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Greens MP highlights violent indigenous events in Hunter Valley

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Greens MP David Shoebridge is sure to stir up plenty of emotion in the coming weeks.

The Aboriginal justice spokesperson will publish a series of four short documentary videos on the 195th anniversary of violent events that occurred in the Hunter Valley between 1 August and 1 September 1826, as told by Wonnarua traditional owners.

The Month of Truth Telling is in support of an application by traditional owners to the federal Environment Minister Susan Ley to protect the massacre sites and landscape from destruction by open cut coal mining.

“We’ve worked with traditional owners to tell some of the story about what happened to the Wonnarua people because it’s too important to be forgotten, and for the place where it happened to be destroyed,” Mr Shoebridge said. 

“What happened here (Hunter Valley) over the course of just one month, 195 years ago, should be taught in schools, known and understood by all Australians, not bulldozed for even more open cut mining.”

The location of these events is the landscape that surrounds the Ravensworth Estate and Homestead, near Singleton, which is threatened with destruction from the proposed expansion of the Glendell Coal Mine.

“Glencore, the operator of Glendell, plans to extract more than 140 million tonnes of coal in the area, entirely destroying the area and the history,” Me Shoebridge said.

“The company has proposed the homestead be relocated 45km away from its original site at a cost of $20 million while the rest of the landscape is destroyed by an open cut mine. 

“The area contains multiple Aboriginal heritage sites and is regarded as ‘hallowed ground,’ by local First Nations people.

“It is the site of some of the most violent recorded conflicts during the Frontier Wars in NSW.

“Currently, the estate is one of the last in the region, which has not been destroyed by open cut mines.

“The previous owner of the Glendell mine, Xastra, had pledged to return the land to traditional owners.”

The Plains Clan of the Wonnarua People have lodged a Section 10 application to protect the land from excavation and the proposed open cut mine under the Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.

A decision on that is now pending from Ms Ley.

“The landscape here tells the story of what occurred and the awful violence perpetrated against First Nations people, it must be protected and the story must continue to be told,” the Greens MP added.

“After the devastating destruction of the Jukaan Gorge, the community is deeply concerned about what mining companies are doing to critical First Nations sites. 

“It is essential we tell these truths now, because unless people join in to support the heritage protection claim, this entire history will be wiped off the map by open cut coal mines.

“You can’t relocate this landscape any more than you could move the Opera House or Uluru, and the suggestion of relocating the Homestead pretends buildings are the only things that have historical value, ignoring the role of landscape and place. 

“It’s obscene to suggest keeping old buildings while digging up massacre sites and burial places to find coal. 

“This is just another attempt to erase all but the desired white colonial history of ‘brave settlers’, as well as the violence underpinning the theft of this country and its land. 

“Traditional owners are once again fighting to protect the places important to them and to continue their stewardship of this land.”

The dates for release of the series coincides with the corresponding events 195 years ago:

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