“You don't listen to us ladies.
You're still not listening. Do we have to
talk over and over? It's women's place.
Stop mucking around with women's business.
It's our story to know for all Kungkas. Not
a story for you white men. Not your land,
even if you say you own it. Even if you buy
it.”
The Kungka Tjuta in a letter to the
Australian government, 2004
Kungka Tjuta women
holding the Goldman Prize they were awarded
in 2003 in recognition of their campaign
against a radioactive waste dump in the
Australian desert.
aboriginal women win battle against
australian government
nina brown, irati wanti campaign
office, coober pedy, south
australia
The Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta are a council
of Senior Aboriginal Women based in Coober
Pedy , South Australia . They came together
in the early 1990s to “keep the culture
strong and look after [their] country”.
They follow their Tjukur, variously
translated as ‘Dreaming' or ‘Law', which
tells the story of the Seven Sisters who
traveled across the country, creating
it.
In recent years, the Kungka Tjuta have
traveled tirelessly across the continent to
resist a federal government proposal for a
national radioactive waste dump in the
desert. The Kungka Tjuta have spearheaded a
national environmental campaign in
opposition to the waste dump. Their
campaign is called Irati Wanti: “the
poison, leave it”. In their words, “We know
the country. The poison the government is
talking about will poison the land. We say
NO radioactive dump in our ngura - in our
country. It's strictly poison and we don't
want it.”
In 2003, the government granted final
approval for the waste dump. Significantly,
it was also the 50th anniversary of
Australia 's entry in the global nuclear
industry. Between 1953 and 1963, a series
of British atomic weapons were detonated in
the South Australian desert. The Kungka
Tjuta are survivors of this nuclear testing
program, and point to the deadly connection
between past experiences and the present
radioactive waste dump proposal. “All of us
were living when the government used the
country for the bomb,” says Eileen Wani
Wingfield. “When they let the bomb off
nobody knew anything about it. They are
doing the same thing here. They told us you
could eat the kangaroo, the emu, but ...
that was a lie.”
The Kungka Tjuta have achieved national
recognition and widespread support for
their Irati Wanti campaign. The South
Australian government is actively opposed
to the waste dump construction, as are 87
percent of South Australians polled, and
numerous communities along the proposed
transport corridor are also resisting the
plan.
The Kungka Tjuta's resolve received
international recognition in 2003 with the
awarding of the prestigious international
Goldman Environmental Prize to founding
members Eileen Kampakuta Brown and Eileen
Wani Wingfield. The annual prize is given
to grassroots environmental “heroes” from
six geographic areas across the globe, and
is the largest of its kind. In a joint
statement issued after the announcement of
the prize the pair commented, “We all have
to get together and look after this
country. … We are strong, old ladies. We
will keep fighting.”
government trickery
A few months later, the federal
government compulsorily appropriated the
land for the proposed waste dump. This
occurred only hours before the South
Australian parliament was due to table
legislation declaring the site a public
park, which would have foiled the planned
land seizure. The South Australian
government took the case to court; it was
dismissed, but won by unanimous decision
upon appeal. The massive publicity
catalyzed by the court decision has been a
severe blow for the “national interest”
reasoning spouted by the government, and
politically humiliating in an election
year.
Finally, in August 2004, the Irati Wanti
campaign met with victory when the
Australian government abandoned its plans
for the nuclear waste dump. The Kungka
Tjuta's determination to see their struggle
through was not in vain: “We're here to
look after the country. We're not going to
live forever. If we do the right thing to
help the younger generation, they'll turn
around and fight for the protection of
their country in their turn.”
more information
:
Irati Wanti campaign:
www.iratiwanti.org
foe australia:
www.foe.org.au/nuclear
