Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cth)

Notice of an application for the protection of areas near James Price Point north of Broome, Western Australia

Invitation to make representations

I, John Waters, hereby give notice as follows:

The Minister for the Environment, responsible for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cth) (the Act), has received an application made under section 10 of the Act seeking to protect areas near James Price (or Price’s) Point north of Broome, Western Australia and appointed me to provide a report to him under section 10(1)(c) of the Act.

The applicants

The application is made by Mr Joseph Roe (deceased), Mr Philip Roe and Mr Richard Hunter. The application states that these persons are Aboriginal men who identify themselves as Goolarabooloo and “are the law bosses within the Northern Tradition with particular responsibility for the specified area”. The applicants seek protection over the ‘specified area’ nominated in the application as described below.

The purpose of the application

The application seeks the preservation or protection of the two areas nominated as ‘specified areas’ in the application from injury or desecration within the meaning of the Act.

Matters the report is required to deal with

The Minister will consider my report under section 10 of the Act in relation to the area specified for protection before deciding whether to make a declaration under section 10 of the Act. Under section 10(4) of the Act, the report is required to deal with the following matters:

(a)           the particular significance of the area to Aboriginals;

(b)           the nature and extent of the threat of injury to, or desecration of, the area;

(c)            the extent of the area that should be protected;

(d)           the prohibitions and restrictions to be made with respect to the area;

(e)           the effects the making of a declaration may have on the proprietary or pecuniary interests of persons other than the Aboriginal or Aboriginals on whose behalf the application is made;

(f)             the duration of any declaration; and

(g)            the extent to which the area is or may be protected by or under a law of the State of Western Australia, and the effectiveness of any remedies available under any such law.

The areas sought to be protected (the “specified area”)

The application specifies the area for which protection is being sought as: “(a) the areas of land and waters identified in the notices issued by the Western Australian Minister for Lands on 12 March 2012 under the Land Administration Act 1997 (WA) and the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) for the compulsory acquisition of native title rights and interests, to the extent that these areas fall within (b) the area of the Song Cycle path as depicted in the maps set out in the WA Museum’s 1991 report, A Report on the Ethnographic Survey of Exploration Licence Applications E04/645, E04/646 and E04/647 in the West Kimberley (the Report).” The applicants seek the protection of two areas of land on the site of a proposed gas processing precinct as shown in the map below. The areas are the overlap of land set aside for the proposed precinct with a coastal strip referred to as a “song cycle path” in the Report. The areas lie on vacant Crown land within a larger area that is the subject of native title claims. The areas do not include the public coastal road called Manari Road.

Claimed nature of particular significance

The application indicates that the particular significance of the specified area arises from its location in the song cycle path, which is known to men (including the applicants) initiated in a body of Aboriginal law called the northern tradition. Specifically, the application indicates the song cycle:

• travels through the specified area down a path along the west coast of the Dampier Peninsula;
• is made up of songs that are sung during one of the stages of male initiation under the northern tradition, which is a body of traditional men’s law (often called Bardi law) generally practised by the Bardi, Nyul Nyul, Jabirrr Jabirrr and Nyambal people;
• follows the dreaming track walked by an ancestral being who made the land and all things in it between Swan Point (at the northern extremity of the Dampier Peninsula) and into the desert south of Bidyadanga (south of Broome) and placed an essence in the ground along the path that should not be disturbed; and
• takes a path defined by features and places known to men initiated into the northern tradition that in its entirety (including sites, trees and other features) is sacred. 

Claimed threat of injury or desecration

The application indicates that the threat of injury or desecration to the specified area arises from a proposal by the Western Australian government, identified in notices issued by the Minister for Lands (WA), to develop a natural gas processing precinct for the Browse Basin near James Price Point. The application indicates that injury and desecration is likely to occur due to the planned use of the specified area for a multi-user liquefied natural gas processing precinct to support the development of offshore gas fields in the Browse Basin, including associated and ancillary infrastructure and facilities and uses, an industrial precinct, port, possible third party contractors’ site and workers’ accommodation site, service corridors and pipeline corridors and roads.

Invitation to make representations

Interested persons are invited to furnish representations in connection with my report to:

Mr John Waters

6th Floor

Windeyer Chambers

225 Macquarie Street

SYDNEY  NSW  2000

Telephone:  02 9235 3100

Facsimile:  02 9223 3929

Representations must be made in writing by close of business by 4 June 2015 or within such further period as may be allowed. You should not send your representations directly to the Minister.

Please note any representation made may be provided to other persons with a particular interest in the outcome of the application. Any person who wishes to claim confidentiality for any part of their representation should identify the basis for the claim of confidentiality and indicate the limitation or restriction sought. Subject to section 10(3)(b) of the Act any representations will considered and provided to the Minister for Environment along with my report.