country

Penny Bidd, 52, from the Kimberley says the only hope for the five children her daughter left behind, who are now in her care, is to escape even further into the bush, to her homeland on the remote Charnley River Station. She's not the only one, many First Nations people in Western Australia are opting to live "on country" in remote settlements. They see that as the safest and healthiest way of beating grog, drugs and violence, both physical and sexual, that stalks the townships. However, Premier, Colin Barnett has placed a cloud over the viability of the communities. [node:read-more:link]

Colin Barnett has stepped away from his controversial rhetoric about closing 150 communities down by revealing plans for a "hub and orbit" strategy. Colin Barnett is so pathetic, he thinks he will get away with putting up a new plan that takes people away from their Homelands and dumps them on the doorsteps of larger communities - away from 'country'. Now there's a recipe for disaster if we ever did see one ... if it ever happens ... and in the mean time he closes down all the small Homelands communities. [node:read-more:link]

The NT gov't has just granted permission to frack significant parcels of 'Country', including the iconic Bitter Springs region and surrounding Elsey Station, to a subsidiary of billionaire resources giant Gina Rinehart, Jacaranda Minerals. The deal comes at a time when the NT govt's recent Hawke Inquiry into the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking' confirmed that effective laws and regulations governing the shale gas industry were not yet in place, but it continues the granting licenses. [node:read-more:link]

Yulu's coal - part one - An amazing audio about "The People of Rocks" - The Adnyamathanha people from the Northern Flinders Ranges in South Australia. This program is about the journey of one of the major Adnyamathanha Creation Ancestors, Yulu the Kingfisher Man. Yulu’s Coal, explores the travels of Yulu as he moved across Country, followed by two Arkurra , Giant Rainbow Serpents and why the coal mined at Leigh Creek Coal Mine today belongs, from an Adnyamathanha perspective, to Yulu, the Kingfisher Man. [node:read-more:link]

For thousands of years Aboriginal groups in central NSW marked important ceremonial sites by carving beautiful, ornate designs on the trunks of trees. The carvings, comprising symbolic motifs, intricate swirls, circles and zigzags, were intended to be long-lasting but, instead, only a handful of the trees on which they were carved are still alive today. This page includes many images of carved trees, a pdf booklet and Powerpoint links with more images and information to download. [node:read-more:link]

In an ultimatum, WA was offered $90m, enough to fund remote communities through to 2017. But as of June 2015, federal funding agreements will end, effectively giving WA authorities little time to work out how to fund remote communities in the future - and which ones will have to close. However, the racist government appears eager to continue the genocide of First Nations people and the dislocated people that don't end up slaving in WA's mines will end up in prison or living on the streets in nearby towns. [node:read-more:link]

Past experiences of forced removal off country have proved disastrous. The result is more fringe dwellers, social problems, suicides and incarceration. Western Australia already has the highest rate of incarceration of Indigenous people, around 20 times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians. In fact Barnett hypocritically admitted that it “will cause great distress to Aboriginal people who will move, it will cause issues in regional towns as Aboriginal people move into them.” [node:read-more:link]

Aboriginal leaders and advocates are warning the "chaos and dysfunction" caused by closing down remote Indigenous communities will cost the West Australian Government far more than addressing existing issues. Amnesty International's indigenous peoples' rights manager Tammy Solonec said there was no plan to help people when Ooombulgurri community was closed down and people were required to integrate into Wyndham or other towns, leaving them "highly traumatised". [node:read-more:link]