UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous peoples
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RESOLUTION of the United Nations
within the Murray Darling Basin

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Testimonies from Wiradjuri
:: Elder Kathleen Towney
:: Traditional Owner, Albert 'Sibby' Johnson
:: Traditional Owner, Neville 'Chappy' Williams
:: Mooka and Kalara United Families, Mark Powell

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"Aboriginal People have been here for many many
thousands of years, from the first sunrise in fact.
Aboriginal Sovereignty has never been ceded.
We have never given up and we will never let go.
We are a part of this land.
It is our duty to stand up for Lake Cowal."
Neville 'Chappy' Williams, Wiradjuri Elder

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Every major gold rush has meant death and devastation for local people at the hands of fortune-seekers. It is now estimated that 50% of gold produced in the next 20 years will come from Indigenous Peoples lands. The fight to save Lake Cowal from the hands of the worlds largest gold producer, Barrick Gold is no exception.

Lake Cowal is the largest inland lake in New South Wales, and the sacred heartland of the Wiradjuri Nation. It has been a site of ceremony and gatherings for over 4000 years. There are thousands upon thousands of artefacts and relics at the Lake Cowal site that are a testimony to the longevity of traditional living in the area.

Barrick Gold and their predecessors never properly consulted with Aboriginal traditional owners from the region, many of whom declared their opposition to the Lake Cowal gold mine project.

Barrick Gold and its predecessors ignored instructions from Wiradjuri Traditional Owners from the region, many of whom have declared their opposition to the Lake Cowal gold mine project and demanded that the cultural objects, including marked trees and thousands of ancient stone artefacts, be left where they are.

To clear the way for the mine, Barrick desecrated the sacred ground and felled river red gum trees and laid water pipes and an electric transmission line. Dozens of trees that sheltered Wiradjuri people from the elements for hundreds of years and held historic markings of generations have been eradicated.

Many artefacts on site remain vulnerable or have been damaged or destroyed as Traditional Owners have not been given an opportunity to collect them.

The artefacts hold individual significance, but more importantly, they are parts of a larger landscape of spiritual significance, and piecemeal collection compromises the integrity of the whole site. A few Wiradjuri sites in the area have been dated to between 2000 and 4000 years old, making them contemporaries of the Egyptian pyramids. Much more archaeological work, however, needs to be done and, according to the Wiradjuri, much older dates are likely as Lake Cowal is a very ancient lake. Archaeologists and assistants working for Barrick have reputedly collected more than 10 000 Aboriginal stone artefacts from the mining lease as well as removing a number of highly significant Aboriginal scarred trees.

Wiradjuri Traditional Owner, Neville 'Chappy' Williams, with the ongoing support of the Indigenous Justice Advocacy Network, has been fighting in the courts against the Lake Cowal gold mine.

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RESOLUTION of the United Nations
within the Murray Darling Basin:

We, the Elders and Traditional Owners representing the sovereign Aboriginal nations within the Murray Darling Basin are in total opposition to the proposed Canadian Barrick goldmine within Lake Cowal, the sacred heartland of Wiradjuri.

We demand that the Federal and New South Wales State Governments intervene to halt the cyanide leach goldmine proposed for Lake Cowal, before there is any more desecration of Wiradjuri’s sacred heartland and a potential environmental disaster.

We oppose the danger of transporting 6000 tonnes a year of lethal cyanide from Gladstone, Queensland, across our river catchments into the Lake Cowal and Kalara (Lachlan) River floodplain to leach the gold. The cyanide tailings dams are two square kilometres in area and an environmental disaster from a potential cyanide leak threatens rivers and ground waters in the Murray Darling Basin from Condobolin to Adelaide.

We oppose the planned gold mine which would expose 204 million tonnes of waste rock to air releasing arsenic, a heavy metal poison, which accumulates in living tissue and is concentrated by the food chain. The arsenic would be washed into the lake and rivers after rain.

We condemn the allocation to the mining company of 16 Megalitres (16 million litres) a day of precious and sacred water from the underground river east of Lake Cowal and part of the Kalara (Lachlan) river system

We support the Mooka and Kalara united families within the Wiradjuri nation in their lead in the opposition to the goldmine and to any ‘Consent to Destroy’ of living sites and cultural heritage. We call on all people to support us in our fight to protect Lake Cowal in the heart of the living Murray Darling Basin.

Resolved on 21 May 2004 in old Parliament House, Canberra

PLEASE SUPPORT THE SAVE LAKE COWAL FUND