Category: First Nations

Australian Financial Review The Yindjibarndi, in and around Roebourne in WA, are building businesses and revitalising their community. After two decades of sustained mining expansion, Australia’s resources “super-cycle” has shown mixed results for traditional owners whose land has yielded trillions of dollars of wealth. In the Pilbara region, which has seen a five-fold increase in iron ore…

Australian Financial Review The mining companies have learnt how to divide and conquer Indigenous communities. Change is needed to put things on a fairer footing. Throughout the mining boom, the public has been given a very positive narrative about the benefits generated for Aboriginal communities, and it wasn’t until Rio Tinto’s Juukan Gorge blast that…

The Australian When Charles Bean wrote his 12-volume official history of Australia’s involvement in World War I, he made a passing reference to just one Aboriginal Digger, a private who was highly decorated in the epic battle of Mont St Quentin on August 31, 1918, when the Australians overcame the German stronghold. William Irwin rushed and…

The Australian When Kate Grenville’s novel The Secret River, about the massacre of Aboriginal people on the Hawkesbury River in the early 1800s, was put on stage a few years back, the comments from some audience members, at the performance I attended, were incredulous. “Did that really happen?” one glumly asked a friend. Others made…

The Australian Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion has asked the Prime Minister’s Department to investigate a senior official after the disclosure of embarrassing emails that indicate a “compromised” relationship with the chief executive of a wealthy Aboriginal corporation. Senator Scullion’s office confirmed the investigation to The Australian when asked if the minister still had confidence…

The Australian Meyne Wyatt appears strong and confident in the role of Edmund in King Lear at the Sydney Theatre Company, even though he had to deal with personal tragedy going into the show. Acting alongside Geoffrey Rush and Robyn Nevin would be nerve-racking for any young actor, but Wyatt, 26, has had to cope…

The Australian On Tuesday, the Federal Court’s Justice Neil McKerracher sided with the original claimant group, the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation, after declaring that its meeting last year to remove members of the FMG-backed group from its claim was “entirely professional, balanced and careful”. The Federal Court has ruled against an Aboriginal group that Fortescue Metals…