RTA Persecution of Aboriginal People of Traditional Beliefs

With its 40 metre tall fissured crags at an elevation of 282 metres above the township below, the Alum Mountain at Bulahdelah, New South Wales, Australia, is the predominant feature of the area.

The Alum Mountain, Bulahdelah, with its cliffs glowing orange-pink in the afternoon sun. (Note: all of the inserts are of items on the mountain’s foot. All are in imminent danger of being destroyed.)

One of the world’s only two known outcrops of alum stone in mountain form, the mountain attracts thousands of visitors each year. A quaint footbridge leads to its lower walking trails and to a group of boulders where, over the years, many people have been photographed sitting on ‘Big Rock’ (one of numerous boulders which have fallen from the cliffs to the lower foot of the mountain).

Being a hydro-geological seepage zone, the Alum Mountain has an exceptionally wide variety of life-forms and provides the ideal environment for the development of new ones.

Various plant types on the mountain’s foot are at their northernmost, southernmost of easternmost extremity. Some species are not yet fully named. Natural hybridisation of Australian native orchids has occurred on both the upper and lower slopes of the mountain and it is home to one of the world’s rarest known plant species – an orchid which lives out its entire life cycle underground.

Originally aptly named Cryptanthemis slateri (Cryptanthemis meaning ‘hidden flower’ and slateri after its discoverer, Ernest Slater) but later renamed Rhizanthella slateri, the species was first discovered growing on the foot of the Alum Mountain. It is one of only three known underground orchids, all of which are Australian. It does not rise above soil level to flower and its flowers, some thirty or so of which open from the one capitulum (flower head) are a pale, delicate pink.

Home to innumerable fauna species, from rainforest dwellers to those which are usually found in more arid areas, the mountain also provides a safe haven for creatures which are returned to the wild after being found injured and nursed back to health.

The Alum Mountain is highly valued by Aboriginal people of cultural belief. That it catches the first and last rays of the sun alone makes it a very special place and with its: uniquely coloured cliffs; lookout points; alum stone; ochre; and wide variety of food sources, it is all the more so. In addition to these, the mountain has a healing stream and a large sacred site with a Guardian- Healing-Tree as its focal point.

The Guardian- Healing-Tree

This old growth tree is a white mahogany estimated as being 400 to 500 years of age. It has two Coolum scars and, with some five or so other very special trees in the vicinity, the site in which this tree is located is very sacred indeed. A great deal of spiritual energy emanates from not only the Guardian- Healing-Tree but from the entire site and its healing powers have been experienced by both indigenous and non-indigenous people.

I conclude with this extract from a letter written by a local resident (published with permission):-

Those of us who know and appreciate that we have one of the most significant heritage sites in Australia are both devastated and outraged to know that our State Government only considers such an important heritage site their preferred location for a six-lane-width state highway. However, I have always believed that any experience in life is something from which we can gain knowledge and insight:-

The uncaring attitude of our state and federal government departments and many of our politicians have made me realise that our feelings of frustration and powerlessness in the face of such implacably callous and oppressive behaviour can not in the least compare with the feelings of utter abandonment suffered by the Aboriginal people who value their sacred sites.

We are only in danger of losing a century and a quarter of our history; their loss is so much greater – for their loss is not solely the destruction of their heritage, it is, as well, a denial and crushing of their spiritual beliefs and endopsychic knowledge.

In the path of the Option E Highway Upgrade is a sacred site of immense spiritual and cultural significance to the Worimi elders. But members of the custodial organisation in charge of this sacred site, the Aboriginal Land Council which is local to Karuah, have a pecuniary interest in this area of forest. This sacred site is at the northernmost end of their area and is in the way of their monetary gain. Their mitigation measure to appease the Worimi elders is laid out in a letter printed in the Summary of Submissions (to the Bulahdelah Upgrade Environmental Impact Statement) – October, 2006. It is horrific indeed – the only parallel I can draw with their intended fate for this sacred site is to go back to medieval times when an executed corpse was displayed in a gibbet: it is their intent to kill the Guardian Tree/Healing Tree which, with two Coolum scars and a burl which needs no imagination whatsoever to be regarded as having the form of an Aboriginal woman’s head, is at the heart of this very sacred site, and to put the head on exhibition.

The eradication of Aboriginal culture is still going on just as it did in the 1890s when the sacred mountain used by the Worimi for their initiation rites and other traditions, was desecrated for a mining venture.

Despite the mining of the mountain, its sacred qualities remain strong – Aboriginal men of cultural belief will not go anywhere near it at night. However, as if Aboriginal people have not been wounded and disempowered enough, the almighty RTA, has chosen a part of the mountain which is of immense significance to both men and women to mutilate and destroy. I know that I can not even begin to imagine the feelings of hopeless, helpless despair felt by genuine Aboriginal people in the face of this persecution.