Native title feud could be reason for criminal investigation into restoration of the iconic Marree Man

A SIMMERING feud over native title is believed to be behind a complaint made against the restoration of the iconic Marree Man.

A SIMMERING feud over native title is believed to be behind a complaint made against the restoration of the iconic Marree Man.

As revealed by The Advertiser, government bureaucrats have launched a criminal investigation into whether native vegetation was unlawfully cleared when the 4.2km tall geoglyph was rejuvenated in August.

The Advertiser understands long-running tensions were behind the complaint to the Environment Department, believed to be lodged by a man from an indigenous group critical of the restoration.

When contacted yesterday, the man, who has been photographed inspecting the Marree Man site, denied having knowledge of the giant artwork.

“What’s the Marree man?” he said.

Asked directly if he had lodged the complaint, the man expressed surprise and said: “You know more than I do”, before terminating the phone call.

The Marree Man’s restoration was completed with the permission of the area’s Native Title holders, the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation.

The group was awarded native title over almost 70,000km sq, including Lake Eyre, in 2012, 14 years after an application was lodged.

The process was dragged out by disagreements with other indigenous groups.

Marree Hotel owners Phil and Maz Turner and William Creek Hotel owner Trevor Wright joined forces to regrade the site, located about 60km from Marree.

Tourist flights over the area were wound back from 2010 as the giant figure of an Aboriginal man deteriorated.

It was no longer visible on Google Maps when restoration work began.

Mr Turner said he’d been inundated with well wishes and offers of financial help since news of the investigation broke.

“The amount of support for the Maree Man has been absolutely overwhelming,” he said.

“Perhaps it’s good publicity for the Marree Man but it’s publicity that we don’t need.”

Mr Turner said the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation had been “heavily consulted”.

It had placed a number of conditions on any attempt to restore it.

View of the Marree Man from the air.

Arabana Aboriginal Corporation chairman Aaron Stewart was unavailable for comment, but has previously said the organisation supported the proposal.

Opposition tourism spokesman David Ridgway said the investigation was “just crazy”.

“It’s my understanding they haven’t cleared anything new. They just went ahead and freshened up the image that has been there since it was discovered in 1998,” he said.

“The complaint should be dealt with in the fastest way possible and they should not be considering charges.

“It’s clear to us all that it would have been unlikely to get permission when it was first created, but it’s been important in drawing tourists to the area and my understanding is the vast majority of the local community supports it.”

A State Government spokesman has previously stressed the investigation of complaints was required under state legislation.

The spokesman gave no further update yesterday, saying only that the investigation was “ongoing”.