Annexure F Floodplain Land Forms, Soils and Sediments between Tuckurimba and Round Hill Report (Erskine, 2011) Annexure G Report on Further Research conducted on Aboriginal Heritage Issues (Jefferies, 2011) Report on Further Research conducted on the Aboriginal Heritage Issues arising from the proposed extension to Champion’s Quarry, Wyrallah Road, Tuckurimba N.S.W. 1.0 Introduction This report aims to address the outstanding and unresolved issues relevant to the Aboriginal Heritage concerning the proposed Champion’s Quarry extension, Wyrallah Road, Tuckurimba indentified by Dr. Gaynor Macdonald in her affidavit sworn 22-03-2011 (Point 15 see below). As well as addressing the issues identified by Dr. Macdonald the report also describes the program of research conducted in the previous two months aimed at meeting the issues identified in the hearings of the Land and Environment Court in February 2011. The further research identified by Dr. Macdonald in Point 15 of her affidavit will be addressed under the following headings: 1.) The identity and ownership of the language-territory in which the site is located. 2) Whether or not the area is under the traditional ownership of Widjabul people and, if not, which people are recognised as having the authority to speak for this area. 3) The identity of person(s) culturally recognised (rather than self-appointed) who speak for the area. 4) Whether the case transcends language-territory (‘tribal’) boundaries and raises issues of local or regional significance. 5) Whether persons of cultural standing have been provided with a reasonable opportunity to confer on these and relevant matters. 6) What these people have had to say. In addition Dr. Macdonald’s (Affidavit 22-03-2011, Point 38) following recommendations were addressed: (a) That Mr Murray John Roberts be requested to provide any further cultural and site- based evidence he has not already placed before the Court directly or through the Ms. Riebe’s reports. 1 (b) That Ms. Riebe be requested to provide: copies of any video and audio tapes and any notes of interviews with Bundjalang elders including her interviews with members of the Roberts family, Linky Gordon, Eric Walker, Laurence Wilson and any other Bundjalang elders referred to in her Statement of Evidence and oral evidence. copies of the research she said she conducted in regard to Bundjalang ‘sacred pathway(s)’ copies of any reports in her possession or control regarding Bandjalang ‘sacred pathways, Tucki Bora Ring, Round Hill or any other site in the Tuckurimba area. any other relevant material sources such as the written reports she references where these are not publicly available. I contacted Inge Riebe on 23-02-2011 by email requesting her to provide me with the tapes and interviews she mentions in her Statement of Evidence as a means of furthering the research she regarded as necessary to fully understand the Aboriginal heritage of the proposed extension to Champion’s Quarry site. I received no reply. On 21-04-2011 I sent by registered post requests to Inge Riebe and to Murray John Roberts requesting the information described by Dr. Macdonald above. As yet I have received no response to these requests (see Appendix 2 Items 1-3). In addition to the issues raised by Dr. Macdonald in her affidavit (22-03-2011) the following issues are commented on in light of the evidence forthcoming from interviews conducted in the last two months, and both taped and written material accessed from A.I.A.T.S.I.S. and other sources: 7) The further research, particularly that of archival tape recordings that has been undertaken. 8) The significance of Round Hill 9) The existence of ‘sacred pathways’ claimed to be associated with Tucki Bora Ring. 2 2.0 Structure of the Report The report is structured to address the questions raised by Dr. Macdonald in her affidavit sworn 22-03-2011 as listed in the 1.0 Introduction. The report’s findings are summarised in Section 3.0 following. The report (Section 5.0) discusses each of the questions Dr. Macdonald raises in turn and adduces evidence to demonstrate the conclusions reached in respect of them. Sometimes the evidence for one question is relevant to, and carries over, to the question following. The provenance, and the reliability of that provenance in relation to the evidence adduced is also discussed. 3.0 Summary of Key Findings The Key findings of the report are as follows: The area of the proposed Champion’s Quarry extension is located on or about the boundary between two local groups, the Wiyabal to the north, and the Bandjalang to the south. This boundary is undefined, that is it is there is no hard and fast border between these two groups denoted either by an abstract line or by natural features. Such country is sometimes referred to by the expression ‘open country’. The Widjabal are not the correct people for this area. That name correctly applies to the Bandjalang-speakers who occupied country directly to the north of Lismore (i.e. around Nimbin, Blakebrook and Donoon). The right people to speak for this country are the Wiyabal (of the Wyrallah, Parrot’s Nest and Pelican Creek country), the Bandjalang (of Coraki and Bungawalyn Creek) and the Nyangbal (of the coast around Evans Head, Wardell and Ballina). The Widjabal and Wiyabal are not the same group of people. The groups listed above, the Wiyabal, Bandjalang and Nyangbal, have collective ownership (and therefore right to speak) for the area of the proposed extension to Champion’s Quarry. An extensive interview process has failed to uncover any evidence for Round Hill as a ‘teaching hill’ or any connection of Round Hill to Tucki Bora Ring. 3 The interview process has failed to uncover any evidence for the existence of a ‘sacred pathway’ linking Round Hill and Tucki Bora Ring. An extensive review of archival audio tapes of Bandjalang Elders (AIATSIS Visual Audio Library) has failed to reveal any evidence of significance for Round Hill or any evidence for the existence of a ‘sacred pathway’ linking Round Hill to Tucki Bora Ring or any evidence of a particular and important cultural significance for the area of the proposed Champion’s Quarry extension. 4.0 Note on Names Used. Much of the argument to be presented hinges on the identification of those who have a right to speak for the Tuckurimba area in which the proposed extension to Champion’s Quarry is located. The three groups identified as having a traditional role, and therefore a say, in the understanding and disposition of cultural heritage in this district are the Wiyabal (sometimes identified as ‘the Wyrallah horde’), the Bandjalang (i.e. the Coraki and Bungawalbyn Creek group), and the Nyangbal (of the Richmond and Evans Rivers estuaries and lowlands). For the sake of convenience these groups will be collectively referred to as the Lower Richmond River people. As will be discussed there are a number of cogent reasons for the acceptability of this communal and collective designation. To make matters perfectly clear in respect of geography, ‘the Lower Richmond’ in this case consists of Wilson’s River (with a distinction made between the Wiyabal south of Lismore and the Widjabal to its north), the Richmond River proper to the west as far as where Bandjalang meets the Giabal (i.e. the vicinity of Tatham) and otherwise the lower reaches of the Richmond River including other watercourses such as the Evans River. 5.0 Questions raised in the Affidavit of Dr. Gaynor Macdonald 22-03-2011 1) Identity and Ownership of the territory in which the site is located Key findings: (1) The area of the proposed Champion’s Quarry extension is located on or about the boundary between two local groups, the Wiyabal to the north, and the Bandjalang to the south; (2) This boundary is undefined, that is it is there is no hard and 4 fast border between these two groups denoted either by an abstract line or by natural features. Such country is sometimes referred to by the expression ‘open country’. Considerable effort has been spent in attempting to identify the traditional boundaries that encompass the proposed Champion’s Quarry site and several key documents have been unearthed. These will be dealt with separately. 1 (a) The most accurate and best researched information on the various Richmond River Bandjalang language groups is found in N.C. Keats (1988) Wollumbin. In ‘Master Map of the Bundjalung Dialect Tribal Areas of the Richmond, Brunswick and Tweed Rivers of New South Wales’ (1988:18, see Appendix Map 1) Keats places the border between the Wiyabal and Bandjalang groups at approximately the junction of Pelican’s Creek and Wilsons River from where it heads E.N.E. to meet the toe of the N. to S. running ridge that separates Tucki Creek from Marom Creek. This demarcation runs approximately a kilometre north of the proposed quarry extension. Elsewhere in Wollumbin Keats describes, with accompanying maps, the territory of the various Bandjalang dialect groups. Those that concern us here are the Lower Richmond River groups: the Wiyabal, Bandjalang and Nyangbal. (It should be noted here that Bandjalang in this context refers to the group often called the Coraki people, not Bandjalang the name given to the language and its speakers as a whole). Keats’ (1988:24) map Bandjalang ‘Tribal Dialect Area as envisaged by the author’ (see Appendix, Map 2) places the boundary described in precisely the same place as the Master Map, that is, linking the locality of Ruthven on Pelican Creek with the ridge separating Tucki Creek from Marom Creek. This boundary is a marked as a perfectly straight line and bears the annotation ‘open country’.