Get your butts' there! Climate Camp '09 on Dharawal country

The approval to extend the Metropolitan Colliery underground mine has outraged Traditional Owners and sparked cries for people to ‘stand up’ to the issue.     

Uncle Dootch, Chairperson of the Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council, is offended and disappointed by NSW Planning Minister Kristina Keneally’s decision to ignore Traditional Owners and approve a mining extension under Woronora dam.

“They are well aware of the damage that mining can do, and they go and approve something like this.  We’re talking about millions and millions of litres of water, and they’re going to put a mine underneath it.”  

Last Thursday, Minister Keneally approved the extension of Australia’s oldest operating coalmine. The mine will cut underneath Sydney’s drinking water catchment, at the headway of Australia’s iconic Royal National Park.

Uncle Dootch is concerned for his traditional Dharawal country. This land is not only home to numerous significant cultural sites, stories and animal species, but also contains ten major water reserves for NSW. Mining is now occurring under three of these reserves.

“That practice needs to stop.  It needs to stop because you’re not even thinking about the future generations; you’re only thinking about the next twenty years.”

Dootch’s concerns are based on mining activities that caused irreversible damage to the local waterways, including the staining of the Port Hacking River and the loss of huge volumes of water from reservoirs.  

“Years ago we were told that El Nino was hitting our dams, until we found out that one mining company had actually hit the bottom of the dam… that water, once it’s contaminated, you can’t clean it up.”

There are also concerns around the size and stability of the underground mines.

“You can keep tearing out the ground and not replacing it; leaving all those hollow chambers in there, but should one collapse on another… One day, we will see the impact that mining has caused on Country.”  

Local job creation has been the key argument pushed to support the mine. Uncle Dootch is well aware of the importance of local jobs, especially for Aboriginal people who have recently been affected by the termination of Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP).

However, Dootch would like to see government supporting more sustainable work.

“They need to take a different direction about how they do develop Country.  They need to look at new ideas, how they create jobs that do not harm the environment.”

As this mine extension has been granted, Dootch is calling out for people who feel strongly about this issue to keep their voices raised.

“More people need to stand up.  People need to be aware what’s good for their Country.  Do we want to destroy it, destroy Mother Earth?  That’s really what it’s all about.”

By Naomi Hogan