Juukan Gorge in Western Australia after being blasted apart by Rio Tinto in May
Credit: HANDOUT /AFP
Mining company Rio Tinto has been told to find a way to rebuild a sacred Australian Aboriginal site containing valuable prehistoric caves — just months after it needlessly blasted it apart to access iron ore deposits.
Calling the company’s controversial decision to destroy one of the country’s oldest archaeological sites “inexcusable”, an Australian parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday recommended the mining giant reconstruct the site and pay restitution to the traditional owners.
It did not go into details about how exactly the ancient site in Juukan Gorge, Western Australia could be repaired.
The rock shelters contained evidence of continuous human occupation going back more than 46,000 years — including through the most recent ice age — and were in a site sacred to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) Indigenous peoples. The site was blown up in May.
“Rio knew the value of what they were destroying but blew it up anyway,” said the inquiry’s interim report, titled Never Again.
On Wednesday, Labor Senator Pat Dodson, a member of the committee conducting the probe, said the destruction of the caves was one of the worst avoidable disasters "that has ever happened in our country".
“These failures were symptomatic of the ‘don’t care’ culture that infected Rio Tinto from the top down,” he said. “It had gone through a rapid decline in the way it did business.”
Juukan Gorge in Western Australia before it was blasted apart by Rio Tinto
Credit: HANDOUT /AFP
In response, Rio Tinto said in a statement: “We deeply regret the events at Juukan Gorge and have unreservedly apologised to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people.”
“The destruction of the rockshelters should not have happened, and we are absolutely committed to listening, learning and changing. We have taken a number of actions to strengthen cultural heritage governance and controls, and commenced the longer-term process of regaining the trust of Traditional Owners.”
On Wednesday, PKKP Aboriginal Corporation director Burchell Hayes said he hoped the inquiry’s findings would lead to a “fundamental reset of the sector” and "pave a way forward for more equal partnerships fostered by greater respect and mutual benefit”.
Around 40 per cent of the blast holes drilled around the gorge, including those closest to the rock shelters, were loaded with explosives after the company had agreed to delay the plan. Some were even made while they were negotiating with the PKKP’s heritage team.
Protests against Rio Tinto in Perth, Australia
Credit: RICHARD WAINWRIGHT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock /Shutterstock
The inquiry urged Rio Tinto to commit to a permanent moratorium on mining in the Juukan Gorge area and for that ban to be respected by all mining and exploration companies.
The report recommended that the company “negotiate a restitution package …with the PKKP [Aboriginal Corporation]” and “ensure a full reconstruction of the Juukan rock shelters and remediation of the site at its own expense, with guidance and oversight from the PKKP”.
Reconstruction should include steps to mitigate water and other damage to the creek that flows in Juukan Gorge and protect the Sacred Snake-head Rock Pool, it added.
It also ordered Rio Tinto to return all artefacts and other materials to the PKKP Aboriginal Corporation and fund appropriate keeping places for artefacts and other materials to be supervised and controlled by the Traditional Owners.
Earlier in the inquiry, PKKP Aboriginal Corporation director Burchell Hayes told the committee: “Myself, my family, our elders and our ancestors are in mourning at the desecration of our sacred site
“The disaster has now left a gaping hole in our ability to pass on our heritage to our children and grandchildren,” he added.
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