Case Study One

2022 Moving towards a native title agreement

Thanks: Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation and De Grey Mining

Not many people in Australia are aware of the fact that Aboriginal people led the first industrial and civil action that brought about the end of slavery in this country.

The bones of the murdered people who had lived on Sexy Beach had been bleached white and returned to the sands on the shores. We never found any physical evidence of them. Their memory eternalised in a story of an immorality, that exists without the burden of proof.

Outcomes: The inaugural Native Title Agreement providing for compensation and royalties was signed in a unanimous decision whereby the Kariyarra jural public came together and make their views known.

Case Study Two

2007 Gift from a Mother Whale - The first Aboriginal Survey of Dirk Hartog Island, World Heritage Area, Shark Bay, Western Australia

Thanks: Pastoral Leaseholder the Wardle family, Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation and the Malgana People of Shark Bay

Wirruwarna, the Aboriginal name for Dirk Hartog Island is the birthing ground of the Green Turtle, long considered a delicacy by the Indigenous people of the Shark Bay area for both flesh and eggs. First the Dutch, then the British and then the French claimed this small island as their own, ignoring the home fires of the first nation's people living all along the shores. Described by the French explorers in the late 1700's as a '...strong race of giants, with long beards to their knees', the people of Shark Bay have lived a maritime existence there for some tens of thousands of years. Some 6-8000 years ago due to the last glacial maxima (previous ice age) the area of tidal water between the peninsula and Wirruwarna would have been much lower and narrower, enabling access to the prized turtles and their eggs by simply using a log as a flotation device to float to the island.

Whales too give birth along the north western edge of the island, past the Cape Inscription lighthouse, where the cliffs dip in to provide a sheltered cove along the edge of sheer limestone cliffs. Here are the large standing stones near an area of blowholes that blow water high into the air as waves crash against the cliffs. My Aboriginal guides and I stared, mesmerised looking out upon the endless ocean, marvelling at the power of mother nature. Then we saw her. A mother whale, a smaller whale and a very small baby whale 'surfing' on the waves below. As the blowholes sang with the force of the Indian Ocean being thrust through them, the whales seemed answer back, an echoing from land to sea. Suddenly from one of their blows rose a thing, shaped like a football, hurtling forth from the whales below to land at our feet. The locals knew immediately what it was. They also understood its spiritual and cultural significance.

Ambergris looks rather ugly - a waxy like substance that lives in a the bile duct of the Sperm Whale's lower intestines, a substance produced by this species only, to break down the beaks of giant squids. It is only produced in some whales and may be released upon death or when the mother whale gives birth. Once highly valued as a whale by-product for carrying the scent of perfume, it is now more of a rare phenomenon than anything, due to the protection of whales against slaughter. The lighter the colour of the Ambergris, the fresher it is. This was nearly white. The Malgana people were very proud of their 'catch', marking the first Aboriginal heritage survey of Dirk Hartog Island with a rare find. A precious gift from the largest beings in the sea to the oldest inhabitants of the land.

Outcomes: As a result of recommendations from this Aboriginal heritage consultation, YMAC legal representatives negotiated a significant area of freehold to be made available for Malgana People, on Dirk Hartog Island.