An Aboriginal elder’s efforts to stop a quarry development at Cedar Point near Kyogle will be heard in the NSW Land and Environment Court next week.
Gidubul Elder Robert Williams, represented by public interest environmental lawyers EDO NSW, will argue that that the quarry is situated on a ceremonial men’s site, and that quarrying is likely to harm Aboriginal objects at the site.
Mr Williams argues that works at the quarry should not go ahead without an Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit.
In September the NSW Land and Environment Court ordered work to stop at the quarry until either a Permit is obtained, or the Court can hear Mr Williams’s case.
The court order followed months of ongoing protests at the site, with tempers boiling over in September when a security guard allegedly removed an Aboriginal flag from the gate and doused it with diesel oil.
In another incident, Robert Williams was arrested by police after the landowner accused him of trespassing on the site.
The Githabul tribal elders and the Save the Cedar Point group believe that proper procedure was not followed in the approval of the basalt quarry in 2012.
They also claim that the scars on trees at the site are evidence of where, for thousands of years, boys-turning-into-men made their first axes out of basalt. Previous excavations have shown that the hill also contains water, and opponents believe there may be buried sites which would be disturbed if the quarry owners were allowed to carry out blasting.
EDO NSW chief executive officer Sue Higginson said it was an important case about the need to protect Aboriginal culture and heritage.
‘Our laws are far from adequate when it comes to protecting Aboriginal culture and heritage,’ Ms Higginson said.
‘But in this case there is strong evidence that the quarry site is an important place that was traditionally used by Aboriginal people.
‘We need to ensure that the cultural values of the land are understood, and if there are in fact Aboriginal objects in the land that the law intends to protect, then those objects should be protected.’
The hearing commences at 10am on Monday, 14 November, in the NSW Land and Environment Court, 225 Macquarie St, Sydney
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