occupy their homelands and thereby facilitate customary use of the land and water resources, and a number of smaller communities have been developed to meet this aspiration, including Youngaleena, Wakathuni, Bellarie Springs and Ngurrawaana. Therefore, important places, and particularly important water sites, continue to influence the evolving residential patterns and aspirations of local Aboriginal people. Recent attempts to improve wider nonAboriginal Australian recognition of Aboriginal governance processes and representation, particularly in negotiations with the mining industry, have resulted in the formation of Yamatji Marlpa Barna Baba Maaja (Ritter 2004), otherwise known as the Pilbara Native Title Service, and a diverse range of more localised Aboriginal representative and service organisations. The pace and scale of the commercial developments and population growth in the Pilbara place these organisations Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2 35


under considerable ongoing pressure to maintain effective consultation and decision-making processes and these are compounded by the rapid growth and low education levels in the Aboriginal population. Yet consultation and negotiation processes are a growing feature of legal and regulatory requirements for new developments and of internal corporate social responsibility objectives and aspirations, as well as being something that Aboriginal people themselves demand.

Methodology Fieldwork interviews

Fieldwork interviews with key Aboriginal people and organisations, as well as with relevant nonAboriginal representatives, were conducted in June and July 2010. Thirteen Aboriginal agencies or organisations were contacted about the research and in total 20 senior Aboriginal people from the Pilbara were interviewed. Guidance about appropriate people to interview was sought from Aboriginal representative associations and the interviewees themselves. The criteria used to identify potential interviewees included seniority, group identity, knowledge, place and duration of residence, recent profile in speaking about water issues and expected availability for interview. The study area was deliberately kept broad, incorporating sites where RTIO was currently highly active, but also locations where the effect of company operations might be far less direct and the water issues would necessarily be of a more general nature. Major towns and/or Aboriginal communities visited during the fieldwork include Port Hedland, Tom Price, Paraburdoo, Wakathuni, Youngaleena, Onslow, Karratha, Wickham and Roebourne. A semi-structured interview process was followed, which enabled a range of key predetermined issues to be discussed, but which also allowed people the freedom to raise issues that they felt were important. As the research represented an initial scoping exercise, no attempt was made to cover all the issues in a particular geographic location, to cover all the issues in all the major locations, or to achieve statistically representative coverage of the targeted population. It was also important that any of the opinions expressed by individuals could not be taken to be the collec36 Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2

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tive position of any language or Native Title group of which they were a member. Rather, the emphasis was upon interviewing relevant people occupying critical socio-cultural and institutional positions, and on identifying particular examples in each location that reflected themes or issues important at a broader level — the relationship between people and the country, issues with water storage and extraction, climatic variation etc. The research was conducted with the free, prior and informed written consent from the individuals involved and in accordance with CSIRO human ethics research protocols. Research participants understood that the researchers were independent from the company requesting the research and that they could choose which of their comments would be used, as well as how they were to be identified in both the widely distributed public report (Barber, M and Jackson 2011) and any subsequent research articles such as this one. This is the reason for the range of attributions attached to the research participant comments described here. Those who wished to keep their participation completely confidential were able to do so, but the majority of research participants chose to be identified either by language group or personal name. Such attributions are complemented by similarly attributed comments from individuals in other sources about the region (Olive 1997; Rijavec 1993). From a research perspective, both the language group and personal name descriptors enabled some demonstration of the geographic and socio-cultural breadth (as well as the limitations) of this regional scale consultation process. Indicating this breadth was important for local and regional transparency with respect to the conclusions reached. Further information on fieldwork research procedures and methods is available in Barber, M and Jackson (2011). Archival research and analysis

A number of other sources contained material highly relevant to the research focus. These included consultants’ reports, government water plans and policies, film and video material, internet sites and material in the formal academic literature. To this point in time, such material has remained scattered and/or not accessible in peer-reviewed form, and so a further objective of the research process was to identify, collate and,

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where appropriate, transcribe material relevant to Aboriginal people and water in the Pilbara. This material is organised and combined with material from the fieldwork interviews on a thematic basis to provide coherence to the results section and to provide foundations for further research.

Results — water and Aboriginal people in the Pilbara Creator snakes and water sources

The 1993 documentary film Exile and the Kingdom (Rijavec 1993) provides much insight into how Pilbara Aboriginal people, in particular those living around the town of Roebourne, understand their world and their experiences of the historical changes associated with colonisation and mining development over previous decades. In the film, the now-deceased local Aboriginal spokesperson and film narrator Roger Solomon explains the origins of Pilbara country: In Injibarndi Law, it is said that before the creation the sky was very low. When the creation spirits got up from the earth, they lifted the sky and the world out of the sea. The creation spirits are called Marrga, they still live in this country. In the early morning, the fog that drifts over the water is from their breakfast fires. It is the Marrga who shaped and named the country, and all the birds and animals, and finally the Narrangarr, Aboriginal people, came from the Marrga themselves. In other places they call this the Dreaming, but here we call it Nurranudjukam, when the world was soft, the learning times. Marrga spirits live in the rocky mountains and gullies of the table lands, and are dangerous if you don’t approach and speak to them in the proper way (Solomon in Rijavec 1993).

In their report for the now-disbanded Western Australian Water and Rivers Commission, Rumley and Barber, K (2004:5) note that the creative ‘mythical essence’ left by the Dreaming beings remains in all Pilbara water sources — rivers, creeks, soaks, pools and springs. In his 1977 examination, anthropologist Kingsley Palmer described the unity created by both the water flows and the ancestral journeys: To discuss any of these sites in isolation is wrong because the river constitutes a unity


over and through which the great mythic ancestors were believed to have travelled. Their function as creators, instigators and founders of traditional ritual practice is inextricable from the natural features that proclaim their validity (Palmer 1977:72).

The primary means by which the creative power is manifest is through the presence of water snakes or water serpents in the permanent pools. Throughout Australia rainbow serpents or snakes are widely recognised and revered by Aboriginal people for their powers and special relationship to water and the stories associated with these creatures have attracted considerable anthropological attention (e.g. Hiatt 1975; Radcliffe-Brown 1926; Taylor, L 1990). A key creation story in the Pilbara tells of the water snake Barrimirndi pursuing two young male initiates who had broken the law, and in that pursuit creating the main water places along the Fortescue River: Long ago Yarndanyirra was dry, until Barrimirndi — the great water snake — came from the sea chasing after two boys who broke the Law. He travelled under the ground and at each place where he busted out of the dry river bed to smell where those two lawbreakers were, Barrimirndi made yindangali (deep permanent pools). He finally got up at Nhanggangunha (Deep Reach) and lifted the law breakers into the sky in a wananggaa (willy willy). They were hit with flying sticks, breaking their arms so they were useless. Barrimirndi got ready then, his thumbu (anus) opened wide and red to the sky and when they fell out of the sky, he swallowed them through his thumbu and drowned the whole tribe in the biggest flood of water. Today Barrimirndi rests deep down in the pool he made at Nhanggangunha. He is the protector of water places all along Yarndanyirra right up to Nhanggangunha. We don’t think Barrimirndi is bad, we respect him because he’s a giver of water, of life. He only gets wild if the laws for water places are broken (Ieramugadu and Rijavec 1995:3).

The bare plot or description of events listed here cannot fully convey the potential pathways for moral, social and ecological lessons that this story offers to an experienced storyteller fluent in the language and, indeed, the potential significance Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2 37


of these myths in cross-cultural anthropological analyses (Hiatt 1975). But it does demonstrate the clear connection between the creation of key water features and the horrible punishments experienced by those who break the laws laid down by the creators. This story about the snake comes from the formative period when the major landscape features were created, but the powerful connections between snakes, water and people are evident in the interpretation and understanding of much more recent events, as there are a number of accounts describing the historical and ongoing role of the snake in the life of the people and places of the area. In the 1960s redundancies in the cattle industry caused by the introduction of equal wages resulted in large numbers of workers relocating to the regional coastal settlements. This influx of people from elsewhere caused friction with local residents, and the large storm that lashed the region at around the same time was interpreted as evidence of the dissatisfaction of the saltwater snake associated with the local Aboriginal owners. The friction could only be resolved by a negotiation between the respective snakes, which represented the most powerful essences of those peoples: Injibarndi people thought they were going to get killed by the saltwater snake that belonged to the coast. So they called on their freshwater snake from the Fortescue River to come and save them. The two snakes fought a long battle in the sky above the reserve and finally the saltwater snake was pushed back out to sea, and Injibarndi people were allowed to stay here [in Roebourne] (Solomon in Rijavec 1993).

Resolving what appeared at first to be a ‘social’ issue among people actually involved negotiations between spiritual powers in the landscape, altering weather patterns and flood regimes until an accommodation was reached; the people, the snake and, by implication, the country itself had to get used to these new arrivals. Explanations of changes in places that rely on the existence of the snake are still regularly made by Aboriginal people in the area, particularly in relation to current developments: 38 Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2

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Serious erosion is now an issue according to one Conservation and Land Management (CALM) employee due to overgrazing of the river banks. From an Aboriginal perspective the CALM officer was told that the flooding and erosion resulted from ‘…the snake shaking its tail’ (Rumley and Barber, K 2004:44–5). When they take too much water, then the serpent gets upset and leaves. Once the rainbow serpent goes, then the water goes with him. And we all miss out. And Aboriginal people are the ones who get punished. We are supposed to be looking after him. They can take water, as long as he’s satisfied that he’s not being dried out (Cyril Lockyer, authors’ field notes).

The physical condition of the land and waterscape is intimately tied to, and reflected in, the attitude of the snake to current events. Failing to respond to the signs of stress and dissatisfaction can lead to the ultimate departure of the snake from the area and thereby to irreversible changes in important places. One facet of the departure of the snake can be understood as ecological, as a way of talking about a point of ecosystem collapse beyond which recovery may be impossible, and also, in the first quote, to the relationship between phenomena, as it is the presence of too many cattle that is causing the snake to shake its tail and create the erosion. Yet for Aboriginal people in the Pilbara, the condition of that place has a much wider significance and is multifaceted in both cause and effect; it is directly connected to the social, physical and psychological health of individuals and communities. This makes appropriate responses to such signs of stress an even greater priority and the risk of environmental damage to important places that much greater. Importance of water to Aboriginal people in the Pilbara

The accounts above emphasise the significance of ancestral creator beings, such as the snake, as much as the water with which the snake is associated. However, water itself is integral to the lives of Aboriginal people in the Pilbara, and many of those interviewed spoke about the overarching significance of water to people and to the country:

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Water gives the gift of life to everybody. The water snake is the creator of our culture. You need to respect these places. Animals and human beings need it to survive (senior member of the Thalanyji, authors’ field notes). All our river systems should be looked after; our water should be respected and treated as the most sacred and precious resource. When all our rivers are dead, everything else will also be gone…for traditional owners it is our homes, our heritage, our spirit and our souls, it is our essence of being (Marnmu Smyth, authors’ field notes). Any important area is usually a water source or has a water source nearby. Water is so central to Aboriginal peoples’ wellbeing. If the local water supply is no good, it will make them sick, give them kidney infections. People rely on the soaks and pools at Law time between October and February because there are so many people camped together (Lorraine Injie, authors’ field notes). Places that are of importance are connected to water, and the water provides for us when we conduct our ceremonies. Important places are known as thalu sites. Inda is the word for the waterholes made by the snake, where the snake is. These are the most important places for us (Slim Parker, authors’ field notes).

These evocative statements of the sustaining and life-giving properties of water indicate how significant the relationship between people and water can be, and suggest a long history of interaction. Von Brandenstein (1972) argues that the designs on shields from the region depict the key features of major river systems, reflecting both detailed knowledge and ongoing engagement with riverine habitats. Rumley and Barber, K (2004:22–3) collated early explorers’ observations of Aboriginal presence in the area (e.g. Gregory and Gregory 1884; Withnell 1901), noting the prevalence of people camping up and down the length of river systems. The occupation of, and association with, water sites continued over time despite the disruptions caused by more than a century of subsequent colonisation, and this attachment is evident in older peoples’ recollections of their places of origin and birth:


Joyce Injie: I was born in the bush not too far from Hamersley Station, Marlumarlunha Springs. It was clean water. Mabel (Tommy) was born not far from there, the same creek we call Jirridinku (Olive 1997:65). Judy July: I was born at July Springs on Duck Creek Station and called Judy July, whitefella name (Olive 1997:32). Henry Long: I was born on the top end of the Shaw River near Hillside Station, not far from Marble Bar…We used to stop around the Shaw River, all of us, that’s our country (Olive 1997:37–8). Dulcie Congdon: My country is the other side of Minthacoogina (a spring in the Karijini National Park), out near Paraburdoo. Bellary Creek is part of Yinhawangka country (Olive 1997:23).

The resources for clean childbirth are provided by the springs and waterholes and Pilbara water places can also carry strong gender associations (Rumley and Barber, K 2004). Therefore, water places in the Pilbara have been the locations of some of the most important events in contemporary peoples’ lives, as well as carrying rich spiritual and symbolic significance associated with the ancestral powers of the creators. Not surprisingly, the country, and the waters associated with it, is one of the primary inspirations for songs and poetry, as shown by this translation of a song about the creation of the first Law ground (Burndud) lying on the Fortescue River bed: Wind from the sea blowing over the flat rocks at Birlinbirlin I see Tharyawirdi Gorge the wind belonging to the sea-side snake is rising blowing up-river roaring through the wind from the sea is blowing up-river roaring through trees touch me… a fire is burning there loaded full with spirit power they are dancing, dancing round and round stamping on the ground over and over on the ground at Yirribinyanha… Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2 39


at Yirribinyanha I see two of us travelling together to Mirndulula I rest now I see the path to follow I see the wild wind coming covering up their tracks wild wind coming over where the deep dark water lays… I feel tired now ripples on the water at Jinbinayina Pool the sound of beating yandies I see ripples on the water where the deep water lays I hear the sound of beating yandies Jawi in Yindjibarndi by Toby Wiliguru Bambardu Carried by Yilbie Warrie (Ieramugadu and Rijavec 1995:5).

Water is a critical aspect of people’s historical associations, their understanding of the creation of their world and their contemporary lives. This makes water and the country it sustains a primary basis for individual and wider socio-cultural group identities, as well as a key issue in discussion of proprietary rights and access. Boundaries, identities and ownership

The level of personal and emotional attachment people feel towards water places is complemented by the understanding that water shapes and reflects boundaries and relationships between people (Barber, M 2005; Langton 2002; Morphy and Morphy 2006). The separation, mixing and flow of waters reflect social groupings and relationships; people are related in particular ways because of the water, and water in turn flows according to the relationships between people. The location and movement of water is part of the natural order and an aspect of law and territoriality: My father and uncles taught me about our boundaries, where they meet up, and where the other tribes come in. Minthi Springs that is a boundary for the Punjima and Kurrama tribes. Pelican, or wirlimarra in my language, is a creek near Camp Anderson. That is the boundary of the Yindjibarndi and Kurrama and another of their law grounds. Having law grounds on tribal boundaries enables 40 Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2

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peoples of both tribes to meet together without crossing other people’s lands. For this reason there were always some law grounds on their boundaries… You follow all of the ranges and hills, they’re often the boundaries…You follow the river it’s the same, a boundary. If we go to Coppin Pool (in the Karijini National Park) we call it Dharlibiri, that’s the river that runs into the pool. But as soon as you get to Coppin Pool the name of the river changes, it is now called the Turee. The different tribes have different names for their stretch of water (Peter Stevens in Olive 1997:75–7). This top end (hill) area is Innawonga, Banydjima and Guruma, and the boundaries are marked by water. If we went up near Tom Price, going up on that big jump up, the water flows down the other side and away from here. Ours is up here running into the Turee Creek. The Turee is our main heart and main vein. The groups and languages are connected to the waters, they flow with the waters (Brendan Cook, authors’ field notes). Water is very important in our tribal ways. We are Mangulu people, flood people. He [Aboriginal Elder sitting nearby] is Mulwu, hill people (Banyjima/Yinhawangka Tribal Elder, authors’ field notes).

A further consequence and implication of this relatedness is an understanding that both the country and the waters contained within it are controlled or owned by discernible and recognisable groups of people, who, in turn, believe that they have proprietary rights: Native Title is daylight robbery. Taking away water rights and mineral rights. There must be agreements and royalties for water (Brendan Cook, authors’ field notes).

Rumley and Barber, K (2004:42) describe the conflict between a licensing system generated by the Western Australian Government and Aboriginal understandings that water was one of their own ‘free’ resources. Very few Aboriginal people applied for water licences, which carried connotations of the alcohol permits of the Native Welfare era. In our study, senior Aboriginal resident of Roebourne, Mark Lockyer, comments on

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the principle that water should be freely available to those who require it, but that there are also ultimate holders of water resource rights who are the appropriate beneficiaries of payments for nonsubsistence use: Lots of people in my group are against that idea [of piping water to the coastal towns]. I’m not so strong against it. I think people should have water to drink. When I was working around in other places, people did not ask me ‘did you bring your own water?’ I drank the water that was there. People should not have to pay for water to drink. If they are living on our country they should have water to drink. We have family in those towns, and if we take away all the water, then our families miss out too. But if they are running a business with that water, then they should pay (Mark Lockyer, authors’ field notes).

Mark Lockyer initially appears to suggest that free access to water is the primary principle, based on widespread tradition of sharing freshwater among Aboriginal landowners (Langton 2002), but his additional comments indicate there is an obligation for the resource owners to provide the necessities of life for those living in the area. The complexities of discussions of Aboriginal property and water resource ownership cannot be fully explored here (but see Altman and Branchut 2008; Jackson and Altman 2009; Keen 2011; Langton 2002). What is clearly evident from the comments and examples above is the sense of Aboriginal control over the resource, the responsibility to other Pilbara residents that this control entails, and the necessity for those residents from elsewhere who are benefitting from the resource to both acknowledge and compensate the people responsible for its management. The above comments clearly demonstrate the ongoing sense of custodial responsibility and ownership that people feel, despite more than a century of laws that have ignored or actively attempted to remove this sense of entitlement. Downstream and inter-generational responsibilities

Mark Lockyer’s sense of obligation to kin living in Pilbara towns was a significant aspect of his attitude to current issues of water supply. Living


people are custodians and guardians with multiple responsibilities, including responsibilities to those interconnected by water flows: Upstream and downstream are responsible to each other. We are all linked together; we are not really independent people. If you are not doing the right thing on your lands, then the effects go downstream (Brendan Cook, authors’ field notes). Innawonga water flows into the Ashburton [River]. There is a connection up and down the river (Churchill Jones, authors’ field notes).

These obligations and responsibilities are challenged by current circumstances, where developments may have major downstream impacts, both for people and for important places: There is no real process for letting people know downstream, about developments further up. The mining leases may be out of your Native Title area but their development may impact on country downstream, when it comes to rivers. Many of us have never thought about this and it is important that companies consider this (senior member of the Thalanyji, authors’ field notes). Downstream effects are not usually discussed. The drying of the permanent pools is crucial. There is the logical and scientific aspect, but also the mythical aspect, such as the story of the snake. What happens in Karijini [National Park] affects what happens in the coast. But mining leases only require EPA [Environmental Protection Authority] approvals and are site specific. That’s a big problem for those living downstream (spokesperson from the Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation, authors’ field notes).

Downstream effects may include pollutants and impacts on water quality because water is used on the mine site and seeps back into the ground, or is pumped off the lease. But given the pressure for water resources in coastal towns, a growing issue for downstream users may be the complete removal of the water from the river system. This has been occurring at Millstream and may be an aspect of future mine dewatering activity: Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2 41


The transport of water across traditional boundaries raises the issue of our obligation to ensure that aquifers aren’t impacted upon and dried out. Diversions must not damage the ability to sustain downstream environments and people. Agreement should be reached from a uniform perspective by all the Native Title groups (Slim Parker, authors’ field notes).

People interviewed not only feel obligations to downstream users in relation to such big water developments, but also think about the generations to come after them: That is why I feel, whew, very, very emotional at the present moment when I am speaking about it [impacts of mine water flowing into Weeli Wolli Creek] because I’m, I suppose, the person that’s been heading things up with my Elders and all the rest of the people. And if this happens, what are our future generations going to think of us in terms of allowing this to go ahead? That is something that we have got to carry with us and hope that we are still able to, scientifically, I suppose, work together with people, who are from those professional fields, to monitor, to enable us to monitor and see what’s happening here and to try to avoid a catastrophe that could happen here. Because what happens up here, it’s not only going to, you know, that devastation, that impact on us, but it’s going to have on the people that are downstream, the traditional owners that are downstream, you know, we talk about the Balgu people and we talk about the Injibarndi people down at Millstream downstream. When we talk about Weeli Wolli, we are talking about the Fortescue River, you know, they run into the Fortescue Marsh (Slim Parker in Weeli Wolli Creek Australia 2008). We don’t want to have to tell stories to our children about how it used to be (Cyril Lockyer, authors’ field notes).

The largest escalation of mining and energy activity in Australian history is underway in the Pilbara and the region is likely to be economically productive for many decades (Langton and Mazel 2008). Yet Aboriginal people in the area are aware that they will be around long after the 42 Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2

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mines have closed. At such a time they will have to face the impacts of current activity: A few more mines and there’ll be no more hills. We’ll be like the desert and coast people, [with] flat country. But when they’ve finished we’ll bury all them holes, fill all the shafts (David Cox, authors’ field notes).

This sense of obligation to others, including ancestors and descendants, as well as the regional scale and the long timeframes on which that sense of obligation hinges, is crucial to understanding Aboriginal peoples’ responses to new developments. Although analysing development impacts is not the main focus of this paper, the significance of these in the current circumstances is already clearly evident in the comments above, and it will become more evident in the comments to follow. However, before specifically considering water-related concerns with recent mining developments, it is important to review two past examples of how water resource developments have negatively impacted on Pilbara Aboriginal people — the Harding Dam and the bore-fields at Millstream. These were water supply develop ments rather than direct initiatives from the mining industry, but they were required because of mining-derived population growth and they have had substantial implications for how Pilbara Aboriginal people, particularly those associated with the lower Fortescue River, regard current and future water development proposals. Obstructing water flow — the Harding Dam

The construction of the Harding Dam in 1983, and the subsequent flooding of the valley behind (known as Yawajuna-Lockyer’s Gorge), remains an ongoing source of concern and anger in Pilbara Aboriginal communities. The dam represented the first major modern water development designed to address the challenges of increasing population and economic development, but the flooded area was also very culturally and ecologically important to local people (Palmer 1977). Although an initial proposal in the early 1970s to dam the Fortescue River was abandoned following Aboriginal opposition, the subsequent decision to dam the Harding was made without further consultation (Rijavec 1993; Olive 2007). This

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failure to consult only increased the anger when the consequences of the dam became clear: those trees have gone! They insulted this ground! Finish! They’ve broken it up! Finish! This one here, they break this one too! That’s the place we used to camp here. Everything’s busted up! We used to walk down there up the river. Can’t do nothing now! Finished! They put water in it. Bad! There was a sacred tree there that is not allowed to be cut down. I don’t know if he is there now. The ‘Tree in the Moon’, is he still standing? Nothing, he’s under the water. They cut that down. They’re not allowed to do that! God put that tree there! Not supposed to do that! (Lilla Snowball in Rijavec 1993).

Long Mack, a famous rainmaker2 from the country, died as the dam was finalised in 1983, and he is said to have died of grief (Rijavec 1993). Details of the Harding Dam issue have appeared in a range of publications through the decades (Olive 1997, 2007; Rumley and Barber, K 2004), demonstrating that, 40 years since it was first discussed and almost 30 years since it was built, the issue remains significant. The flooding of the rainmaking site Bunggarliyarra and the ‘Tree in the moon’ (Nganirrina) site were particular objects of concern, but the loss of an important camping place in the flooded valley and the drying-up of the Ngurin River downstream of the dam had a significant impact on subsistence fishing and hunting by the people of Roebourne: They took all the trees, all the beautiful trees, the paperbarks, they took it all and even a church mob, us mob, we used to go there and camp out along there. People had knowledge of their land. Go for camp-outs. Some people were baptised there, a special place, a lovely ceremonial spot. My grandfather went through the law somewhere there. The white men just wanted to do their own thing. Not listen to us mob talking. There’s also the problem of Ieramugadu (Roebourne) for that’s where they used to fish and swim and now it gets dry (Tootsie Daniels in Olive 1997:20).

The valley’s topography and the region’s high rates of evaporation limited the water storage capacity of the Harding Dam. As a result, Karratha’s


water supply required augmentation with ground water that is extracted from a nearby bore-field in another important area, Jirndawurrina, known in English as Millstream. Technical deficiencies in the water supply system have compounded the anger felt by traditional owners. Extraction — Millstream (Jirndawurrina)

The negative impacts of the Harding Dam involved the destruction and reconstruction of rock formations for the dam wall, and the subsequent inundation and interruption to the natural flow regime, whereas at Millstream it was water extraction that created the negative impacts. Millstream is a complex system of permanent pools and wetlands fed by underlying groundwater discharge and by flows from the Fortescue River. Located approximately 100 kilometres south of Karratha, it is one of the most significant cultural and mythological landscapes for Aboriginal people in northern Western Australia, containing a large number of important places (Department of Water 2010). However, this ecological richness and relative water abundance has also placed considerable pressure on Millstream. Bores had been sporadically drilled in the area prior to the creation of the Harding Dam, but in the early 1990s the land was bought from pastoralists and divided between the expanded Millstream Chichester National Park and the Western Australian Water Corporation. The area became an important bore-field supplying fast-growing coastal towns, and the impacts of the extractions were evident to local people: The date palms all dropped dead when they over-pumped Millstream and took the water table below the tree roots. There were only 1000 people in Karratha when they built the Harding Dam, and now that population is so much bigger. All that water is being used in construction, new roads, railway lines etc. Why is there no temporary pipeline from Mesa J [mine] to recharge the Millstream field (Cyril Lockyer, authors’ field notes). They drain the water out, whether for mining, towns and communities. We know we have a big water table but the mining has already destroyed that. They make those big drains to move the water around the country Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2 43


and they don’t think about Aboriginal people (Dawn Hicks, authors’ field notes).

As discussed earlier, the changes to the Millstream region are also interpreted in terms of the snake, and altered weather patterns are part of the response: There are huge sinkholes opening up on Millstream country and in Karijini. The older people say that this is the snake who is not happy and is looking for his water (spokesperson from the Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation, authors’ field notes). Barrimirndi for those water places has laid down, quiet and sulky. Barrimirndi’s feelings have been hurt and he no longer brings the summer and winter rains like he used to (Ieramugadu and Rijavec 1995:19).

From an Aboriginal perspective, the drying of the country and the lack of precipitation are directly linked to land and water use activities. Yet an understanding of the significance of the snake’s role does not prevent people from considering practical measures to improve the situation, such as recharging the bore-field in the way Cyril Lockyer suggests above. Concerns about the condition of the area are ongoing and substantial, but the lack of Aboriginal consultation processes that accompanied the original decision to extract water from Millstream, combined with the original impacts of similar processes with respect to the Harding Dam, have left a legacy of disempower ment and frustration for the people of this country. These feelings carry through to discussions of mining activities and their impacts, which were ongoing through the period when the Harding Dam and Millstream bore-field were constructed, but have now reached an even greater intensity, both because of the increased activity and because mining is becoming more water intensive. Mining impacts

Mining has affected life in the Pilbara in many substantial ways, although it is beyond the scope of this paper to fully describe the effects and consequent Aboriginal responses (but see Holcombe 2005; Langton and Mazel 2008; Olive 2007; Taylor, J and Scambary 2005). In terms of water and water sites, key concerns raised by Aboriginal 44 Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2

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respondents during interviews include the formation of sinkholes, the volumes and quality of water discharged from dewatered mines, and the impacts of lease conditions on access: The sinkholes have been growing more and more over the last 30–40 years. But Rio won’t acknowledge that they are responsible. I kept asking the Rio guy talking about the Marandoo project a direct question. Where are all these little fences coming from? His response was: The pastoralists were putting them up to stop the cattle falling in the sinkholes. The southern Fortescue bore-fields have all these sinkholes from pumping water to Tom Price. There were sinkholes there before at Marandoo, before it was approved, but now there are more. You can tell because where the pipeline was laid down, it was before a sinkhole was there but now there are sinkholes underneath the pipeline. They have formed afterwards (Slim Parker, authors’ field notes). From the initial discussion we had last year with Hope Downs and Rio, in regards to it all they told us, they gave us figures of gigalitres of water that is going to be pumped out and that, etc., but looking at it now, the discharge here is enormous, and if that is going to continue for the life of the mine up there, it’s going to be staggering the amount of water that is basically going to go out of this discharge and down the river then (Maitland Parker in Weeli Wolli Creek Australia 2008). Getting onto the lease [to go fishing] can be hard for us. People cannot use the mining roads unless they have a mine-equipped car…We use the old road instead, but this gets blocked when the water is running high. Rio promised that they would build a mobile bridge, but it never happened. When the water is too high we can’t see the rocks underneath. We can’t get across [to the campsite] (Nyiyaparli Elder, authors’ field notes).

More detailed discussions of the perceptions of water-related mine impacts is available elsewhere (Barber, M and Jackson 2011, in review), but what is important to note here is that the concerns about perceived mine impacts emerge from the overall

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sense people have of the significance of water and the places it sustains. A number of people portray the mines as a force that exacerbates the problems caused by developments such as the Harding Dam and Millstream extractions. Negative and cumulative changes to the country at specific sites are seen in light of other observed region-wide changes: the overall sense that the country itself is drier than it was prior to the commencement of mining in the 1960s. Drying of the country

The general drying of the country and associated changes in the seasons were the most common features noted in the recent interviews, and people had concerns about the cause, as well as the impact, of increased economic development and population on top of this general decrease in water availability. These physical changes to the landscape are perceived to have social causes and consequences. The Pilbara looks different now from when I was younger. Then the river systems were all full, now they are drying up. When you drive down the Fortescue it used to be beautiful, but now it looks like a floodplain. We see the drying and know that the water serpent belongs to the river area. We are wondering what is happening to it. There are now hardly any food sources, fish, native plants and wild onions anymore. We used to be able to get food all along the river. Maybe the dust from the vehicles is affecting the plants. In 2000 I lost my son, and spent lots of time on the country. This is when I noticed that the water was starting to get smaller. The clay pans at Onslow are all dried up, where there used to be ducks and surface water. Perhaps this is coming from global warming (senior member of the Thalanyji, authors’ field notes). It’s your heart, where you started from, where you’ve been. The station has never been dry like it is now. The country is crying for us, there’s none of us back living there. I think that is why it is so poor. I told the managers that. They look at me and say ‘where’s the rain come from? Up there!’ [gestures to the sky]. But we have our own knowledge. Top secret. There was an old man’s grave, when we clean his grave, clean him up, then every


afternoon the cloud would come up. He was a rainmaker. But the people are gone, the country is crying for them. When I go to that place I can stand there and kick up dust (Churchill Jones, authors’ field notes). It is much drier now than before. People might say I am being biased, but I think it is because of the direct business of mining. Scientifically one would say that it is becoming much more evident across the world, what is happening with the floods and the storms and the mudslides. Old white Australians say that it is not only mining, but it is also the drought. Maybe, but the mines are driving the system that is causing all these changes. Our traditional ways, our seasonal understanding that tells us when to hunt and gather bush food, is becoming different. The cycle in terms of the seasons is changing (Slim Parker, authors’ field notes).

This general drying out of the country, the sense that the all-important water is leaving the land, is of primary and fundamental concern to Aboriginal people interviewed during the course of this study. It is the foundation for increased concerns about rapid economic development with insufficient regard for cumulative impacts or for long-term sustainability. People evaluate current development impacts in terms of decades of negative change and on the assumption that their kin will be residents with obligations to manage their country long after current development activity has ended. Water sustains and is sustained by the most important creative forces in the country; it is important in its own right as the foundation for human life, it provides ways of simultaneously demarcating and relating human beings at both individual and wider group levels, and it is one focus for the sense of responsibility people feel to others living in the wider catchment and to the generations that will follow them. Given the negative consequences of previous water developments, the existing impacts of current mining activity, and the likely expansion of both mining activity and water extraction to meet residential and commercial demands, the question of enacting Aboriginal values and interests in current and future water planning processes is a most pressing one. Therefore some comments on this issue, in light of both the research undertaken here and Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2 45


recent Aboriginal responses to the Australian water crisis, are warranted. Contemporary Aboriginal water rights advocacy

In the past ten years, Aboriginal peoples have been increasingly active in both articulating their values and interests in water and highlighting the difficulties created by inappropriate water developments and management systems. In 2003 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) facilitated the production of the Kyoto Aboriginal Peoples’ Water Declaration from the World Water Forum held that year, and subsequent Water Forums have seen a range of Aboriginal activities and initiatives, including a special session at the most recent forum in Turkey in March 2009. In Australia a number of Aboriginal groups have formed regional alliances that are now engaged in water planning advocacy and policy development: Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations, Northern Murray Darling Basin Aboriginal Nations and the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA). NAILSMA co-ordinated a major international meeting of Aboriginal peoples in Arnhem Land in 2008, which resulted in the Garma International Indigenous Water Declaration, and was integrally involved in the subsequent production of the Mary River Statement, which described the principles underlying Aboriginal relationships to water and their relationship to contemporary water policy and planning regimes. NAILSMA’s water policy group released a formal Indigenous Water Policy Statement in late 2009, emphasising the direct engagement of Aboriginal people in contemporary water policy issues. In addition, the National Water Commission has recently formed the First People’s Water Engagement Council, giving further space for Aboriginal interests in water to be voiced and further impetus to Aboriginal involvement in water planning. Such policy and organisational developments have been accompanied by terminological and conceptual moves. The term ‘cultural flows’ has been coined to describe an Aboriginal water allocation in water planning processes, which is separate and additional to allocation designed to meet ecological requirements under the ‘environmental flow’ concept (Finn and Jackson 2011; Weir 46 Australian Aboriginal Studies 2011/2

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2009). The concept of ‘water policy entrepreneurism’ to describe groups that affect major change in national water policies such as transitions in water governance was the subject of a recent water policy journal edition (Meijerink and Huitema 2010). This activity has both informed and relied upon the support and interest of researchers, water resource managers, natural resource management groups and lawyers involved in Native Title proceedings, all of whom have desired better definition, explication and incorporation of Aboriginal values in environmental planning and of Aboriginal aspirations for resource governance in catchment scale institutions (Armstrong 2008; Jackson 2005, 2006; Jackson et al. 2009). However, this activity has primarily been concentrated in the Murray Darling Basin and in the Kimberley, Northern Territory and Cape York regions. Despite the economic significance of the Pilbara region and both the long history and contemporary urgency of water development issues, Pilbara Aboriginal people have not been directly engaged with this kind of advocacy. Space prevents a full discussion of the reasons for this lack of engagement, but addressing the current disconnection would have clear implications for the ability of Pilbara people to draw on a wider array of resources in articulating their position with respect to the very large and very rapid changes in water use activity currently underway.

Conclusion The Pilbara is an incredibly dynamic region of national and international economic significance and although Aboriginal people have been marginalised by much of this activity, they are by far its longest-term inhabitants, have an expanding population and have deep socio-cultural attachments to water. The significance Pilbara Aboriginal people ascribe to water reflects its overall scarcity in the region and its fundamental role in creating and sustaining places of importance, places that in turn sustain people in myriad ways. Water is associated with the most powerful creative beings in the Aboriginal world, and networks of connection between people and places extend well beyond the boundaries of particular mines or pastoral stations, and, indeed, extend beyond catchment boundaries to sites, features and other land-owning groups. Water simultane-

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ously reflects and constitutes boundaries between peoples, yet also provides one basis for the clear sense of obligation and responsibility that people feel towards kin separated by time and space. Historical developments in the Pilbara intended to increase access to reliable and regulated water resources have been some of the most keenly felt and controversial aspects of recent colonisation processes. They remain of key concern decades after their creation, and this concern is heightened by strong perceptions among Aboriginal people that rainfall patterns are changing and the country is becoming drier. This general drying also coincides with a substantial new kind of water extraction, the pumping out of mines lying below the water table, leading to localised excess surface water and groundwater depletion. This mine dewatering is set to increase rapidly in coming years. The combination of historical marginalisation, major increases in mining and development activity, mines moving below the water table, and possible changes in climate and rainfall means that water resources are a major contemporary issue for Pilbara Aboriginal communities. Resource developers and state resource management agencies will need improved consultation, negotiation and decision-making processes around access to and management of water, and this will require research support and effective Aboriginal advocacy, including the participation of Pilbara people in wider forums discussing Aboriginal water issues. In general, the Pilbara has received far less research effort and advocacy attention than many other areas of Aboriginal Australia. It is important that this neglect is addressed as part of a process of ensuring that the views, values and interests of its Aboriginal people are adequately represented in planning for a future in which extremely rapid resource development seems set to continue for a considerable period. Note 1. See the National Native Title Tribunal website at . 2. Rainmakers are powerful and knowledgeable senior people who have the ability to manipulate the weather conditions (McCarthy 1953). Such manipulation is often associated with particular rain making sites (Daniel 1990).


References Altman, Jon 1987 Hunter Gatherers Today: An Aboriginal economy in north Australia, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra. —— 2004 ‘Aboriginal interests and water property rights’, Dialogue 23:29–43. —— and David Martin 2009 Power Culture Economy: Indigenous Australians and mining, ANU E Press, Canberra. —— and Virginie Branchut 2008 Freshwater in the Maningrida Region’s Hybrid Economy: Intercultural contestation over values and property rights, ANU, Canberra (CAEPR Working Paper No. 46). Armstrong, Rachel 2008 An Overview of Indigenous Rights in Water Resource Management, report prepared for the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance and the Lingiari Foundation, accessed 12 July 2011. Bandler, Hans 1995 ‘Water resources exploitation in an Australian prehistory environment’, Environmentalist 15:97–107. Barber, Kim and Hilary Rumley 2003 Gunanurang (Kununurra) Big River, Aboriginal Cultural Values of the Ord River and Wetlands, Western Australian Water and Rivers Commission, Perth. Barber, Marcus 2005 Where the clouds stand: Australian Aboriginal attachments to water, place, and the marine environment in northeast Arnhem Land, PhD thesis, Department of Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra. —— and Sue Jackson 2011 Water and Indigenous People in the Pilbara, CSIRO, Darwin, and Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Perth. —— and Sue Jackson in review ‘Indigenous engagement and water management in the Australian mining sector’, Resources Policy. Behrendt, Jason and Peter Thompson 2004 ‘The recognition and protection of Aboriginal rights, values and interests in New South Wales rivers’, Journal of Indigenous Policy 3:37–140. Brehault, Loreen and Anna Vitenbergs (eds) 2001 The Guruma Story= Guruma-yharntu wangka/told by the Guruma Elders Group, led by Peter Stevens, IAD Press, Alice Springs, NT. Daniel, David 1990 Thalu Sites of the West Pilbara, Department of Aboriginal Sites, Western Australian Museum, Perth. Department of Water 2010 Millstream Water Reserve Drinking Water Source Protection Plan: Draft for public comment West Pilbara integrated water supply scheme, Government of Western Australian Department of Water, Perth.

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Economics Consulting Services 2007 Prospective Demand for Water in the West Pilbara of WA, report prepared for the Department of Water, Economics Consulting Services, Mt Pleasant, WA. Finn, Marcus and Sue Jackson 2011 ‘Protecting Indigenous values in water management: A challenge to conventional environmental flow assessments’, Ecosystems 14(8):1232–48. Gardner Alex, Richard Bartlett and Janice Gray 2009 Water Resources Law, Lexis Nexis Butterworths, Sydney. Gregory, Augustus and Francis Gregory 1884 Journals of Australian Explorations, Government Printer, Brisbane. Hiatt, Lester 1975 ‘Swallowing and regurgitation in Australian myth and rite’ in L Hiatt (ed.), Australian Aboriginal Mythology: Essays in honour of W.E.H. Stanner, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, pp.143–62. Holcombe, Sarah 2005 ‘Indigenous organisations and miners in the Pilbara, Western Australia: Lessons from a historical perspective’, Aboriginal History 29:107–35. Ieramugadu (Ieramugadu Group Incorporated) and Frank Rijavec 1995 Know the Song, Know the Country, Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation, Roebourne, WA. Jackson, Sue 2005 ‘Indigenous values and water resource management: A case study from the Northern Territory’, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management 12:136–46. —— 2006 ‘Compartmentalising culture: The articulation and consideration of Indigenous values in water resource management’, Australian Geographer 37(1):19–31. —— and Jon Altman 2009 ‘Indigenous rights and water policy: Perspectives from tropical northern Australia’, Australian Indigenous Law Review 13(1):27–48. ——, Poh-Ling Tan and Jon Altman 2009 Indigenous Freshwater Planning Forum: Proceedings, outcomes and recommendations, report to the National Water Commission, CSIRO, Darwin. Keen, Ian 2003 Aboriginal Economy and Society: Australia at the threshold of colonisation, Oxford University Press, Melbourne. —— 2011 ‘The language of property: Analyses of Yolngu relations to country’ in Y Musharbash and M Barber (eds), Ethnography and the Production of Anthropological Knowledge: Essays in honour of Nicolas Peterson, ANU E Press, Canberra, pp.123–41.

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Langton, Marcia 2002 ‘Freshwater’ in Background Briefing Papers: Indigenous rights to waters, Lingiari Foundation, Broome, pp.43–64. —— 2006 ‘Earth, wind, fire and water: The social and spiritual construction of water in Aboriginal societies’ in Bruno David, Bryce Barker and Ian McNiven (eds), The Social Archaeology of Australian Indigenous Landscapes, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, pp.139–60. —— and Odette Mazel 2008 ‘Poverty in the midst of plenty: Aboriginal people, the “Resource Curse” and Australia’s mining boom’, Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law 26(1):31–65. McCarthy, Fred 1953 ‘Aboriginal rainmakers’, Weather March 1953 (8):72–7. Magowan, Fiona 2001 ‘Waves of knowing: Polymorphism and co-substantive essences in Yolngu sea cosmology’, Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 29(1):22–35. Meijerink, Sander and David Huitema 2010 ‘Policy entrepreneurs and change strategies: Lessons from sixteen case studies of water transitions around the globe’, Ecology and Society 15(2):21. Morphy, Howard and Frances Morphy 2006 ‘Tasting the waters: Discriminating identities in the waters of Blue Mud Bay’, Journal of Material Culture 11(1/2):67–85. Olive, Noel (ed.) 1997 Karijini Mirlimirli: Aboriginal histories from the Pilbara, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, WA. —— 2007 Enough is Enough: A history of the Pilbara mob, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, WA. Palmer, Kingsley 1977 ‘Aboriginal sites and the Fortescue River, north west of Western Australia’, Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania 12(3):4–8. Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred 1926 ‘The rainbowserpent myth of Australia’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 56:19–25. Rijavec, Frank 1993 Exile and the Kingdom, Screen Australia, Sydney. Ritter, David 2004 ‘Don’t call me baby: Ten years of the Yamatji Marlpa Land and Sea Council Native Title Representative Body’, Aboriginal Law Bulletin 2004(6):6–8. Rose, Deborah 2004 ‘Freshwater rights and biophilia: Aboriginal Australian perspectives’, Dialogue 23:35–43. Rumley, Hilary and Kim Barber 2004 ‘We used to get out water free’: Identification and protection of Aboriginal cultural values of the Pilbara region, Water and Rivers Commission of Western Australia, Perth.

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Scambary, Benedict 2007 My country, mine country: Aboriginal people, mining and development contestation in remote Australia, PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra. Strang, Veronica 2001 ‘Poisoning the rainbow: Mining, pollution and Aboriginal cosmology in far north Queensland’ in A Rumsey and J Weiner (eds), Mining and Aboriginal Lifeworlds in Australia, Crawford House Publishers, Adelaide, pp.208–25. Taylor, Luke 1990 ‘The rainbow serpent as visual metaphor in Western Arnhem Land’, Oceania 60(4):329–44. Taylor, John and Benedict Scambary 2005 Aboriginal People and the Pilbara Mining Boom: A baseline for regional participation, ANU E Press, Canberra (CAEPR Monograph No. 25). Toussaint, Sandy, Patrick Sullivan and Sarah Yu 2005 ‘Water ways in Aboriginal Australia: An interconnected analysis’, Anthropological Forum 15:61–74. Trigger, David 1985 The social meaning of water for Aboriginal people in Australia’s gulf country, unpublished paper delivered at School of Environmental Studies, Griffith University, Qld. von Brandenstein, Carl 1972 ‘The symbolism of the north-western Australian zigzag design’, Oceania 42(3):223–38. Weeli Wolli Creek Australia 2008 YouTube audio visual upload, accessed 2 August 2010.


Weir, Jessica 2009 Murray River Country: An ecological dialogue with traditional owners, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra. Wilson, John 1980 ‘The Pilbara Aboriginal social movement: An outline of its background and significance’ in R Berndt and C Berndt (eds), Aborigines of the West: Their past and their present, University of Western Australia Press, Perth, pp.151–66. Withnell, John 1901 The customs and traditions of the Aboriginal natives of north western Australia, unpublished manuscript, Roebourne, WA. Yunupingu, Mandawuy 1994 ‘Yothu Yindi: Finding the balance’ in H Semmler (ed.), Voices from the Land: 1993 Boyer Lectures, ABC Books, Sydney, pp.1–11. Marcus Barber is an anthropologist based at the CSIRO in Darwin. He has worked on coastal and sea rights issues in Arnhem Land and on Aboriginal water knowledge in selected river catchments across northern Australia. Sue Jackson is a human geographer based at the CSIRO in Darwin. Her research focuses on the social and cultural dimensions of marine, coastal and water resource management.

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