CHARLIE CHEEDY GIVES EVIDENCE IN DISPUTE BETWEEN YINDJIBARNDI AND FMG OVER MINING COMPENSATION
Charlie Cheedy. Credit: Tangiora Hinaki.
The following consists of edited excerpts from testimony presented by Yindjibarndi man Charlie Cheedy last week at on-country Federal Court hearings.
The court sat to determine how much compensation Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) owes the Yindjibarndi people for mining their country without consent:
On the area where FMG’s Solomon Hub iron ore mining operations now sit:
“We use to come for cultural stuff, you know. Men’s business. We used to get ochre here, the red paint. When you are coming in from that side, south west, the Wirlu-murra Creek, that area there, [there’s] black, yellow, white and red.”
On Yindjibarndi lore and culture:
“Yingaardt is the respect and you give it to someone. It does not owe you something. It’s like a gift from me and I don’t expect anything in return.
“Galharra is the number one rule that everyone has to follow. When you have galharra, then you have respect.
“Say you are a different galharra from me. It’s a boundary line. If you follow your galharra in the right way, that is you yourself showing your respect. It’s the key of Yindjibarndi people in the lore.”
On the division between Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC) and Wirlu-Murra Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation:
“The lore business has been split between YAC and Wirlu-Murra. When you are trying to do the right thing, the negative comes out of different people. If they are in Wirlu-Murra, you know, they are Yindjibarndi people, they go against you and disrespect people and they don’t follow the system. We tried to fix it in our lore.
“That split happened; we were out at a court case in Roebourne in 2011. Mr [Andrew] Forrest came in and wanted to have negotiations with us and talking about mining. Some of us were not happy with the agreement. What happens, Forest talks to the the weakest link that have connection to country. It pulls it one side and the other side falls apart. It created two parties. One party fight for country and protect country and the other people don’t because of the negativities there.”
On cultural protocols around a stranger entering another nations’ country:
“Before he comes into country, he must speak to someone to get permission to go into country. He can’t help himself without permission, or he is going to face spiritual consequences. You can get sick or something.
“If I go to your backyard and start pulling your apples off your tree, you’re not going to like it. Same principle.
“We can’t say [to miners] don’t come into my country and don’t dig this.”
On his job working at the Solomon Hub for FMG:
“We all have to work and put food on the table and pay bills.
“I never thought I would end up here. I thought I would go to Cloudbreak or Christmas Creek.
“To me, it hurts, because what I do, I sit in the machine and say, ‘you bastards - What are you doing to my country? Doing this to my country without a Land Use Agreement?’
“It’s already been disturbed and damaged. It looks a lot different from before.”
On destruction of country:
“I see it happen in other places, because other people did not have their say on their country. People just went in and ripped it. It’s not all about money. It’s about caring for country and looking after country. We don’t own it; it owns us. We are the keepers. We need to look sfter it the right way. That’s why we fight for country. Keep it as it was from day one. People used to roam here back in the day, use to come from east, south, west, north into this place. They had footpaths where they walked. The highways for Ngaarda-ngarli.
“Coming in without permission and destroying the place, some of the place that they are destroying now, that’s where our sites are. They are bringing people with no knowledge: people who don’t really understand their country and culture and how it works. Pick the right people.”
On the destruction of caves by FMG:
“Caves can be shelters for people, way back. Caves can be burials sites.
“All this blasting - these caves are being destroyed.
“You have rooftop; the blasting is making the roof fall down. There goes thousands of years of history.
“I bet you a thousand dollars those caves have never been excavated.
“There are sprits here today. They were here last night. When you are doing all this destruction, you are destroying their home.”