Part of the 1969 excavation of the Mt Cameron West site (near Marrawah) with the “sculptured” rock (right). Note the bare slab (centre left) where the surface had earlier been removed by Hobart’s Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
The recent announcement by the Tasmanian State Government to reopen the most sensitive off-road 4WD recreational tracks along the Tarkine Coast is not only reprehensible: it is in violation of the obligations on the State and Australian governments to adequately protect the values of the Natural Heritage Listed Western Tasmanian Aboriginal Cultural Landscape.
Like other Australian Listed cultural sites Kakadu and Uluru, the Tarkine Coast contains what has been described as “… one of the world’s great archaeological regions” — a landscape that is rich in Aboriginal cultural diversity dating back many thousands of years.
As well as ancient occupation sites, there are five (5) rock engraving sites, several of which have already been degraded through vandalism, theft and neglect.
The International Federation of Rock Art Organisations (IFRAO) says the degradation of Aboriginal heritage sites in the Tarkine is higher than in almost anywhere in the world, comparing terribly to less than 5% in all mainland states.
This indicates that there is something fundamentally wrong in Tasmania, where the overall rate of degraded rock art sites is about 50%. It is at least partly explained by the out of date 1975 Aboriginal Relics legislation which various governments over many years have promised to change, but have not done so.
The degradation to Tasmania’s rock art sites, documented over the past 40 years, has been mainly due to the unregulated and irresponsible use of off-road recreation vehicles including 4WDs and bikes, coupled with acts of deliberate race-based vandalism reflecting the unwillingness and lack of political will of successive populist governments to educate off-road driving enthusiasts; and starving of funds to the Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service to adequately staff and police the area.
Of the 80-km network of recreation vehicle tracks available on the Tarkine Coast, just a few were closed off in 2012 after many years of consultation with stakeholders.
Unfortunately, local shack-owners and off-road recreation users continue to demand open, unrestricted access and their lobbying was answered by the incoming Liberal State Government which saw an election opportunity, promising to reopen the few tracks that had been closed off by the previous Labor-Green State Government to protect the most culturally and environmentally sensitive areas.
In view of this latest change in policy, IFRAO is calling on Premier Will Hodgman as the Tasmanian Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and the Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt to delay the reopening of these tracks until there has been a thorough assessment, and to ensure that all tracks leading to the rock art sites will be securely closed off to all vehicles.
No reprieve for Tasmanian rock art:
http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/2/4/182
• Aboriginal and environment voices united on a Federal halt to Tarkine 4WD track expansion
An unprecedented collective of Aboriginal representatives and environment groups have jointly called for federal intervention to halt to the planned expansion of destructive 4WD tracks on the Tarkine coast.
Legal advice confirms that Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has a responsibility to assess the expansion plans under federal law and should not allow the tracks to open. The coastline was listed as a Cultural Heritage Landscape of National significance because of its Aboriginal history and the legacy of shell middens, stone quarries, hut depressions, seal hides and rock carvings that remain.
4WD tracks, theft and vandalism have damaged many of these incredible values over recent decades, yet the State Government plans to expand 4WD access to the southern region of the ‘protected’ landscape by Christmas. Tasmanian Aborigines have not been consulted over the track expansion and were shocked, appalled and bewildered at the decision to expand 4WD track access across their ancestral landscape.
Clyde Mansell, Chairman of the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania said “The opening of the tracks will cause irreversible damage to the natural and cultural values which have existed since time immemorial. The State Government must take stock of their intention, talk with us and properly protect and respect this incredible landscape.”
Trudy Maluga, State Secretary of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre said that the Aboriginal community would do all in its power to see this landscape protected.
Ms Maluga today said, “We collectively call on Minister Hunt to take action to ensure these tracks don’t open and our ancestral heritage is given the protection it deserves as one of the most important heritage sites in the country. At the end of the day he has been appointed to protect values; this is a site of national significance and he needs to act.
The Chair of the Government’s own Interim Aboriginal Heritage Council, Rocky Sainty called the move to open these tracks appalling. “If this is to be the behaviour of the current State Government, then we feel there are no other options but to go outside of the State for a decision,’ Mr Sainty said. “The lack of commitment to genuine engagement with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and to appropriately manage Interim Aboriginal Heritage Council and preserve thousands of years of Aboriginal heritage which is of worldwide cultural and scientific importance, is appalling.”
Environment groups joined Tasmanian Aborigines in the call for Minister Hunt to assess the track expansion under the EPBC Act and reject it on the basis of unacceptable risk to cultural and natural values.
“In a landscape like the Tarkine coast the cultural and natural values are intertwined and to properly protect one is to also protect the other,” said Vica Bayley, spokesperson for the Wilderness Society. “Minister Hunt has a responsibility to protect the Tarkine from the damage done by 4WDs and the people who drive them.”
Jenny Weber, Campaign Manager for The Bob Brown Foundation said “The Tarkine coast has globally significant cultural and environmental values. Leave these tracks closed to 4WDs, and avoid further desecration of unique values.
“Off-road vehicles ripping down the Tarkine coast, which is one continuous Aboriginal heritage site, is like off-road vehicles ripping through the Melbourne or Sydney botanical gardens. It is a huge insult to anyone who respects Aboriginal heritage.”
The Tasmanian Conservation Trust supported keeping tracks closed but pointed out that the state government is going well beyond its election promise by opening the entire Tarkine coast to recreational vehicles.
“Vehicles have not been allowed to drive to the Pieman River mouth for many years before the 2012 track closures and the Liberal government is being deceptive by claiming this was part of its election promise’, said the Trust’s director Peter McGlone.
Andrew Perry, spokesperson for Environment Tasmania, is calling on the federal government to explain to the Tasmanian community what has changed on the Tarkine Coast since the area was formally listed as the Western Tasmania Aboriginal Cultural Landscape under federal law.
“After an exhaustive assessment of the area’s cultural and natural values, the previous government recognised the national and international significance of this landscape, and rightfully sought its protection, including from destructive 4WDs. So what we’d like to know is what has changed in this precious and fragile landscape, other than the government of the day, that means it is again ok to drive over such an important cultural landscape?” he concluded.
Clyde Mansell, Vica Bayley, for …
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre
Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania
Interim Aboriginal Heritage Council
Tasmanian Conservation Trust
The Wilderness Society
Bob Brown Foundation
Environment Tasmania
Save the Tarkine
• The Original Peoples Freedom Movement: “Tougher rules” are racially discriminative
• Ted Mead, in Comments: Yep – Tasmanian’s have a long way to go regarding respect and appreciation towards Aboriginal heritage and the Tarkine environment in general. The best move the Aboriginal community did was to cover their heritage with sand so that nobody can find it. If the government was serious about retaining the cultural and natural values of the Tarkine they would have a strong presence on the ground keeping the bogans under control. Until there is active Ranger presence along the coast it will forever remain the last wild frontier for redneckism.
• Mathinna, in Comments: The problem is easily explained: the maximum fine for destroying rock art is $1000, but for vandalising historical heritage it is $500,000. The message to the public is obviously that non-indigenous heritage is 500 times as important as indigenous. This is a true measure of the situation, and it does imply that Tasmania is governed by barbarians. Nowhere in the world does such racist legislation exist in heritage protection laws. On the contrary, in most countries the situation is the precise reverse: the older the heritage, the more valued it is. And the fines for vandalising rock art in mainland states run into millions of dollars – as they should. To give an example: Saudi Arabia spends millions of dollars annually on protecting rock art. So there is something very peculiar and unique about Tasmania …
The rock art of Tasmania is of greater scientific and cultural importance than that of any other place in the world. Why? Find out by reading Mathinna, in Comments
Federal Member for Braddon Brett Whiteley has labelled Tasmanian Aboriginal organisations “fringe groups” in response to their opposition to the reopening of four-wheel drive tracks in the state’s west.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal community is threatening to stage protests against the State Government’s decision to reopen the tracks through a section of of the Arthur-Pieman area.
The previous government closed 15 tracks in 2012 to protect threatened species and Aboriginal heritage sites, angering four-wheel drive enthusiasts. The area was listed as a Cultural Heritage Landscape of National Significance by the Australian Heritage Commission, which described the area as “one of the world’s greatest archaeological regions” for its rich Aboriginal heritage.
Now 90 kilometres of four-wheel driving tracks will be reopened. Some were closed in 2012 while others were shut down earlier. Mr Whiteley has dismissed the opponents, including Tasmanian Indigenous Australians, as “fringe dwellers”.
“It’s time that we opened ourselves up for business,” he told reporters at an unrelated press conference in north-west Tasmania.
“I’m sick and tired of these fringe groups doing everything they can to sabotage the future of this region.
“I’m sick and tired of people in the mainland and latte-sipping people from around the country saying Tasmania should be some sort of experimental test ground for their ideological position.
“The State Government had a mandate to get on with their policies, we had a mandate to get on with ours.”
Clyde Mansell from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre said Mr Whiteley’s comments were unhelpful.
“It throws a barrier directly in the face of whatever we’ve done over the last 20 years to help reconcile the differences of Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people in this country,” he said.
“For a federal member to be standing up and saying this is, you know, totally offensive.”
Read the rest of the article here
• Ben Cameron, in Comments: This comes as very sad news. I’ve spent months walking and cycling around the coastal areas of the West coast. Anyone who has seen both North and South of the Pieman river knows the effect 4wd’s and the attitudes of those who drive them have on these areas. South of the river is riddled with rubbish, broken glass and random tracks. North of it has a wild magnificence almost beyond words. Opening up this area isn’t about ‘open for business’ or there’d be a strategy in place for eco-tourism. There would be help and assistance for those like Tarkine Trails. Nope. It’s about pleasing those locals who think driving wherever they want leaving beer bottles and rubbish while destroying habitats and heritage is their God given right. Unfortunately, other’s may then follow suit. Even worse, it condones that behaviour. What they’re doing is setting the scene for a continuation of deprivation and ignorance in the region. Perhaps if they put one foot in front of the other for a change they’d gain some respect for the precious place they live in.
