Aboriginal traditional owners have told mining giant Rio Tinto they will no longer do “welcome to country” for Rio related events, and are refusing to meet with the company until it demonstrates it is “serious” about modernising its agreements with them.
The Eastern Guruma people have canned any meetings with Rio Tinto for at least three months, after discovering priceless cultural materials salvaged from their sacred sites were thrown in a rubbish dump in the 1990s, and that Rio did not tell them of the mistake.
The Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal corporation (WGAC), which represents the traditional owners, has told Rio Tinto that elders will not do a welcome to country for any Rio events, or any events that Rio sponsors in the region, in protest.
A welcome to country is an important mark of respect, where traditional owners or custodians give their blessing to events held on their lands.
“A welcome to country is obviously important in terms of showing proper respect and educating people about whose country it is,” WGAC’s chief operating officer, Tony Bevan, said. “From an Indigenous perspective it is important, but sometimes I think large companies tend to commoditise it, and they put great value on it as a PR exercise.
“They say ‘we’re doing a wonderful job’ or ‘aren’t we a wonderful company that we’ve got this welcome to country’. So one of the things about withholding the welcome to country was to not allow that recognition to Rio.
“We’re just not pretending that it’s at all OK and that they’re welcome to country,” Bevan said.
Forty per cent of Rio’s Pilbara mine holdings are on Eastern Guruma traditional lands.
Rio has promised major changes to its procedures following the destruction of 46,000 year old caves in Juukan Gorge in May last year. They will put an end to so-called “gag clauses” which prevented traditional owners from speaking publicly about heritage destruction. Rio said it is also developing detailed heritage management protocols to enhance cultural protection.
“We have committed to all traditional owners on whose land we operate in the Pilbara that we will modernise our agreements with them,” a Rio Tinto spokesperson said.
“This includes changing the way we work together, putting in place measures to ensure greater awareness, respect and preservation of cultural heritage and improving the economic and social outcomes that come from mining.
“Our leadership team are … committed to meeting with the WGAC again when they are ready.,” the spokesperson said. “This will take time, consistent effort and open dialogue to rebuild trust and reset our relationship for the future.”
Bevan said the discovery that materials had been disposed of in the 1990s has hurt traditional owners deeply.
“I observe that pain at every board meeting, in terms of the pain they feel about the destruction of country and particularly the cumulative impact. It’s real and it’s lived and it’s significant.”
WGAC’s board is calling for an independent “umpire” to monitor agreement making with mining companies in the wake of the Juukan Gorge disaster.
“There needs to be some oversight that ensures it is a fair, appropriate, reasonable agreement that meets today’s standards, because of the power imbalance and because these one-sided agreements will continue unless there is some oversight,” Bevan said.
