Mining group, Rio Tinto has been called out for allowing hundreds of unique Indigenous cultural artefacts to be tossed out in rubbish dumps.
Rio Tinto has been accused of allowing irreplaceable Indigenous artefacts – critical items of human history – to be sent to Darwin rubbish dumps in the 1990s.
The disposal of sacred artefacts originating from a Pilbara region was undisclosed to Aboriginal owners of the land until now.
This discovery was brought to light by The Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation (WGAC), who uncovered hidden documents revealing that artefacts were dug up at the Marandoo iron ore mine, and sent to a rubbish tip a few years later.
The materials were extracted from an 18,000-year-old rock shelter used by the Eastern Guruma people and were accidentally taken to the tip in Darwin in 1995.
These artefacts were disposed of two years later through Rio Tinto’s approval.
Justice would be their head office drilled and blasted.
— T.W. (@twiddlekins) June 26, 2021
Apparently, the materials were stored in 66 large bags, which were “open,” in a dodgy shipping container that had “rusted out, and holes in the roof had let water onto and into some of the bags.”
The WGAC criticised Rio Tinto, saying: “So little was the respect for either the State’s conditions, or for the cultural heritage that was destroyed on a massive scale, hundreds of Eastern Guruma cultural artefacts ended up in the bin.”
“It is indicative of a mining industry that has not valued Aboriginal heritage and good relations with Aboriginal Australians.”
Rio Tinto’s CEO, Simon Trott, issued a statement in response saying: “we’re not proud of many parts of our history at Marandoo and we reiterate our apology to the Traditional Owners of the land, the Eastern Guruma People, for our past actions,”
Seems too little too late.
