Aboriginal Heritage

Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage

Report on an Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System, Western Australia

FMG Survey Request ETH_ NYI_001

Prepared for Fortescue Metals Group Pty Ltd (FMG) and the Nyiyaparli Native Title Claimants

By Mr Brad Goode BA (Curtin)

Consulting Anthropologist

August 2009

13 Baal Street, PALMYRA WA 6157 PO Box 121, MELVILLE WA 6956 Phone (08) 9339 8431; Fax: (08) 9438 1717; Mobile: 0419 957 140 Email: [email protected]

Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage

Disclaimer

The results, conclusions and recommendations contained within this report are based on information available at the time of its preparation. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that all relevant data has been collated, the author can take no responsibility for omissions and/or inconsistencies that may result from information becoming available subsequent to the report’s completion.

Plate 1: The survey team at the 14 Mile Cattle Yard (Photo: Clive Taylor – Australian Ethnographic Recording Services, 15th July 2009) * Difficulties in correctly spelling Nyiyaparli words recorded in this survey by the author and as recorded in other documents cited have been addressed by consultation with the Wangka Maya Language Centre in Port Hedland and reference to the Nyiyaparli dictionary.

The author of this report wishes to duly acknowledge the effort and diligence shown by the Wangka Maya Language Centre and Mr David (Yandi) Stock in providing the correct spelling and translation of Nyiyaparli words. The author also wishes to acknowledge the assistance provided by Mr Michael Thompson and FMG field staff in conducting this survey. © Ethnosciences (AS1231-09), the Nyiyaparli Native Title Claimants and FMG 2009

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Summary & Recommendations

Ethnosciences was commissioned by Fortescue Metals Group Pty Ltd (FMG) to undertake an ethnographic Aboriginal heritage survey with members of the Karlka Nyiyaparli Aboriginal Corporation (KNAC) with regards to the identification of the cultural values associated with the hydrological system within the Christmas Creek/Fortescue Marsh area, in the eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia (FMG Survey Request ETH_NYI_001). The survey and consultations took place between the 14th and the 16th of July 2009.

The survey area lies approximately 130km to the north of the town of Newman at Christmas Creek which is located within the Nyiyaparli native title claim area (WC05/006) in what is generally recognised to be Nyiyaparli country. The ethnographic survey involved three senior representatives of the Nyiyaparli native title claimant group nominated by the KNAC as having authority to speak for the survey area.

Archival research found that there is one previously recorded ethnographic site currently listed inside the Christmas Creek/Fortescue Marsh survey area on the Register of Aboriginal Sites. DIA Site ID 11802 Djiwirdi is recorded as a ceremonial and mythological site associated with increase (Thalu) rituals for the renewal of fish. A broader search of the region located a very important ethnographic site complex named Mankarlyirrkurra (see Birckhead 2007a, 2007b; Green 2003, 2004; Day 2008a, 2008b, 2008c; and McDonald 2000, 2006 and 2007, McDonald and Day 2008). This site complex is located to the north of the FMG mine access road at Christmas Creek with several named and unnamed creeks running to the Fortescue Marsh having their origins in this area. As all sites within the Mankarlyirrkurra complex are restricted, it is not possible to be definitive with this regard to their associations with water courses at this point.

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In a previous survey, De Gand (2009:21–24) has reported that a number of the north– south running creeks that flow into two named marshes Wandangbangani and Mirlimpirrinha (the Fortescue Marsh) inclusive of the Kakutungutantu Creek and Karntama Creek are named places of ethnographic significance to the Nyiyaparli. De Gand also has identified Jabugany, a clay pan located near Mirlimpirrinha and a waterhole named Murumundana located west of the 14 Mile Cattle Yard as ritual increase sites associated with rain making. A 150m buffer zone where no mining would take place was requested as a protective measure for water flow of all these water courses that run through the region but in particular the Kakutungutantu Creek.

Further west along the Fortescue River system, Barber and Rumley (2004) have broadly identified that the entire Fortescue River system is of immense cultural value to Pilbara Aboriginal groups for social, economic and spiritual reasons. In this study and drawing upon the work of Palmer (1977), it was identified that along the Fortescue River exists a complex interconnected web of mythological sites where the spiritual essences of Dreamtime beings are reported to exist. In this study, many specific narratives that relate to the Warlu, the Pilbara variant of the Rainbow Serpent (Radcliffe-Brown 1926), were recorded. These authors found that all Aboriginal groups along the Fortescue River system believe that they have a cultural responsibility to protect sacred water sources and mythological sites that are mostly associated with water. The authors make comprehensive recommendations regarding how water governing agencies can engage with Aboriginal groups to protect these values, with the key recommendation being the formulation of a Pilbara Aboriginal Water Reference Committee. The findings of Barber and Rumley (2004) are broadly consistent with the findings of water-related cultural values studies conducted in other regions of Aboriginal Australia (see, for example, O’Connor et al 1995, Yu 2000, Langton 2002, McFarlane 2004, Goode 2004, Rose 2004, Weir 2004, Toussaint et al 2005, McDonald et al 2005, Goode et al 2005, Jackson 2006).

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During the current survey and consultations it was reported by the Nyiyaparli informants that it was their belief that the entire Fortescue River system, but more particularly the Fortescue Marsh area (as this portion of the river occupies Nyiyaparli country) and the associated creeks, springs and aquifers that feed the Fortescue Marsh with water, also has immense cultural value to the Nyiyaparli people. It was reported that this hydrological system is of central importance to notions of Nyiyaparli identity, and is of pivotal importance to the survival and transmission of Nyiyaparli law and culture.

During the survey, the Nyiyaparli informants related a Dreamtime story which explains the origins of the Fortescue Marsh and identified specific named places where the creeks from the adjacent ranges feed into this marsh, including water holes (Yinta) along a song line that is reported to run along the length of the entire system culminating at a large Yinta named Mirlimpirrinha where the Fortescue River goes underground to Millstream. The Nyiyaparli informants recounted a number of songs that identify these Yinta, and reported that these songs had been given to them by ‘old people’ and by sprit beings during the Dreamtime. It was emphasised that this knowledge is still used to determine the location of these important water sources and camps sites where the transmission of Nyiyaparli law to young initiates takes place during summer. The knowledge was described as a map which Nyiyaparli people need to survive within this landscape today. It was also found that many of these Yinta were also historically associated with stockmen’s camps when Nyiyaparli stockmen and their families used these places as water sources when mustering cattle on the stations in the area. Many of the cattle yards on Roy Hill and Warrie stations were located near a Yinta, enabling the Nyiyaparli to remain associated with these places well into recent history.

During the survey, a number of these Yinta, their names, historical associations and the songs associated with these places were partially recorded with the view to ultimately listing these places as sites of significance under Section 5(a) & 5(b) of the

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Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (see video by Taylor 2009). Due to the preliminary nature of the survey and issues of cultural confidentiality, many of these places were only partially recorded and further recording may be warranted in order that these places meet the requirements of the AHA.

During the survey, it was reported that it was the belief of the Nyiyaparli people that it was their cultural responsibility to act as custodians of the ‘top end’ (the catchment of the Fortescue) to protect the Fortescue Marsh, and ultimately the entire Fortescue River from any adverse effects on the area’s hydrology from mining, and that if they as a group did not live up to this responsibility then all the other language groups downstream would hold them responsible if the system fails. It was the view of the Nyiyaparli that all the small creeks, underground aquifers, springs and watersheds that catch the water and feed the Yinta within the marsh should not be blocked, diverted or abstracted for use as a result of mining in the area. As Mr Brian Tucker stated “you can move a creek but you cannot move a song line”.

It was the view of the Nyiyaparli informants that a water catchment management plan was needed so that as mining proceeds within the upper catchments, the cultural values held for the Yinta and the Fortescue Marsh are protected. As traditional owners of the area who posses detailed cultural knowledge of the water cycle that has been given to them by the creation beings during the Dreamtime, they feel that they are well placed to assist FMG’s scientists to gain a greater understanding of the system as a whole, its complexities and importance in order to develop this plan. Resulting from this view, the Nyiyaparli have requested that they be given the opportunity to work with FMG’s hydrogeologists, environmental scientists and mining planners and further study the issues involved and formulate a catchment management plan so that mining can proceed within the area without placing the hydrological system at risk.

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The Nyiyaparli have also requested that further ethnographic work be conducted in the form of an aerial survey and video recording of the songs and mythology associated with the Yinta and the Fortescue Marsh as these features were only partially identified and recorded during this preliminary survey.

Resulting from these consultations, and as this issue is of interest to others as well as FMG, it has been suggested by the Nyiyaparli consultants that this report be used as a basis to engage with agencies such as the Department of Water and other mining companies who have interests within the catchment in order to seek funding to further document the ethnographic resources of the area prior to formulating a cooperative regional catchment management plan that will seek to protect the whole Fortescue Marsh and Fortescue River system.

Recommendations

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4. It is recommended that FMG management seek to engage with government agencies (Department of Water, Department of Environment and Conservation etc.), pastoralists and other mining companies who operate within the ‘top end’ of this catchment in order that any catchment management approach is streamlined between all parties in order that a positive regional approach to the maintenance of the cultural flow of waters feeding the Fortescue system is maintained. FMG, acting proactively in isolation from other stakeholders operating in this catchment, is unlikely to be entirely successful in providing adequate protection of the Fortescue River system alone. 5. It is recommended that FMG management consider making the resources available to conduct further ethnographic research with regards to the cultural significance of the hydrological system in their area. This work would consist of an aerial survey of the entire marsh to locate and record the nature and extent of all the Yinta within the Marsh. This study would also seek to further document and film all the mythological associations that are known for the area. This recording would be done with the view to having all these places recorded to a standard suitable for such places to be entered upon the Register of Aboriginal Sites and considered Aboriginal Sites under the AHA. This would benefit the traditional owners by affording these places protection under the AHA so that other proponents operating within the catchment are also obligated to address this issue.

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Table of Contents Summary & Recommendations ...... ii Recommendations ...... vi

Introduction ...... 1 Ethnographic Survey Methodology ...... 3 Ethnographic Background ...... 6 Aboriginal Significance of Water: A Comparative Perspective ...... 7

Ethnographic Survey Results ...... 13 Archival Research Results ...... 13 Ethnographic Field Survey Results ...... 17 Places of Importance and Significance ...... 27 Kulbee Creek/Fortescue River (Ngawarnkuranha) (794525mE, 7503128mN) ...... 29 Christmas (Karntama) Creek (784971mE, 7509563mN recorded where creek enters marsh) ...... 33 Sandy Creek – Jitumpulpa (752 161mE, 7520886mN) ...... 36 Goman’s Creek/Pool – Nguwarna (740217mE, 7525233mN) ...... 39 Mirlimpirrinha (727 114mE, 752 6433mN) ...... 41

Conclusions & Recommendations ...... 43 Appendix 1: Map of the Fortescue Marsh in Relation to Named Yinta ...... 48 References ...... 49

List of Plates Plate 1: The survey team at the 14 Mile Cattle Yard (Photo: Clive Taylor – Australian Ethnographic Recording Services, 15th July 2009) ...... i Plate 2 : Fortescue River/Kulbee Creek Yinta. View of the southern embankment of the Fortescue River where the Kulbee Creek intersects (Photo: Taylor 2009) ..... 31 Plate 3 : Kulbee Creek Yinta, looking north along Kulbee Creek (Photo: Taylor 2009) ...... 31

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Plate 4 : Mr Brian Tucker (left), Mr Gordon Yuline (seated) and Mr David (Yandi) Stock at the Fortescue River/Kulbee Creek Yinta; view looking south (Photo: Taylor 2009) ...... 32 Plate 5 : An aerial view of the Fortescue River/Kulbee Creek Yinta...... 32 Plate 6: Christmas Creek Yinta ...... 34 Plate 7 : Mr David (Yandi) Stock at Karntama Creek Yinta; view looking to the southeast (Photo: Goode 2009) ...... 34 Plate 8 : The Nyiyaparli survey team at the 14 Mile Cattle Yard, looking to the southeast. (Photo: Goode 2009) ...... 35 Plate 9 : The Sandy Creek Yinta (Jitumpulpa), looking southeast (Photo: Goode 2009) ...... 37 Plate 10 : The Sandy Creek Cattle Yards, looking northeast (Photo: Taylor 2009) ...... 37 Plate 11: Mr David (Yandi) Stock at the Sandy Creek Cattle Yard, looking northeast 38 Plate 12: Sandy Creek Yinta ...... 38 Plate 13: Goman’s Creek Yinta ...... 40 Plate 14 : Goman’s Creek Yinta close up; view looking to the south (Photo: Taylor 2009) ...... 40 Plate 15 : The snake’s head at Mirlimpirrinha; view to the west (Photo: Taylor 2009) 42 Plate 16 : An aerial view of Mirlimpirrinha Yinta ...... 42

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Introduction In July 2009, Ethnosciences was commissioned by Fortescue Metals Group Pty Ltd (FMG) to undertake an ethnographic survey and consultation with members of the Nyiyaparli Karlka Aboriginal Corporation (NKAC) with regards to the cultural significance of the hydrological system within the Christmas Creek/Fortescue Marsh area.

The survey area was bounded to the north by the FMG Access Road, to the east by the Marble Bar Road (or to the edge of Hancock exploration tenements), to the south by the Fortescue Marsh (inclusive of the marsh) and to the west by where Goman Creek enters the Fortescue Marsh. The survey area lies approximately 130km north of the town of Newman in the Pilbara in the eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia, to the south of the Chichester Ranges and to the east of the Hamersley Ranges.

A recent work area clearance ethnographic survey of the FMG Vasse Pit and Mining Areas A & B had identified that a number of north–south running creeks that drain towards the Fortescue Marsh are of ethnographic cultural significance to the Nyiyaparli people (De Gand (2009:21–22). During this survey, De Gand identified that as mining was continuing in the area that the Nyiyaparli people were concerned that this activity may have detrimental effects upon the cultural values held for this hydrological system and the flow of the water into the Fortescue Marsh system. Due to these concerns, FMG requested that the matter undergo more detailed investigations. Consulting anthropologist Mr Brad Goode was subcontracted by Ethnosciences to conduct this investigation.

Specifically, the consultant was requested to:

 Investigate Nyiyaparli cultural values associated with hydrology (springs, creeks, clay pans and the Fortescue Marsh) generally and specifically in the area east of the Vasse Pit;  Document Nyiyaparli concerns about the potential impacts of existing and planned mining operations on these values;

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 1 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage

 Record the nature and extent of any sites of significance as defined by Section 5 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (AHA), paying particular attention to issues of specific significance as opposed to generalised significance;  Make recommendations as to how these sites and values may be protected and/or mitigated in light of legislative frameworks such as the AHA and the Environmental Protection Authority’s (2004) assessments of Aboriginal Heritage Guidance Statement No 41.

The survey area is located within the Nyiyaparli native title claim (WC 5/006) in what is generally recognised as Nyiyaparli country. The Nyiyaparli consultants (Mr David (Yandi) Stock, Mr Gordon Yuline and Mr Brian Tucker) were selected by the NKAC as representatives of the native title claimant group with authority to speak for the survey area.

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Ethnographic Survey Methodology The ethnographic survey was conducted in the following stages:

 Archival research;  Inspection of the ethnographic survey area and interviews with Nyiyaparli consultants;  Post survey debriefing with the Nyiyaparli consultants in the field;  Report preparation.

Mr Brad Goode and Dr Edward McDonald undertook the archival research which involved, in the first instance, an examination of the Register of Aboriginal Sites using the online Aboriginal Heritage Inquiry System (AHIS). A number of published and unpublished ethnographic sources were also examined.

Mr Brad Goode conducted the ethnographic field consultation from the 14th to the 16th of July 2009 with the Nyiyaparli consultants nominated by the KNAC which represents the Nyiyaparli native title claimants with respect to heritage and related matters. The Nyiyaparli consultants, who are all applicants or working party members of the native title claim (WC05/006), included Nyiyaparli elders Mr Gordon Yuline, Mr David (Yandi) Stock and Mr Brian Tucker.

Mr Gordon Yuline is a leader of the Nyiyaparli people and a senior Lawman and Wardilba ceremonial singer recognised throughout the Central Pilbara (see Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa 2004). Mr Yuline grew up on the old Warrie Station and in particular at Warrie out-camp now part of Hillside Station, and has lived and worked on a number of stations in the general area. Mr David Stock (Yandicoogina or Yandi) is a senior Nyiyaparli man who was born, grew up and worked on Roy Hill Station. Mr Stock is a recognised custodian of sites in the country in which the survey area is located (cited from McDonald and Day 2008; see also O’Connor 1996:11). Mr Brian Tucker is a senior Nyiyaparli Lawman who was born at White Cliffs at Bamboo Springs, an area located between Cloudbreak Mine and Nullagine. Mr Tucker and his family have extensive traditional associations with and knowledge of

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 3 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage the survey area as his father had lived and worked in the area for many years as a dogger. Mr Tucker is a working party member of the Nyiyaparli native title group and was nominated to be a primary informant by NKAC (see also Goode 2007).

All three men have close associations with the Roy Hill and Christmas Creek areas and are intimately familiar with the totemic and cultural landscape of the area. They have authority to speak for Nyiyaparli country generally and the Mankarlyirrkurra site complex in particular. They have participated in numerous surveys in the area and are intimately familiar with the location and layout of FMG’s mining facilities, operations, the Fortescue Marsh and associated creek systems that run through the area. All gave permission for their names to be used in this report.

The heritage investigation party was assisted in the field by Mr Michael Thomson (FMG Heritage Promotions Coordinator), Mr Simon Hayward (Heritage Compliance Coordinator) and Mr Tony Godley (FMG Heritage Field Coordinator). With the permission of the NKAC and the Nyiyaparli informants, Mr Clive Taylor from Australian Ethnographical Recording Services filmed the interviews.

The field survey used a site identification methodology which can be defined as follows:

In this type of survey, sites are located and documented and the spatial extent and significance of sites to Aboriginal people is recorded. This information may be made available to the proponent in report form, subject to agreement from the relevant Aboriginal people. Alternatively, confidential information may be presented in a restricted report to the ACMC, usually via the DIA. The report should contain recommendations on steps to be taken by the proponent to ensure compliance with the AHA (Department of Indigenous Affairs 2002:17).

The fieldwork included pre- and post-survey consultations at the FMG Christmas Creek Mine Camp and a field inspection of the ethnographic survey area by 4WD vehicle. The ethnographic survey area was inspected over three days using existing tracks to access the Fortescue Marsh and Yinta [waterhole, Nyiyaparli dictionary: pg 69] within the marsh where north–south running creeks enter the marsh flowing from the Chichester Ranges to the north. The survey team also inspected a number of creek crossings along the FMG mine access road in order to record the Nyiyaparli

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 4 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage names for each creek in relation to a song about the Yinta in the marsh (not all the creeks had names in relation to this song line). During the inspection, the Nyiyaparli consultants were asked to identify any cultural values associated with water; any concerns they had in relation to mining and the impacts this could have on these values; and any mythological, ritual and historical sites that may be located within the survey area.

This report was prepared by Mr Brad Goode and edited by Dr Edward McDonald and Bryn Coldrick.

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Ethnographic Background McDonald (2007:14) has observed there has been little specific in-depth contemporary research into the social organisation and traditional cultural boundaries of Aboriginal groups that traditionally occupied the Cloudbreak/Christmas Creek area. While researchers such as Palmer (1977, 1981 and 1983), Von Brandenstein (1972) and Wilson (1979) have provided an ethnographic background for Aboriginal groups of the east Pilbara generally, they do not specifically deal with the Cloudbreak/Christmas Creek locality. In more recent times, research has been largely based upon “rapid ethnography” associated with commercially-driven heritage surveys including surveys undertaken for FMG and others in the Cloudbreak and Roy Hill areas (see, for instance, McDonald 2000, 2006 & 2007; McDonald & Coldrick 2009; Green 2004; Birckhead 2007a & 2007b).

When discussing traditional cultural boundaries in the eastern Pilbara, reference is invariably made to the work of early researchers such as Bates (1914), Radcliffe- Brown (1912, 1913 & 1930–31) and Tindale (1974) who produced maps of tribal boundaries and in doing so drew heavily upon the work of earlier researchers. According to Tindale (1974:252), the Cloudbreak/Christmas Creek area was traditionally occupied by the Niabali (Nyiyaparli) whose country was described as:

Headwaters of the Oakover and Davis Rivers above their junction, middle waters of the Fortescue River; northwest to Roy Hill; on Weedi Wolli [sic – Weeli Wolli], north of the Ophthalmia Ranges; east to Talawana. In about 1890 pressure by the Kartudjara forced the Niababli to retreat from the northern vicinity of Savory Creek to a boundary on the headwaters of Jigalong Creek. The Niabali are closely related to the Baligu with whom they are becoming much mixed.

It is recognised that the portion of the Fortescue Marsh at Christmas Creek is within the Nyiyaparli Native Title Claim boundary and as such members of this claim group only were consulted. This conforms to standing agreements and established protocols regarding rights to ‘speak for country’ (McDonald 2007:4).

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Aboriginal Significance of Water: A Comparative Perspective

There is no doubt that water, especially fresh water, is of vital importance to Aboriginal people right across Australia. Studies conducted in the tropical northern regions of Australia, and also studies connected with the ‘Living Murray Project’, have revealed that Aboriginal communities have a significant interest in water management and development planning that affects waterscapes. This growing concern by Aboriginal groups with regards to water management issues stems from their traditional socio-ecological relationship to ‘county’ associated with customary use of water and from observance of cultural obligations connected to a unique spiritual relationship with water that are not possessed by Europeans.

Resulting from this realisation, water management authorities, developers and now mining companies, have in recent times commissioned a number of ‘cultural values’ studies in order to be able to better understand these values and to begin to be able to address these values within modern water management and development planning frameworks (see, for example, O’Connor et al 1995, Yu 2000, Langton 2002, McFarlane 2004, Goode 2004, Rose 2004, Barber and Rumley 2004, Weir 2004, Toussaint et al 2005, McDonald et al 2005, Goode et al 2005, Jackson 2006).

In these studies, these authors argue that Aboriginal people conceptualise water as ‘a sacred domain’ that is inextricably linked to their unique metaphysical view of the world and as a set of socially defined jural principles of ownership and law that is derived from their connection to the mythic past (Langton in Jackson 2006:44–6). In recognition of this unique relationship, which is tied to Aboriginal concepts of ownership, rights and responsibilities with regards to land and water, ritual observances are performed in order that outsiders who wish to enter one’s estate are cleansed by ‘baptism’ in order they and the community that they are engaging with, and from whose country they are taking from, are protected from spiritual harm from not appropriately observing ‘Law’. Modern water abstraction project planning and mining operations do little to address these needs in modern Aboriginal communities. With regards to recognising such cultural values and incorporating

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 7 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage them into a modern water management framework, many contemporary authors have argued that by merely providing for an increase in the ‘environmental flow’, proponents are not really addressing these Indigenous needs in total. These authors argue that cultural needs are more complex than just releasing water back into the system for ecological maintenance.

In recognition of the relationship that Indigenous people have with the land and waterscape, academic studies on Indigenous water-related cultural values are recognising that Indigenous people need to be involved not just in having water for physical sustenance, but they also need to be able to be involved in the control, use and distribution of water within their traditional clan estates. This ability to be able to regulate water use in a ‘culturally proper way’ is necessary in order that Indigenous groups can maintain their traditional cultural identity.

Many of the authors identified above recognise that current regulation and the desire of regulators to meet demand from large-scale water abstraction and mining projects that affect river systems and aquifers affects Indigenous people’s ability to maintain this control or to have a say in its control in order that they can fulfil their cultural responsibility as given to them by inheritance from the spirit world. Failure to be able to fulfil this traditional responsibility in the modern world has profound implications for Aboriginal peoples’ well being, with many liking loss of these traditional jural rights to what happened to them at colonisation when they lost control of their traditional lands.

Within this debate, water management authorities are now only just coming to understand this Indigenous jural responsibility and are attempting to accommodate this perspective by recognising Indigenous rights and setting up Indigenous water reference advisory groups under the Native Title system. This gives native title claimants and holders the right to ‘comment’ (or be consulted) on grants of interest in water abstraction projects and projects that affect these water rights. However, this system is in its infancy and is still mostly concerned with recognition and/or protection of ‘sites of significance’ under state heritage legislation rather than

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Aboriginal groups having an equitable say in management of water as a traditional source of Indigenous identity (Jackson 2006).

As an outcome from these studies, Indigenous people have emphasised the importance of all sources of water to Indigenous groups as the primary resource for which the maintenance and survival of the Indigenous ‘cultural landscapes’ and ‘Indigenous cultural values’ rely. In these studies, Indigenous groups have emphasised the ‘inter connectedness’ (Toussaint, Sullivan and Yu 2005) of all sources of water and its importance to Indigenous people. The term ‘Living Water’ (Rose 2004) has also been used by many Indigenous groups consulted in these studies. The term is loaded with meaning as it emphasises the Indigenous perspective and describes simply the feelings and the special relationship that Indigenous people see as uniquely theirs with regards to the land and the water cycle, not just aspects of water such as a river that is being studied in order to exploit it for abstraction or the development of other resources.

Within the water management debate, ‘Aboriginal cultural values’ or ‘Indigenous values pertaining to water’, have historically been defined by the reference to issues pertaining to the spiritual domain regarding protection of ‘sacred sites’ and to the integration of Indigenous knowledge into ecological paradigms, associated with the customary use of water for sustaining plant and animal communities, upon which hunter-gatherer societies would traditionally rely upon for subsistence (Langton in Jackson 2006). With regards to this definition upon which these studies are based, Langton (cited in Jackson 2006:16-19) states that while this definition is an important component of the Indigenous world view that sets Indigenous people apart from Europeans, it is now in the modern world a narrow and limited definition as it fails to take into consideration more contemporary issues such as Indigenous communities’ needs for water for purposes of social relations (e.g. community recreation activities such as camping and fishing), economic development and maintenance of cultural identity. What Langton (in Jackson 2006) maintains is that modern Indigenous needs are now more complex and that involvement in water

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 9 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage allocation management plans needs to consider all aspects of the Indigenous communities’ needs regarding the cultural conservation of water resources.

Provision of ‘cultural flows’ of water are now also seen as necessary in order to sustain modern ventures such as aquaculture and eco-tourism which are important modern mechanisms for Aboriginal groups to maintain their communities’ viability in often remote locations with little opportunity for economic independence from the State welfare budget. However, maintaining stream flows for protection of more traditional values such as obligations for protection of sites of significance and customary use of water dependent plant and animal communities are still a core concern of the Indigenous community but are not the sole value that needs to be maintained within the social/ecological water requirements flow regime debate.

In line with the above definition, classical studies on the subject conducted by Langton (2002) and Toussaint et al (2005) in the tropical northern regions of Aboriginal Australia have defined water sources as being ‘central to the social, economic and religious life of all Indigenous groups throughout the region in both a traditional and modern contemporary sense’. In a similar study by Rose (2004) the term ‘living water’ was commonly used by Aborigines to convey the value of water to Aboriginal societies both in the past and the present. Water was not just seen as a resource used for sustaining life but water is viewed as having a spiritual life in itself. McFarlane (2004) at the national water conference in Sydney in November 2004 reported that Indigenous people did not regard water as merely as an ‘inert commodity’ but rather defined water as having a sacred life of its own. McFarlane pointed out that water sources are highly valued as they sustain all living things not just humans.

While this debate is now quite advanced in the tropical north of the country, little research on the subject has been conducted in the Pilbara, excepting for a study by Barber and Rumley (2004) who conducted work upon this subject for the Waters and Rivers commission. In this study, it was found that all Aboriginal groups that bound the Fortescue River and other river systems in the region share a similar perspective

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 10 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage to their northern and eastern neighbours, and have similar needs for the preservation of water resources to maintain cultural identity and to fulfil their spiritual jural responsibility of caring for their country. The authors found that all Aboriginal language groups in the Pilbara share a complex system of religious belief that holds that the entire landscape and all of its natural features inclusive of water sources were formed during the Dreamtime. Natural landscape features such as rivers, creeks, springs, waterholes, hills, flora, fauna and humans are believed to have been created by ancestral spirit beings whose essence continues to be retained in these places into the present.

Aboriginal people in the Pilbara region, as in other parts of Aboriginal Australia, have definitive beliefs about the sanctity of water sources within their body of law that governs the events that occur within their country. All water sources in the Pilbara are generally important to Aboriginal people in a variety of cultural, social and economic ways. This importance is expressed through specific localised religious beliefs, customs, rituals and practices which allocate rights and jural responsibilities to people, or collectives of people, who have inherited this right from these ancestral beings. This jural responsibility is expressed by specific localised contextual performance of religious rituals (Thalu) to ensure the renewal and reproduction of the various natural species, landscape features, inclusive of water sources within each clan estate along the Fortescue River system.

Palmer (1977) found that Aboriginal groups along the Fortescue River shared a complex web of myths, stories, ritual and sacred sites. He described the river as a continuing site complex from above Millstream to the flat coastal plain. Various permanent pools, springs and soaks along this system often had adjoining Law Grounds where each group could come together collectively to conduct ceremonies in reverence to these deities. These places were often cultural boundaries between these groups.

In the Fortescue River area, as in other regions of Aboriginal Australia, this law with regards to permanent water sources is tied to the belief that water is a living entity

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 11 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage created by and has been imbued with the essences of the Rainbow Serpent (Radcliffe- Brown 1926), a mythical water snake. In the Pilbara, this water snake is named Warlu which is commonly believed to be present within all water sources in the region. While it is collectively believed that this serpent instils water with a living essence, specific stories about the Warlu and where its essence remains are known and owned by each language group through whose country the Fortescue River passes. Within the above study, many stories were quoted about the power of the Warlu and his ability to punish transgressors of the Law. These stories, however, are mostly about the Warlu at Millstream and pools downstream. Little reference was made with regards to the marsh in Nyiyaparli country.

During this survey, the Nyiyaparli men consulted repeatedly sang songs that relate to this body of law when they approached places where the essence of this and other spirit beings dwell. These ritual observances were reported to be necessary to alert the spiritual being (Warlu) of the group’s approach and to identify those who approach as those who are responsible to these ancestors and who are responsible for this portion of the country through which this great river system flows. During this survey, these songs were recorded on film and demonstrate that this belief system has contemporary currency and is shared by all Aboriginal groups that have custodial rights to this water system throughout the Pilbara, but more particularly that they have currency to the Nyiyaparli people.

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Ethnographic Survey Results

Archival Research Results

The search of the Register of Aboriginal Sites revealed that there is one previously recorded ethnographic site located within the study area: DIA Site ID 11802 Djiwirdi.

DIA Site ID 11802 Djiwirdi is recorded as a ceremonial and mythological site located to the north of Roy Hill. As this is a closed site and access to the site file was not obtained as a part of this survey, little comment can be made at this stage with regards its associations with water excepting that the site is located within the Kulbee creek system. However, McDonald (pers comm) advises that this site is a ritual increase (Thalu) site associated with the renewal of fish. During the ethnographic consultations, Mr David (Yandi) Stock confirmed that this is the case.

A search of the broader area was conducted in order to provide background as to the nature of the ethnographic landscape in the region. This wider search located a very important ethnographic site complex named Mankarlyirrkurra. This site complex is located to the north of the FMG mine access road with several of the named creeks identified during this survey having their origins in this area. As all sites within the Mankarlyirrkurra complex are restricted, it is not possible at this stage to be definitive with regard to their associations with these water courses.

McDonald and Day (2008:11), citing Von Brandenstein (1972), Palmer (1977) and Green (2003, 2004), provide a summary of the cultural significance of the Mankarlyirrkurra site complex. They state that Palmer (1977:39) observes that the mythological being Mungaliguru is “now an escarpment near Roy Hill” and that the area and its spirit is linked to a number of major Dreaming Tracks or song lines that crisscross the Pilbara. McDonald and Day also note that Green (2003, 2004) has outlined the boundaries of the site complex based on a major meeting involving Elders from language groups across the region, and that FMG has agreed that this would be the ‘Mankarlyirrkurra no-go area protected from mining’ (McDonald and Day 2008:11).

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According to McDonald and Day (2008:11), ethnographic research to date has not located any other ethnographic sites in the Cloudbreak/Christmas Creek outside the Mankarlyirrkurra site complex (see, for example, Birckhead 2007a, 2007b; Green 2003, 2004; Day 2008a, 2008b, 2008c; McDonald 2000, 2006 and 2007, McDonald and Day 2008; see also McDonald & Coldrick 2009) apart from a stone quarry (CB06-76) located to the west of Cloudbreak that was reported by Goode to be a place where stone was sourced for use in rituals conducted at Mungayikurra bunamalinya (Goode 2007:14).

In a recent work area clearance survey for FMG’s mining proposals at the Vasse Pit and Areas A & B, De Gand (2009:21–24) has reported that a number of the north– south running creeks that flow into two named marshes Wandangbangani and Mibinbiirna [Mirlimpirrinha sp Wangka Maya] (the Fortescue Marsh) inclusive of the Kagurunga Dandu [Kakutungutantu sp Wangka Maya] Creek and Kandama [Karntama sp Wangka Maya] Creek are named places of ethnographic significance. While De Gand does not identify the nature of the cultural significance of these creeks, he does report that the Nyiyaparli informants state that these creeks supply the marshes, wells, waterholes and ultimately the Fortescue River with water and as such they are concerned that mining may block this connection and the flow of the water within this landscape. De Gand also identifies several other named places near and within the Fortescue Marsh and describes their significance.

Jabugany – a clay pan located near Mirlimpirrinha – and a water hole named Murumundana located west of the 14 Mile Cattle Yard were identified as ritual sites associated with rain making ceremonies, showing a cultural concern with regards to the area’s hydrological system that is directly attributed to supernatural actions (De Gand 2009:21). During this survey, the Nyiyaparli consultants identified that all these creeks, wells and waterholes are connected (presumably underground) and that they all supply Fortescue Marsh and ultimately the Fortescue River with water and as such the whole system is of cultural importance. The Nyiyaparli consultants requested that mining activities should not interfere with the water flow across the

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 14 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage landscape and requested a 150m buffer zone where no mining would take place in order to protect Karntama Creek and other creeks in the area. De Gand (2009:22) also reported that near Karntama Creek the Nyiyaparli, Byalku (Palyku) and Banjima (Banyjima) groups shared a Law Ground for initiations; however, this place was not located within his report.

There have been no other ethnographic studies within the current study area that have identified any other sites. However, the report previously referred to above by Barber and Rumley (2004) concerning the cultural values of the Fortescue Marsh and river system deals extensively with the cultural significance of the entire Fortescue River system, though they focus on the area downstream from Millstream. In this study, the authors identify the Fortescue River’s Aboriginal name as Yarnda-Nyirra- na (Barber and Rumley 2004:23); however, they do not state from which language group this name was sourced and they do not define the cultural meaning of the name. The authors also refer to an Aboriginal heritage survey conducted on the lower reaches of the Fortescue River by Palmer (1977), stating that:

He records myths, stories, rituals and significant sites along the Fortescue which show that the river is a continuing ‘site complex’ from above Millstream to the flat coastal plain. He stresses that individual sites, natural features, cannot be discussed in isolation because they form part of a unified complex of narrative and ritual practice based in Aboriginal tradition (1977:4-8).… Authors of these reports generally noted that the densest concentrations of Aboriginal living areas and sites associated with Dreamtime mythic ancestors were predictably to be found in the vicinity of rivers and creeks, pools and soaks (Palmer 1977 cited in Barber and Rumley 2004:31).

Barber and Rumley make several statements with regards to the issues of water management within the Pilbara and offer many recommendations on how Aboriginal interests can be addressed in a more equitable manner. The authors state that the Government needs to first acknowledge the lack of past consultation and concern with regards to Indigenous water rights within the region and apologise to Aboriginal groups for the damage that has already been inflicted upon water-related sites of significance by both private and state sponsored development projects. Following this, the authors argue, government agencies need to develop liaison

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 15 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage positions within management authorities that will then establish protocol agreements to enable Aboriginal communities across the Pilbara to protect water related sites of significance by having a framework where adequate consultation and participation occurs between Aboriginal communities and decision-making bodies (i.e. an Aboriginal Water Reference Group). They also recommend that water allocation licensing for projects should take into consideration and provide for cultural preservation of Indigenous needs for water to sustain the natural world. Licensing for abstraction must provide for Indigenous needs as well as for development, and limits must be set that will allow for adequate cultural flows to be maintained within river systems.

Barber and Rumley (2004) also recommended:

 that government agencies, pastoralists and mining companies allow for continued unimpeded Aboriginal access to important water related cultural sites and that these places be co-managed by these agencies and Aboriginal communities who have traditional custodial rights regarding these places;  that agencies and private landowners protect the riparian zones of all rivers, springs and permanent water sources in the region from damage and pollution; and  that a concerted effort is made to assist Aboriginal communities to properly and appropriately record all water related and important cultural sites so that the names and the stories that are attached to such places are preserved for future generations. As a part of this recording process, a public document should be produced that will enable the wider society to be able to understand and to appreciate the Indigenous perspective of the importance of water and water related cultural sites.

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Ethnographic Field Survey Results

During the ethnographic field survey, the Nyiyaparli informants stated their belief that the entire Fortescue River system from its source east of Newman, through to Millstream and on to the sea near Mardie Station northeast of Onslow, is of fundamental importance to the survival of the country, culture and the law of all Pilbara Aboriginal language groups through whose country this water flows. The Nyiyaparli consultants stated that as the caretakers of the top end of this system, they would be held culturally responsible by all the other Aboriginal language groups on the bottom end [i.e. downstream] of this system if they allowed mining companies to alter the flow of the water (starve the system) as this will cause the country downstream to die.

With regards to this responsibility, the Nyiyaparli informants have stated that it is of fundamental importance that all the small creeks that have their origins in the Chichester and the Hamersley Ranges either side of the marsh (inclusive of subterranean flows) that feed the system are not blocked or diverted by mining, thus starving the marsh of the water that supports all the life in the marsh. The Nyiyaparli informants stated that the view put forward was not restricted to the activities of FMG alone but was directed to all mining companies and development proponents whose activities have a potential to alter the hydrology of the region.

At the commencement of the survey, Mr Gordon Yuline emphasised the connectivity between all of the water catchments, small creeks, springs and underground aquifers that feed the Marsh. Mr Yuline advised that all these pieces of the system are important to the overall health and wellbeing of the entire system. Mr Yuline said that these sources of water are like the veins and arteries within his country and if they are blocked the heart [i.e. Fortescue Marsh] will die. Mr Yuline advised that the Nyiyaparli people wish to work with FMG and all mining companies that are operating in their country so that the cultural responsibility to protect this water flow can be understood by others and that this catchment can be protected, as this is where the Fortescue River has its origins.

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With regards to the specific study area, Mr Yuline also emphasised the significance of the Marsh and its centrality to Nyiyaparli culture and its survival;

The Marsh is very important to the Nyiyaparli people, it is central to our culture and its survival. A Dreamtime story is known about its creation, when the yurtupa [snake] come across the Dingo sing out at the side of the river. All the sea went back and just left the salt what’s in the Marsh now. If you go to that marsh now you can find some shells, sea shells, you know? That’s the story I was told. When the Dingo sings out, that yurtupa turn to stone and the sea all went back. The story comes from out past Newman and comes right through the Marsh; it follows the water but is about the land as well. If the Marsh is damaged, our culture is affected; if the Marsh dies so do the people….

At the commencement of the survey, the Nyiyaparli consultants stated that within Nyiyaparli country all permanent fresh water sources define and support all life in the region and as such are of fundamental importance to their survival as a culture that is dependent upon this land. According to the Nyiyaparli consultants, the Fortescue Marsh and the water system in this country defines Nyiyaparli identity. Mr Brian Tucker defined this sentiment with the statement that:

Water is life; our stories are about the maintenance of all this life. The stories tell the people about the water, where to find the water and where to get food that is attracted to the water. By following the stories, we know where we can dig for water when the country is dry. The creeks that feed the marsh all have names; if these creeks are blocked, then the country that they feed will die. We have names for these creeks and ceremonies are necessary to maintain and renew the country through which they flow.

The views expressed by the Nyiyaparli informants are consistent with the findings of other cultural values studies conducted within Aboriginal Australia and in particular the west Pilbara and Kimberly regions. In these studies, it is generally acknowledged that hunter-gatherer groups define freshwater systems as the basis for survival for their culture, custom and law and that there is a jural responsibility for each Aboriginal group to take responsibility for water sources within their own country. As discussed in more detail above, within the Aboriginal cosmological understandings of the world, water sources are seen to be of fundamental importance for the survival of all the natural species upon which these Aboriginal societies depend upon. This importance is depicted in a rich tapestry of myth; ceremonies and ritual observance with regards to water (see, for example, Barber and

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Rumley 2004, Langton 2002, McDonald et al 2005, Rose 2004, Toussaint et al 2001, Toussaint et al 2005 and Yu 2000).

During this survey, the Nyiyaparli informants also reported that the Fortescue River system, but more particularly the Fortescue Marsh as this is the section within Nyiyaparli country, comprises a path relating to a mythological song line where a number of stories (or more correctly narratives) exist that relate to the significance of the freshwater pools within the salty marsh. These pools, known as Yinta were defined to be of central importance to the survival of Nyiyaparli culture. Mr Brian Tucker explained the nature and significance of this song line within Nyiyaparli law and culture:

Mangkurru means floodway. Mangkurru we call it Wirlawirla and that’s a flood, when the floods coming from all that catchment, you know when you get rain, rain we call it Yiintilypa, Kanaji. Kanaji means lightning and rain that, you know you hear that noise, you know that thunder, and then it start flowing and when the Mangkurru come and you see that little, from all these little creeks south side, north and south side comes into the floodway in the Fortescue, Mangkurru. And that’s a Mangkurru you see you know when water flow, water flowing, every meaning of that, every meaning, of Mangkurru. You got another song…… That’s the one we sing. You know the froth on top of the flood, when the flood goes it makes all that froth on top of the water, the foam, that’s what we call a Talarinpa. A Talarinpa it’s starting to run fast. That’s what all that songs in the naming of that how he comes in and gets into the main creek, the river itself, and then it starts rushing off fast. It’s a song that has caused that to happen, because it’s happened, you see it happen and that’s what Aboriginal people see. They see the cycle. They see the life that involves around them. So you see we didn’t make these songs up, these songs been given to us by the Nyiinirri, the song maker up here. The meaning of the life that we live in, in this country of ours, so that’s what it’s all about. What’s give you the lore in your country and everything that you see right down to them trees, every song got all these names, so whoever been our god is about environmental. It’s about the life itself in the country, about renewal, blessing the country and waiting up to give life back into the country. The whole meaning of the river system, those entire little creek beds that runs off all this, this whole system was created by the Mangkarnpa, the god that we all believe. Different cultures that believes in the same god but we see it in different nationalities, so we see our god in different form. The spirit is in our song. If we didn’t have that we wouldn’t have nothing so we recognise what’s there so that’s what it’s all about,

The stories on this song line also relate to the sources of the water from the top end within the Nyiyaparli country. The stories are known to have been passed down

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 19 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage from ancestral beings from which Nyiyaparli people believe that they are descended. In the view of the informants consulted, these ancestors have provided them with the knowledge of the existence of these pools (Yinta) within the law that has been passed to them from the Dreamtime. It is the belief of the Nyiyaparli informants that the Yinta have been created in the Dreaming to support the life of plants, animals and people in the region. It is the belief that these Yinta are imbued with the spiritual essence of the Dreamtime beings that had created these places. As Mr Brian Tucker states:

You need to recognise that the whole water system, the Marsh and the creeks are all created by the spirit beings and that the Yinta is sacred. The Nyiyaparli are responsible for the whole marsh/creek system that flows into Bandjima and Indjibandi country at Millstream.… It is of utmost importance that mining is not allowed to disrupt the water flow into the system that feeds Millstream, which is where the Warlu comes from the ground and continues west to the sea.

As mentioned, the Warlu is the local variant of the Rainbow Serpent, a mythical snake that is responsible for water and was identified to be present within the Marsh (see Radcliffe-Brown 1926). Mr Gordon Yuline reported that a number of Warlu are known to be associated with the marsh and that a Warlu is known to live in Weeli Wolli Creek “but this one stops there; it does not go into the marsh”. Mr Yuline reported there also is a story about a Warlu coming from Nookanbah to fight the one that lives in the Marsh at Mirlimpirrinha in a water hole named Murumundan (De Gand 2009:21). Mr Yuline reported that in the Dreamtime story, a pack of mythical Dingoes living within the Marsh cried out to warn off this Warlu who was then turned to stone and whose image can now be seen in a hill just to the north of the Cloudbreak mine today. This site was not visited during the survey.

During the survey, when visiting the Yinta at the end of Goman’s Creek, Mirlimpirrinha to the northwest was identified as a sand dune within the marsh that took on the form of a snake’s head. Mr Yuline said that you can see patches of sand along the Marsh that represents sections of his body (De Gand 2009:21). Unfortunately, the actual site could not be visited during the fieldwork as it lies

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 20 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage within the Marsh which can only be accessed by foot or from the air. It was also advised by the informants that this actual site may be “dangerous” to visit.

During the survey, all the Nyiyaparli informants reported that it is known within their mythology that the Warlu (seen as a metaphor for the flowing water) that lives in the Marsh goes underground at Mirlimpirrinha and then returns to the surface at Millstream within other people’s country, and that it is these people who then have their own story about the area downstream. Mr Brian Tucker stated that from Millstream, the responsibility passes to others in Bandjima country. Several stories with regards to the actions of the Warlu from Bandjima informants at Millstream are reported by Barber and Rumley (2004:33–5).

During the survey, the Nyiyaparli informants reported that a song line that comes through the Marsh identifies and names many of the freshwater pools (Yinta) located at the end of creeks that flow into the Marsh, and that the spirits of creation beings who gave the Nyiyaparli these songs are known to be located in these named places. It was stated that these narratives attest to the significance of these places as water sources for domestic use and demonstrate that these Yinta have been in use by Nyiyaparli people since the creation period.

To Nyiyaparli people, the continued practice of this traditional ritual and law is dependent upon maintaining clean fresh water at these Yinta. Named Yinta were identified to be where Dreaming figures camped and where Nyiyaparli ancestors had camped throughout prehistory to the ethnographic present. Several of these Yinta are now also associated with stockmen’s camps near cattle yards where Nyiyaparli stockmen stayed during the mustering season. Several of these Yinta are also associated with ritual increase (Thalu) sites.

As this survey was of a preliminary nature and due to time constraints and issues of cultural confidentiality, the actual places that could be defined as heritage sites in relation to the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 were not all visited and no detailed recording of the extents of such places (Yinta) was attempted. Further ethnographic work and a detailed recording of such places are needed in order that such places

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 21 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage can be entered upon the Register of Aboriginal Sites and afforded the protection of the AHA. Should FMG determine that the creeks and Yinta along the Marsh are to be affected (directly or indirectly) by mining in the creeks and catchments that feed these Yinta, then detailed recording of such places will be necessary. It was requested by Mr Brian Tucker that an aerial survey of the Marsh should be undertaken in order to locate and record each place on this song line, as from the air they can be clearly seen and also the connections to the Marsh and the creeks that feed these places can be understood. Once these Yinta are identified, the water levels at each site could then be monitored as a means of keeping an eye on the effects that mining operations and modifications to the catchment’s hydrology may be having upon the health and water levels within the system.

During the survey, it was also reported that the names for these Yinta also related to the creek system that flows into the Marsh maintaining the water at the Yinta. The songs sung with regards to these places were reported to function like a map or a matrix that would inform the Nyiyaparli people of the nature and location of these freshwater sources and where powerful spiritual essences of these creation beings remained.

To demonstrate the importance of this knowledge, the informants sang several of these songs at the location of an important Yinta where the Kulbee Creek joins the Fortescue River and then the Marsh. This Yinta was named Ngawarnkuranha and was to the west of Panderumba Pool. Here, the group sang a song about the Mangkurra Mr Brian Tucker explained that the song was about the time of the year when you get the big floods, when the rains come and when all the small creeks become alive and run to the Marsh. Mr Tucker said that the song is representative of an increase ritual needed so that the rain cycle will come and that the water will flow to the Marsh and the renewal of the land will occur. Another song was sung that depicts the time when the flow of the water across the land gathers intensity, carries foam, and creates a volume of water sufficient to fill the Yinta and the Marsh. This song is also an important part of this ritual cycle and obligation to renew the land as the

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 22 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage song guarantees that there will be enough water to keep the system alive. Mr Tucker said that these songs are about the renewal of the whole of the Marsh and that without these songs the rains would not come and the land would remain dry:

This song is to our god and is part of our identity; the song defines our country and us as the traditional owners. If we cannot come to these places and sing these songs then we will lose our culture. All the creeks that flow to the Marsh have a different name but are all a part of the same song line.

Not all the creeks that flow into the Marsh had names and as such not all were identified to be associated with mythology; however, these more ephemeral places were still important in a mundane sense as water sources that plants, animals and people could use to source water when the country was dry.

On one level, the mythology associated with this song line was identified to relate to the Warlu (Water Serpent) but also to other ancestral beings that provided songs showing where the water was in the country. It was stated that it was the Nyiyaparli belief that the Warlu lives within the pools (Yinta) and maintains the system as a protector. With regards to this song line and references to the serpent myth, the informants stated that they could only speak for the section of the Fortescue system that bisects Nyiyaparli country which was defined as being from out past Jigalong to Goman Pool just to the west of Sandy Creek, but that groups further down the Fortescue had their own stories and traditions that also relate to this Dreaming song line and serpent.

The Nyiyaparli informants have also stated that the narratives that follow this song line also relate to other creation events and Dreaming actors defining the landscape, its features and the transmission of Nyiyaparli law and culture. Both Mr David Stock and Mr Gordon Yuline report that the song also identifies a number of initiates’ camps located in the area. These are places where young men are brought into this country to learn Nyiyaparli law. These camps are maintained near named sacred fresh water Yinta, along the song line within the Marsh. Once again, the actual places were not visited and recorded, and are likely to be places that are restricted to initiated men only.

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During the survey, the Nyiyaparli informants constantly emphasised that the Fortescue Marsh and its water catchment system is of fundamental importance to the cultural survival of all Pilbara Aboriginal language groups and the responsibility of the Nyiyaparli as custodians of the top end of the system.

By way of an example, the informants stated that mining at Mt Whaleback near Newman had blocked and altered the flow of an important tributary that feeds the Fortescue River, resulting in the country downstream along this tributary being ‘killed’. This was done with no thought of the consequences to Aboriginal culture and needs, and prior to Native Title and heritage agreements. All consulted stated that they are currently worried about the effects that mining activities are having upon Weeli Wolli Creek on the southern side of the Marsh, stating that if this important tributary is disrupted that the whole marsh could be put at risk. If these activities affect Millstream, then the Nyiyaparli will be blamed.

To the Nyiyaparli informants, it is also of fundamental importance that mining companies understand the importance of correct management in the area at the ‘top end’ (Chichester Ranges and Hamersley Ranges) of the catchment as this is where the creeks and the Fortescue River begins and it is where the problems start that are then transferred downstream like a ripple effect. To the Nyiyaparli, blocking the natural flow of water (creeks, aquifers and underground streams) across the landscape, diverting creeks and dewatering underground aquifers is detrimental to flow and ultimately the health of the Fortescue Marsh and the river downstream. To the Nyiyaparli, allowing pollutants to enter the system from mining also is also seen as an issue that potentially would kill the system.

FMG mining operations near Goman creek, where dewatering of an area is now occurring so that mining can progress and where this water is being discharged into the creek system around the mine, was also seen as a potential problem. As Mr Brian Tucker stated,

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We do not know what is in this water. It could cause problems, and we do not know where this water should have gone. This could cause problems; if you take water from one place and send it somewhere else, the place where you got it from may die.

With regards to catchment management, the Nyiyaparli informants requested that they wished to work with FMG hydrogeologists and environmental scientists so that that all parties involved in catchment management could gain a cross-cultural understanding of the water system and its connectivity. It was felt that this cross- cultural exchange of information would ultimately lead to each party being able to achieve their goals in terms of managing water issues within the area by showing respect for each other’s knowledge, values and needs.

To the Nyiyaparli, water management is not simply a scientific engineering paradigm – water management also has a spiritual dimension that scientists need to understand. This spiritual dimension could help all parties understand the interrelationship between all aspects of the natural world from a holistic Indigenous point of view. In the opinion of the Nyiyaparli, scientists often only look at one aspect of the situation in isolation from the whole. Mr Brian Tucker said that scientists can move a creek and divert the water, but that the Nyiyaparli cannot move their song lines. If the water is diverted away from their Yinta to somewhere else, then they can no longer use these places to teach their young people about their culture and traditions.

Within the Nyiyaparli cosmological understanding of the natural world, everything – the plants, the animals, humans and the landscape – are all related and are all interconnected and are created within the Dreaming. In the opinion of the Nyiyaparli informants, if one interferes with one aspect of the natural world without showing respect for what it relates to, one runs the risk of catastrophic events occurring. Barber and Rumley (2004:40) stated that elders on the Fortescue River below Millstream …

… spoke of their inability to uphold their traditional responsibilities of ‘looking after country’ and some quietly expressed the view that one senior man had recently died because of his perceived failure to protect his country and its associated lore.

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During this survey, Mr Brian Tucker stated that he and the other Nyiyaparli Elders wanted to record the whole system as a significant site under the terms of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 to afford the water system some form of protection, as he and the others felt that as more companies operated within the area that the Nyiyaparli could no longer determine what was happening within their own country. Mr Brian Tucker said he wanted FMG to recognise the significance of the whole water system to the Nyiyaparli by assisting the group to record this system in detail. By recording this system and the important places within it, Mr Tucker argued that all companies in the area will then understand that it is all connected and that it is important to the Nyiyaparli people.

In the opinion of the informants, FMG would be seen as a leader in this enterprise which would then encourage other companies to come on board. Ultimately, this type of detailed study and cultural mapping of the Marsh will benefit the whole environment and system as then all parties could work towards a total catchment management plan. It was suggested that FMG could initiate such a plan with the assistance of the Department of Water, and that through this agency funding for a boarder and more in-depth study could be sourced. Mr Brian Tucker stated that the issue needs to be also put in the public domain so that a regional debate can be held that will hopefully lead to a synthesis between science and traditional knowledge being developed into a regional water plan and that FMG could be the catalyst for such a plan from initiating this debate.

In the opinion of the Nyiyaparli informants, by getting all parties in the region to understand the importance of the Indigenous cultural values attached to managing water as a living entity, not just as a resource, would assist in developing a better understanding of the whole of the environment and lead to better management decisions. By getting FMG and all the other companies that are stakeholders within this area to work together on such a regional plan, the Nyiyaparli would be seen by other Aboriginal groups further downstream as fulfilling the cultural responsibility to protect their country.

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The views expressed by the Nyiyaparli informants during this survey are not isolated from other Pilbara Aboriginal groups. Barber and Rumley (2004:33–4) identified several Aboriginal groups along the Fortescue and other river systems who share similar views, and who wish to have more of a say in how waters are managed within the region.

Places of Importance and Significance

During the survey, the consultants recorded the Nyiyaparli names for the creeks that flowed into the Fortescue Marsh and the Yinta located at the end of these creeks within the Marsh. Most of the creeks were named by the informants where the creek lines intersect the FMG access road with the actual Yinta not visited, except for Kulbee Creek Yinta, Sandy Creek Yinta and Goman Creek Yinta.

During the survey, the informants stated that the names equally apply to the creeks as well as the permanent freshwater pools (Yinta) where the creeks enter the Fortescue Marsh. The table below identifies the European name of each creek/Yinta visited and the Nyiyaparli name for this place. The coordinates recorded identify the place stopped at where the discussion took place and where the name was recorded, not necessarily the actual Yinta, although the three actual Yinta named above were visited.

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English Name Nyiyaparli Name Location (Zone 50 GDA94) Kulbee Creek/Fortescue Ngawarnkuranha 794525mE, 7503128mN River confluence Unnamed Creek (in between Takarra 804231mE, 7512128mN 6 mile and 10 mile) Unnamed creek that flows Kurtuwarrangu 800042mE, 7516549mN to Morgan’s bore/10 mile well Unnamed Creek that flows Marntarrurrapirti 798960mE, 7517311mN to Government Well bore r 6 Christmas Creek – Thor Karntama 795848mE, 7519136mN bore (multiple channels x 3) (Kandama sp as per de Gand (recorded where Christmas Creek 2009) intersects the FMG access road)

Two unnamed creeks west Murrumuntunga 787690mE, 7520259mN of Christmas Creek that 785409mE, 7521683mN flow to Salt Well near the Galilee cattle yards Unnamed creek that flows Banyjirrakurapirti 783456mE, 7522917mN to the 22 mile well Unnamed creek that flows Kakutungutantu 779660mE, 7524040mN to the Parker Bore through (Kagurunga Dandu sp as per de Vasse Pit A mine site Gand 2009) Sandy Creek Yinta Jitumpulpa 752161mE, 7520886mN

Goman Creek/Clay pan Nguwarna 740217mE, 7525233mN

Table 1. Nyiyaparli creeks/Yinta visited during the survey

As mentioned, during the survey, four Yinta areas at the Marsh were visited and were partially recorded as possible Aboriginal Sites under the AHA

1. Kulbee Creek/Fortescue River confluence (Ngawarnkuranha) 2. Christmas Creek (Karntama) – 14 Mile Cattle Yard 3. Sandy Creek (Jitumpulpa) 4. Goman’s Creek/Pool (Nguwarna)

Mirlimpirrinha which was described by the informants as the last in the chain of Yinta on the songline, could not be visited and recorded due to access and cultural safety

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 28 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage issues but was photographed from a distance and partially described from an aerial photograph.

Kulbee Creek/Fortescue River (Ngawarnkuranha) (794525mE, 7503128mN) This is a named place and Yinta (waterhole) on the song line that has been reported to run through the entire Fortescue Marsh from east to west. This Yinta is located at the eastern end of the survey area at the confluence of the Kulbee Creek and the Fortescue River on the eastern end of the Marsh that De Gand (2004:21) reported to be named Wandangbangani.

The extent of the area is a series of pools that form a ‘T’ shape with the Kulbee Creek at the centre running to the north. The pools along the Fortescue River run in a northwesterly and northeasterly direction to the west and east of this confluence. The pools are approximately 2.2km in length and at their widest point 230m in width.

The area is reported to have mythological associations, is a traditional camp ground and a historical camp site associated with Nyiyaparli stockmen during the cattle mustering season at Roy Hill Station’s 8 Mile Cattle Yards. The informants, Mr Gordon Yuline, Mr David Stock and Mr Brian Tucker, reported that the songs sung at this location during the survey explain the creation of these Yinta by the spirit world and tell Aboriginal people the location of these sources of fresh water along the entire marsh that runs through Nyiyaparli country. Ritual songs are also sung at these places that are associated with the Mangkurru (floods). These songs are necessary for the continuance of the natural cycle that relate to renewal of the land from the whole water cycle and more particularly rain making. The informants describe the river at this location to be a sacred site.

The area was also reported to contain camping grounds associated with this ritual song cycle at law time and also camp grounds historically associated with cattle mustering on Roy Hill Station’s 8 Mile Cattle Yards 500m to the north. It was reported that Mr Gordon Yuline’s father built these cattle yards and that Mr David Stock worked at these yards when he lived on Roy Hill Station in the late 1940s. The

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 29 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage informants sang several songs that relate to the water cycle at this location. These songs were recorded on video by Mr Clive Taylor (see CD Title 3, Chapter 2 & 3).

The pools forming the Yinta are surrounded by small trees (Acacia and Eucalyptus) and shrubs which fringe the waters dissipating into Spinifex plains within several hundred meters of the pools. No locations of the actual camp sites were given and no extent for camps could be recorded. The 8 Mile Cattle Yards are located approximately 500m north of the confluence of the Kulbee Creek and the Fortescue River, and 128m east of the Kulbee Creek to the west and 700m to the east. The cattle yards comprise square wooden post-and-rail structures that have fallen into disrepair. The yards occupy an area of approximately 8,000 square metres, being 100m long NE–SW and 80m NW–SE (NW corner: 794469mE, 7503630mN).

The entire area as reported is likely to be a site in terms of Sections 5(a) and 5(b) of the AHA and further recording of the site’s nature and extent will be required.

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Plate 2 : Fortescue River/Kulbee Creek Yinta. View of the southern embankment of the Fortescue River where the Kulbee Creek intersects (Photo: Taylor 2009)

Plate 3 : Kulbee Creek Yinta, looking north along Kulbee Creek (Photo: Taylor 2009)

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Plate 4 : Mr Brian Tucker (left), Mr Gordon Yuline (seated) and Mr David (Yandi) Stock at the Fortescue River/Kulbee Creek Yinta; view looking south (Photo: Taylor 2009)

Plate 5 :An aerial view of the Fortescue River/Kulbee Creek Yinta.

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Christmas (Karntama) Creek (784971mE, 7509563mN recorded where creek enters marsh) Christmas Creek has a named Yinta where the creek enters the Marsh approximately 700m to the south and west of the 14 Mile Cattle Yard (785544mE, 7510053mN). This Yinta is often dry on the surface but contains ample water in the creek bed that is obtained by digging.

The informants associated this Yinta with the same song line as the above site and named the Yinta as Karntama. The informants said that historically this area maintained a large stockmen’s camp where all the Nyiyaparli people lived during the mustering season on Roy Hill Station from the late nineteenth century through to 1950s. At this location, the informants preformed a series of songs that related to the renewal of species that were food sources. On the Roy Hill 1:250,000 map (SF50-12), the pool (Yinta) is named ‘Moorimooridinina Native Well’. The area is a small creek line that extends into the salt marsh for several hundred metres in a south westerly direction. The Yinta is surrounded by a small line of trees (Acacia and Eucalyptus). During the survey, no spatial extent for the Yinta or the camp sites could be recorded. Further recording at this location will be necessary to establish a spatial extent for the area which is likely to be seen as a site under Section 5(a) and 5(b) of the AHA.

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Plate 6: Christmas Creek Yinta

Plate 7 : Mr David (Yandi) Stock at Karntama Creek Yinta; view looking to the southeast (Photo: Goode 2009)

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Plate 8: The Nyiyaparli survey team at the 14 Mile Cattle Yard, looking to the southeast (Photo: Goode 2009)

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Sandy Creek – Jitumpulpa (752 161mE, 7520886mN) Jitumpulpa is a named Yinta where the Sandy Creek enters the Fortescue Marsh approximately 5km southwest of Warrie Out Camp and 5km southeast of Cook Well on the western end of the survey area. The Yinta is a long narrow boomerang-shaped channel fringed by small Eucalyptus trees running southwest for 600m and then southeast for 500m and then the Yinta dissipates into the Marsh. The channel, which was mostly dry at the time of the visit, is 30–50m in width, but maintains permanent pools within the western arm.

The informants stated that this Yinta has the same mythological associations as the others. Mr Brian Tucker says that all these Yinta belong to the same story/song line. In traditional times, when the young men went through the Law, they would walk through here and camp at this series of water holes where they would meet men who would teach them the stories for this country.

This Yinta is located 600m to the south of a large clay pan (752321mE, 7521466mN) that was reported to be a traditional camp site named Numbalkatjina. This clay pan was also a permanent stockmen’s camp that was used between March and May for many years by mixed language groups (20–30 people) mustering cattle on Roy Hill and Mulga Downs stations. Livestock was corralled at a set of timber post-and-rail yards that were located 1km to the northeast of this camp site. The cattle yards were located at 753079mE, 7522238mN and extended over a 200 square metre area. Mr David Stock reported that this clay pan was also known to be where you could cross the Marsh to Mulga Downs’s Station. Mr Stock said that this was the last stock camp within Nyiyaparli country.

Further recording at this location will be necessary to establish a spatial extent for the area which is likely to be seen as a site under Section 5(a) and 5(b) of the AHA.

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Plate 9 : The Sandy Creek Yinta (Jitumpulpa), looking southeast (Photo: Goode 2009)

Plate 10 : The Sandy Creek Cattle Yards, looking northeast (Photo: Taylor 2009)

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Plate 11: Mr David (Yandi) Stock at the Sandy Creek Cattle Yard, looking northeast (Photo: Taylor 2009)

Plate 12: Sandy Creek Yinta

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Goman’s Creek/Pool – Nguwarna (740217mE, 7525233mN) This is the last of the named Yinta on the song line (sung at Kulbee Creek) within Nyiyaparli country before reaching the big Yinta Mirlimpirrinha which is the place where the water snake (Warlu) goes underground to Millstream. Mr Brian Tucker stated that this song, which relates to location of all freshwater sources along the Marsh,

Is about the meaning of life; it’s about where to get water that you would die without. During law time and if we go west to east we have to retrace the song to find water, when you know these places is when you become a man, when you sing the song on the line you will find these places and meet Martu people, the song is just like a map that shows the water holes named in our Dreaming.

Goman’s Creek’s source up the top end (upstream) was also reported to be near the quarry CB06-76. The Goman Creek top end was reported to also be associated with the mythology at this quarry; the actual cultural associations are to remain restricted and it was asked that they not be discussed here (see Goode 2007).

The Goman’s Creek Yinta is a meandering, sparse tree-lined channel running through arid sands and clay pans into a very dry section of the Marsh. The channel that contains muddy pools is approximately 340m long north–south and 20m wide east–west. While it was reported as a camp area along this song line, no specific details of the nature and extent of the camps were given at the time of this survey.

Further recording at this location will be necessary to establish a spatial extent for the area which is likely to be seen as a site under Section 5(a) and 5(b) of the AHA.

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Plate 13: Goman’s Creek Yinta

Plate 14 : Goman’s Creek Yinta close up; view looking to the south (Photo: Taylor 2009)

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Mirlimpirrinha (727 114mE, 752 6433mN) Mirlimpirrinha is reported to be the last, largest and most important Yinta on the song line that runs through the Fortescue Marsh from the eastern end of the survey area through to Millstream. Mirlimpirrinha is located to the northwest of Goman’s Creek within the middle of the Fortescue Marsh. The site contains a red sand dune that represents the head of the Warlu and three large water holes shaped like a clover leaf with the largest pool further to the west. The Yinta is a series of large pools that can be seen on an aerial photograph to occupy an area measuring 5km by 5.5km centrally within the Marsh.

Mr Gordon Yuline identified that the most prominent feature of the site that can be seen from the north side of the Marsh is the red sand dune within the Marsh that takes on the form of the snake’s (Warlu) head. Mr Yuline said that to the east of the dune and the main pools one can see patches of white sand along the Marsh that represents sections of the snake’s body. Mr Brian Tucker said this Yinta is identified as the largest of all the Yinta and the area is considered to be dangerous. Mr Tucker made the following statements with regards to the area;

All the Yinta connect to this one. Not this one connected to all them, but all these connected to this one, this is the main one. This is the most significant place, sacred place. These other ones we can easy go up to and bless it and all that. This one here we can’t go and bless it. You have gone down before you get there, you finished. You sink down like quicksand. You’re dead. You have gone down and you end up at Millstream. [Water] Goes round like whirlwind and you get sucked down and the Banjima people take over the story from there…. [Mr Gordon Yuline] says [regards the Warlu that is at Mirlimpirrinha] that I haven’t got a story for this one, no story…. The Old people told me snake is there, I don’t know where he comes from, but this one here I don’t know the story, but I know he is there… [Regards the water going down to Millstream] You know how you fill a four gallon tin with a funnel, you pour water or petrol in, it go round, it can’t go straight down, it got to go round you see – that’s how that one is. It takes you.…

The entire area as reported is likely to be a site in terms of Sections 5(b) of the AHA and needs to be recorded in detail from the air.

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Plate 15 : The snake’s head at Mirlimpirrinha; view to the west (Photo: Taylor 2009)

Plate 16 :An aerial view of Mirlimpirrinha Yinta

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Conclusions & Recommendations The archival research found that there is one previously recorded ethnographic site currently listed inside the Christmas Creek/Fortescue Marsh survey area on the Register of Aboriginal Sites. DIA Site ID 11802 Djiwirdi is recorded as a ceremonial and mythological site associated with increase (Thalu) rituals for the renewal of fish. The site is located within the vicinity of Roy Hill within the Kulbee Creek system.

A broader search of the region located a very important ethnographic site complex named Mankarlyirrkurra. This site complex is located to the north of the FMG mine access road at Christmas Creek and several named and unnamed creeks running to the Fortescue Marsh have their origins in this area (see Birckhead 2007a, 2007b; Green 2003, 2004; Day 2008a, 2008b, 2008c; McDonald 2000, 2006 and 2007, McDonald & Day 2008). As all sites within the Mankarlyirrkurra complex are restricted, it is not possible at this point to be definitive with regard to their associations with water courses.

De Gand (2009:21–24) has reported that a number of the north–south running creeks that flow into two named marshes – Wandangbangani and Mirlimpirrinha (the Fortescue Marsh) inclusive of the Kakutungutantu and Karntama Creek – are named places of ethnographic significance to the Nyiyaparli. De Gand (2009:21–24) also has identified Jabugany, a clay pan located near Mirlimpirrinha and a water hole named Murumundana located west of the 14 Mile Cattle Yard, as ritual increase sites associated with rain making. A 150m buffer zone where no mining would take place has been requested as a protective measure for water flow of all these water courses that run through the region but in particular the Kakutungutantu Creek.

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 43 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage spiritual essence of Dreamtime beings is reported to exist. In this study, many specific narratives that relate to the Warlu – the Pilbara variant of the Rainbow serpent – were recorded. These authors found that all Aboriginal groups along the Fortescue River system believe that they have a cultural responsibility to protect sacred water sources and mythological sites that are mostly associated with water. The authors make comprehensive recommendations regarding how water governing agencies can engage with Aboriginal groups to protect these values, with the key recommendation being the formulation of a Pilbara Aboriginal Water Reference Committee. The findings of Barber and Rumley (2004) are broadly consistent with the findings of water related cultural values studies conducted in other regions of Aboriginal Australia (see, for example, O’Connor et al 1995, Yu 2000, Langton 2002, McFarlane 2004, Goode 2004, Rose 2004, Barber and Rumley 2004, Toussaint et al 2005, McDonald et al 2005, Goode et al 2005, Jackson 2006).

During the current survey and consultations, it was reported by the Nyiyaparli informants that it was their belief that the entire Fortescue River system, but more particularly the Fortescue Marsh area as this portion of the river occupies Nyiyaparli country, and the associated creeks, springs and aquifers that feed the Fortescue Marsh with water, also has immense cultural value and is of central importance to notions of Nyiyaparli identity, and is of pivotal importance to the survival and transmission of Nyiyaparli lore and culture.

During the survey, the Nyiyaparli informants related a Dreamtime story which explains the origins of the Fortescue Marsh, and reported that within the Marsh, and where the creeks from the adjacent ranges feed into this marsh, are located specific named places – Yinta (water holes) – that are known along a song line that is reported to run along the length of the entire system culminating at a large Yinta named Mirlimpirrnha where the Fortescue River then goes under ground to Millstream.

During the survey, the Nyiyaparli informants recounted a number of songs that identify these Yinta, and reported that these songs had been given to them by ‘old

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 44 Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage people’ and by sprit beings during the Dreamtime in order to determine the location of these important water sources and camp sites where the transmission of Nyiyaparli law to young initiates takes place during summer. During the survey, it was emphasised that this knowledge that has been handed down to the Nyiyaparli from the creation time is still used in contemporary times and is described as a map which Nyiyaparli people need to survive within this landscape today. It was also reported that many of these Yinta were also historically associated with stockmen’s camps when Nyiyaparli stockmen and their families use these places as water sources when mustering cattle on the stations in the area. Many of the cattle yards on Roy Hill and Warrie Stations were located near Yinta, enabling the Nyiyaparli to remain associated with these places well into recent history.

During the survey, a number of these Yinta, their names, historical associations and the songs (see video by Taylor 2009) associated with these places were partially recorded with the view to ultimately listing these places as sites of significance under Section 5(a) and 5(b) of the AHA. Due to the preliminary nature of this study, time constraints and issues of cultural confidentiality, many of these places were only partially recorded and further recording may be warranted in order that these places meet the requirements of the AHA.

During the survey, it was also reported by the Nyiyaparli people that it was their cultural responsibility to act as custodians of the ‘top end’ (the catchment of the Fortescue River) to protect the Fortescue Marsh and ultimately the entire Fortescue River from any adverse effects on the area’s hydrology from mining, and that if they as a group did not live up to this responsibility then all the other language groups downstream would hold them responsible if the system fails. It was the view of the Nyiyaparli that all the small creeks, underground aquifers, springs and watersheds that catch the water and feed the Yinta within the Marsh should not be blocked, diverted or abstracted for use as a result of mining in the area. As Mr Brian Tucker stated ‘you can move a creek but you cannot move a song line’.

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It was the view of the Nyiyaparli informants consulted that a water catchment management plan was needed in order that as mining proceeds within the upper catchments, that the cultural values held for the Yinta and the Fortescue Marsh are protected. It was the view of the Nyiyaparli that as traditional owners of the area who posses detailed cultural knowledge of the water cycle that has been given to them by the creation beings during the Dreamtime, that they as traditional custodians of this body of knowledge can assist FMG scientists to gain a greater understanding of this system as a whole, its complexities and importance in order to develop this plan. Resulting from this view, the Nyiyaparli have requested that they be able to work together with the FMG hydrogeologists, environmental scientists and mining planners to be able to further study the issue and to formulate a catchment management plan so that mining can proceed within the area without placing this hydrological system at risk.

With regards to the hydrological system and the cultural attributes identified during this survey, the Nyiyaparli have requested that further ethnographic work be conducted in the form of an aerial survey and video recording of the songs and mythology associated with the Yinta and the Fortescue Marsh as these features were only partially identified and recorded during this preliminary survey.

Resulting from these consultations and as this issue is of interest to others as well as FMG, it has been suggested by the Nyiyaparli consultants that this report be used as a basis to engage with agencies such as the Department of Water and other mining companies who have interests within the catchment in order to seek funding to further document the ethnographic resources of the area prior to formulating a cooperative regional catchment management plan that will seek to protect the whole Fortescue Marsh and river system.

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Recommendations

1. It is recommended that FMG mine planners and hydrogeologists who are developing mineral resources within the Christmas Creek/Cloudbreak area recognise and understand that as mining operations progress that these operations may have adverse impacts upon a culturally significant hydrological system that includes all the creeks, springs, aquifers and watersheds that feed fresh water to the Fortescue Marsh and river, and develop appropriate catchment management strategies to negate this impact. 2. It is recommended that FMG mine planners and hydrogeologists further engage with the traditional owners of the area (Nyiyaparli) in a cooperative forum (Catchment Management Committee) to further study this issue and develop appropriate catchment management strategies to protect the flow of fresh water to the Fortescue Marsh and the named Yinta which are of high cultural importance to the Nyiyaparli people. 3. It is recommended that FMG mine planners and hydrogeologists further engage with the Nyiyaparli people to study and monitor the top end of this hydrological system (the catchment) in order that as mining progresses in the area that the flow of water to these Yinta is maintained in a healthy state so that pollutants cannot enter the system causing problems downstream and that the cultural flow of water through the whole system is maintained. 4. It is recommended that FMG management seek to engage with government agencies (Department of Water, Department of Environment and Conservation etc.), pastoralists and other mining companies who operate within the ‘top end’ of this catchment in order that any catchment management approach is streamlined between all parties in order that a positive regional approach to the maintenance of the cultural flow of waters feeding the Fortescue system is maintained. FMG, acting proactively in isolation from other stakeholders operating in this catchment, is unlikely to be entirely successful in providing adequate protection of the Fortescue system alone. 5. It is recommended that FMG management consider making the resources available to conduct further ethnographic research with regards to the cultural significance of the hydrological system in their area. This work would most likely consist of an aerial survey of the entire marsh to locate and record the nature and extent of all the Yinta within the Marsh. This study would also seek to further document and film all the mythological associations that are known for the area. This recording would be done with the view to having all these places recorded to a standard suitable for such places to be entered upon the Register of Aboriginal Sites and considered Aboriginal Sites under the AHA. This would benefit the traditional owners by affording these places protection under the AHA so that other proponents operating within the catchment are obligated to also address this issue.

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Appendix 1: Map of the Fortescue Marsh in Relation to Named Yinta

Ethnographic Aboriginal Heritage Survey of the Christmas Creek Hydrological System 48 730000.000000 740000.000000 750000.000000 760000.000000 770000.000000 780000.000000 790000.000000 800000.000000 810000.000000

068 .000000 067 .000000 7530000 7530000 Mirlimpirrinha Yinta 066 Goman Creek Yinta 062 Sandy Creek Yinta 064

.000000 065 .000000 061

7520000 060 7520000

059

.000000 Chirstmas Creek Yinta .000000 063

7510000 Roy Hill Warrie Rd 7510000

058 057 Kulbee Creek Yinta .000000 .000000 7500000 7500000 .000000 .000000 7490000 7490000

730000.000000 740000.000000 750000.000000 760000.000000 770000.000000 780000.000000 790000.000000 800000.000000 810000.000000 Survey conducted by DATE SCALE - at A4 BRAD GOODE & ASS - 79 Naturaliste Terrace, DUNSBOROUGH WA 6281 Location of named places (Yinta) 26th Aug 2009 1:315,563 Legend Mapping provided by Yinta Song line WARPSPEED GIS - P.O. BOX 147, VASSE WA 6280 indentified during the survey Meters Survey Area COPYRIGHT 02,500 5,000 10,000 GDA 1994 MGA Zone 50 This is the property of Brad Goode & Ass and shall not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part, for any other propose than was originally intended unless written consent is given by BRAD GOODE & ASS Ethnosciences ABN 47 065 099 228 Aboriginal Heritage

References Barber K. and Rumley, H. (2004) “We used to Get our Water Free” – Identification and Protection of Aboriginal Cultural Values of the Pilbara Region. A study and report prepared for the Water and Rivers Commission of Western Australia. Bates, D. (1914) Social Organization of Some Western Australian Tribes in Report of the Meeting: Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science. Sydney. Birckhead, J. (2007a) Report on Two Nyiyaparli Ethnographic Surveys (Vicinity of Cloudbreak Camp Rail Corridor and Christmas Creek–Nullugine Road Diversion), Subsequent Site Reconnaissance, Working Group Meeting, September and October 2006. Unpublished report prepared by ACHM for Fortescue Metals Group Pty Ltd. Birckhead, J. (2007b) Report on Two Nyiyaparli Ethnographic Surveys (Vicinity of Cloudbreak Camp Production Area, Subsequent Site Reconnaissance, Working Group Meeting (Oct. 2006) and Follow Up Survey (April 2007). Unpublished report prepared by ACHM for Fortescue Metals Group Pty Ltd. Brandenstein, C. Von (1972) ‘The Symbolism of the North-Western Australian Zigzag Design’ in Oceania Vol. XLII, No.3:pp.223-38. Day, B. (2008a) Preliminary Advice on an Ethnographic Survey for Aboriginal Sites at Priority 1 & 2 Areas, Cloudbreak to Christmas Creek Rail & Access Corridors, Gnarloo Pit Block Areas and Associated Infrastructure, Borrow Pit and Temporary and Permanent Camps: Chichester Ranges, Pilbara, Western Australia. Unpublished report prepared by Ethnosciences for the Karlka Nyiyaparli Aboriginal Corporation and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG). Day, B. (2008b) Addendum to a Report on an Ethnographic Survey for Aboriginal Sites Priority 1–3 Areas — Cloudbreak to Christmas Creek Rail & Access Road Corridors, General Block Area & Christmas Creek Initial Mining Request Area & Consultation Regarding Archaeological Sites, Priority 2 Area: Chichester Ranges, Pilbara, Western Australia. Unpublished report prepared by Ethnosciences for the Karlka Nyiyaparli Aboriginal Corporation and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG). Day, B. (2008c) Addendum to an Addendum to a Report on an Ethnographic Survey for Aboriginal Sites Priority 1–3 Areas — Cloudbreak to Christmas Creek Rail & Access Road Corridors, General Block Area & Christmas Creek Initial Mining Request Area & Consultation Regarding Archaeological Sites, Priority 2 Area: Chichester Ranges, Pilbara, Western Australia. Unpublished report prepared by Ethnosciences for the Nyiyaparli Native Title Claimants and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG). De Gand, D. (2009) Report on Aboriginal Ethnographic Heritage Survey of the Cloudbreak Mine Extension Program, Vasse Pit Project Area A and Project Area B, located south south-east of Port Hedland, Western Australia. Prepared for Fortescue Metals Group Limited.

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Department of Indigenous Affairs (2002) Draft Guidelines for Aboriginal Heritage Assessment in Western Australia. Perth: Department of Indigenous Affairs. Goode, B. (2004) South West Yarragadee Blackwood Groundwater Area Aboriginal Cultural Values Survey. A report prepared for Department of Environment Water and Rivers Commission. Goode, B., Irvine, F. and Harris, J. (2005) ‘Kinjarling’ The Place of Rain. A report prepared for the City of Albany and the Department of Indigenous Affairs. Goode, B. (2007) Nyiyaparli Ethnographic Inspection of Archaeological Sites at Cloudbreak Mine Area 2, East Pilbara: Western Australia. A report prepared for Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. Green, N. (2003) Preliminary Advice of a Preliminary Ethnographic Survey of the East Pilbara Iron Ore Project Area, East Pilbara Region, Western Australia. Unpublished report prepared for the Pilbara Native Title Service and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. Green, N. (2004) Open Report on the Mankarlyirrkurra Ethnographic Site Meeting, Chichester Ranges, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Unpublished report prepared for the Pilbara Native Title Service and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. Jackson, S. (2006) Recognising and Protecting Indigenous Values in Water Resource Management. A report from a workshop held at CSIRO in Darwin NT, 5–6th April 2006. Langton, M. (2002) Freshwater, Background briefing papers: Indigenous rights to waters. Pp 43-64. Lingiari Foundation, Broome. McDonald, E. M. (2000) Report on an Ethnographic Survey for Aboriginal Sites of the Roy Hill Project Area, Pilbara, Western Australia. Unpublished report prepared by McDonald, Hales and Associates for Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd and the Nyiyaparli Aboriginal Claimants. McDonald, E. M. (2006) Preliminary Advice on an Ethnographic Survey of the Hancock Prospecting Target Exploration Areas, Roy Hill and Noreen Downs, Pilbara, Western Australia. Unpublished report prepared for the Nyiyaparli Native Title Claimants and Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. McDonald, E. M. (2007) Report on an Ethnographic Survey for Aboriginal Sites Priority Areas & Consultation Regarding Archaeological Sites Priority Area 1, Cloudbreak Mine, Chichester Ranges, Pilbara, Western Australia. Unpublished report prepared by Ethnosciences for the Karlka Nyiyaparli Aboriginal Corporation and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG). McDonald, E. M., Coldrick, B. and Villiers, L. (2005) Study of Groundwater-Related Aboriginal Cultural Values on the Gnangara Mound, Western Australia. A report prepared for the Department of Environment Water and Rivers Commission.

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