125. Beyond Title Fight
Paul Cleary on the extraordinary Yindjibarndi triumph over a mining giant
Paul Cleary is a best-selling author and journalist who’s just written an incredible book – certainly a must read for any Aussie, and every West Aussie, with implications that arguably extend far beyond. It’s called ‘Title Fight: How the Yindjibarndi battled and defeated a mining giant’. The back cover bills it as ‘a David and Goliath story set in the ancient landscape of the Pilbara’. That’s in the north-west, here in WA. And the mining giant is Fortescue Metals Group (or FMG), led by billionaire Chairman Andrew Forrest. In the face of that company’s staggering array of unscrupulous tactics, intimidation and exploitation, the Yindjibarndi people and their leader Michael Woodley, prevailed through to the highest court in the land. And this story is far from done at the closing of that back cover.
Paul Cleary, just before pressing record on this conversation (pic: Anthony James).
“Here we have exclusive possession and the company’s still gone out and mined. And then secondly, we haven’t had a community that’s stood up to this in this way, that the Yindjibarndi have. So it’s kind of like just propelled Native Title into another stratosphere in a sense. I mean these are legal precedents that we’re now seeing. So they are just absolutely breaking new ground. ”
The implications of this extraordinary triumph continue to be enormous, for the Yindjibarndi, for Forrest and FMG, and for communities, economies and landscapes everywhere. For the Yindjibarndi have not just won a pivotal legal battle, they are demonstrating a model of holistic development that feels instructive for us all. And all based on deciding for themselves what sort of culture, community and commerce they want to create.
This story is so relevant to not just how to stop Forrest and FMG (and anyone else) from such ongoing disregard for Australian and Aboriginal culture, heritage and law. But for what this might mean for the renewable energy transition and other laudable initiatives that Forrest and his Foundation are engaged with, and for the nearby flashpoint of Woodside’s Scarborough Gas proposal (and others), among the greatest rock art site in the world.
This conversation was recorded by in Russell Square, Northbridge, in inner city Perth, on Whadjuk Noongar Country, 20 June 2022.
Photo below: the transcendent image of Manyarnbangu Ned Cheedy, aged 106, with Michael Woodley’s grandson, from the back cover of Paul’s book.
Find more:
Paul’s book ‘Title Fight: How the Yindjibarndi Battled and Defeated a Mining Giant’.
Paul Cleary on LinkedIn.
The Great Native Title Swindle short video mentioned in the conversation, featuring the notorious 2011 meeting in Roebourne.
Ngaarda Media is an independent community broadcaster and media training hub with a vision to unite and broadcast the voices of the Pilbara.
Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.