Family of Wiradjuri elder attack father’s ‘commodification’ and question blue-banded bee link

The family of the late Indigenous leader whose ashes were scattered at Mount Panorama-Wahluu say his legacy has been appropriated, with even his memorial ceremony abused.

Former Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation director Brian Grant. Picture: AHIMS

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Late Wiradjuri elder Brian Grant’s family have slammed the organisation he founded for what they believe is commodifying their father’s memory, and say they never heard him mention the blue-banded bee dreaming ascribed to him and used to scupper the billion-dollar Blayney goldmine development.

In a series of interviews with The Australian, the family of the late Indigenous leader – whose ashes were scattered at Mount Panorama-Wahluu – have blasted the activists whose push for cultural recognition of an inflated section of the mountain’s peak has allegedly misrepresented their efforts to protect their father and husband’s final resting place.

The blue-banded bee dreaming was supposedly passed down by an ailing Wiradjuri elder – found by this masthead to be Brian Grant – and submitted as oral evidence to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek by a member of the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation after Grant’s death.

However, the Grant family cast serious doubt over the provenance of the blue-banded bee dreaming, saying Grant was under constant watch in his final months and they had never heard of the dreaming nor remembered a time when it could have been handed down.

The revelation raises questions about Ms Plibersek’s decision to protect the site of a proposed tailings dam for the McPhillamy’s goldmine over the dreaming story, as she faces a Federal Court showdown with the mine owners in a month’s time.

It also comes after the Coalition committed to finishing a long-promised reform of heritage laws should it be returned to power.

The blue-banded bee mural on the Bathurst post office.

The Grant family – who wished to be identified as a collective – claimed Brian Grant had been exploited by the corporation, which is alleged to have appropriated Wiradjuri cultural knowledge.

“(Mr Grant) was a collector of people, he brought … into the fold, so to speak,” the family claimed.

“But now that he’s passed away, Frankenstein has been born. It’s just out of control.

“Dad is a commodity for (the Wiradyuri corporation) to use and exploit.”

Cultural heritage consultant Scott Franks is a Wonnarua man and described Grant as a “second father”. He was authorised by the family to speak on their behalf.

Neither Mr Franks nor the family had ever heard of the dreaming before it was reported in the media.

A scarred tree atop Mount Panorama-Wahluu carved in honour of the late Uncle Brian Grant.

While a February 2022 Western Advocate article says a mural featuring the blue-banded bee dreaming was made “in close consultation with Aunt Wirribee (Wiradyuri corporation member Leanna Carr), Uncle Mallyan (Grant), Uncle Yanha (Mr Flynn) and Uncle Dinawan (Wiradyuri corporation member Bill Allen Jr)”, it is the only public mention where the dreaming is associated with Grant before his health downturn and eventual death.

“Dad was in poor health from June (2022 to his death in October) and he required someone with him 24/7,” the family said. “(We) know nothing about it.”

The interviews were the family’s first statement to media since The Australian revealed the Wiradyuri corporation had sought to register Grant’s resting place as an Aboriginal site.

Mr Franks said he was the first person to suggest an application be lodged, but was dismayed when he saw the Wiradyuri corporation had expanded its site claim from a 10m ochre circle beside a scar tree and Bora site into a 200m tract of land.

“(The corporation has) done this boundary to try and secure a bigger footprint without full consultation of the family,” Mr Franks said.

On the application form, which The Australian has acquired, the corporation said access to the site should be restricted “under lore”.

Applications for restricted access to recognised sites on the state-run Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System are not legally binding, but can be escalated within Heritage NSW and have been used as a precedent in successful federal heritage protection bids.

The application for recognition of the site atop Mount Panorama-Wahluu has not been approved, which Mr Franks attributed to the corporation’s alleged mismanagement, and the resistance of NSW Heritage and Bathurst Regional Council.

“The Council were not only aware of (the ceremony), they were actually present. They knew exactly what was going on,” he said. “There were councillors at the ceremony.

“The NSW State Department have been stalling off confirming the certification of the site card … (so) I suggested we make a call to the federal department.”

The ABC on Thursday reported Bathurst Regional Council general manager David Sherley had said he “was unaware of discussions to lodge a heritage application”.

“No declaration of the area being an Aboriginal place has been made, nor to my awareness has an application to reconsider that been made in the last couple of years,” Mr Sherley was quoted saying.

Mr Franks took issue with this assertion.

“I made it abundantly clear to (Mr Sherley) that if they weren’t prepared to take the necessary steps (it would be escalated) … We have a concern that the site may get impacted or vandalised because of what it is, and we need to do something that will protect it,” he said.

“Is this council the type of council that are only happy to go home on Sunday and watch the Black and White Minstrels (a 1950s television program with performances in blackface) to get their enjoyment? Or do they want to accept the culture?”

The family and Mr Franks all confirmed they had spoken with both state and federal DCCEEW staff, and that the Bathurst Regional Council was aware of this discussion. It is now considering pursuing short-term emergency protection for the site.

Mr Franks also suspected the council and Wiradyuri corporation had negotiated over the site behind the family’s back.

“It was clear that (the Wiradyuri corporation) were having sideline discussions with council without informing the direct descendants of Uncle Brian. That, in itself, is a cultural issue. It’s disgusting,” he said.

The relevant local, state and federal authorities were contacted for comment, as was the Wiradyuri corporation. A spokesperson for Ms Plibersek said it “would be inappropriate for the minister to comment” given her ongoing legal proceedings.

Wiradyuri elders Mallyan Uncle Brian Grant, Yanhadarrambal Uncle Jade Flynn, Wirribee Aunty Leanna Carr-Smith and Dinawan Dyirribang Uncle Bill Allen at a 2019 event at Charles Sturt University's Bathurst campus. Picture: Charles Sturt University

The family said they had sourced a solicitor and were considering filing an application to the Human Rights Commission for Racial Discrimination based on the suspected falsehoods reported about their late father.

They said the Wiradyuri corporation was under strict instruction not to invoke Grant’s memory and not to use his cultural authority or image in its work.

“I think they had a plan that we weren’t privy to,” the family said.

“On the day, (his memorial) was just this celebration of his life, and a ceremony for his life, and the cultural significance that he held in that community, but in hindsight it seems that there was a bigger plan there.”

The battle to secure recognition for their father’s remains, the alleged exploitation of his death by the Wiradyuri corporation, and the misinformation they had endured since the story came to light had besmirched Grant’s memory, the family said.

However, Mr Franks said the opportunity to set the record straight offered a continuity of Grant’s impact on Indigenous recognition.

“I’ve never seen a person who was so active in promoting culture and awareness leave us, to be now all over the place and all over cultural awareness once again,” Mr Franks said.

“It’s like he’s reaching out from the grave.”