Blayney mine opponents win council favour despite heritage row
A community group that sank the Blayney goldmine has tied itself to $660,000 in local projects, with the local Indigenous authority accusing the council of preferential treatment.
The fringe Indigenous group responsible for stalling the Blayney mine was consulted on $660,000 worth of council projects over three months, charging fees for many of its services off the back of state and federal funding.
Since 2021, the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation has tied itself to major projects commissioned by the Bathurst Regional Council, positioning itself as the de facto Indigenous consultant for the region despite the legislated authority of its counterpart, the Bathurst Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Projects associated with the WTOCWAC over the first quarter of FY25 were valued at $663,124.98 in a public breakdown of detailed spending by the Bathurst Regional Council. Two more projects that are yet to be rubber-stamped by the regional council would raise that figure by another $100,000.
The WTOCWAC, despite its engagement in heritage consultations for the McPhillamys gold mine development in Blayney, NSW, is primarily based in the neighbouring city of Bathurst. It first received political recognition for its role in the heritage listing of Mount Panorama.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek would go on to use that decision, made by former environment minister Sussan Ley, as proof of the WTOCWAC’s credibility, and cited a blue-banded bee mural in Bathurst, made in consultation with the WTOCWAC, as central evidence in her final decision to veto the Blayney mine’s proposed tailings dam site.
This is despite senior Wiradjuri elders denying the significance of the blue-banded bee Dreaming, and this masthead reporting financial ties between WTOCWAC and the mural’s artist.
Developments under the WTOCWAC’s consultative umbrella include a series of public art projects and a memorial museum to commemorate the Frontier War, a colonial era conflict.
In each of these projects, WTOCWAC’s consultation was valued over BLALC’s, according to council documents and testimony from BLALC chief executive Toni-Lee Scott.
For three successive art projects along the Macquarie River, a centrepoint of Bathurst, council memos and project briefs indicate the WTOCWAC was given earlier and broader consultative power than BLALC, often being engaged to directed funding.
The first project, the 2022 Wambuul Macquarie River Sculpture Walk, sought to engage Wiradjuri artists from the local area. While Ms Scott said her organisation had petitioned the council for a public artwork, it was not alerted to the broader project or given further consultative input in the remaining works.
“It started in consultation with the Wiradjuri group (the WTOCWAC),” Ms Scott said. “We’re an afterthought to them.
“They really didn’t consult with us or anybody else at that point and … then it’s in fruition and it’s like (they are saying) ‘love it or leave it, this is the project’. They didn’t even give us a choice on the name or consult with the broader community.
“They were doing something in regards to a commemorative garden, and I only heard of it when I went in there to follow up on the Windradyne statue (the BLALC’s favoured project).”
The second project, the Wambuul Memorial Garden, is a $155,000 development made in consultation with WTOCWAC and intended to open next month. The project’s outline, seen by The Australian, makes no mention of the BLALC, while WTOCWAC was commissioned to act as the “artist team” on the project, and was provided the outcome of heritage assessments along the Macquarie River.
Finally, from January the WTOCWAC offered cultural leadership on a Dhuluny memorial project situated in the memorial garden development.
“It’s a bit tedious. I think that they consult with the other group (WTOCWAC) rather than everybody as a holistic stakeholder,” Ms Scott said.
“It disheartens you. As the Aboriginal lead organisation and legislative body … there’s a difference between them and us. We’re there for our people, for our community and to uphold the land rights. They’re there for their own personal gain.”
Ms Scott also said BLALC was not consulted ahead of the post office mural project that would become the blue-banded bee artwork.
Bathurst Regional Council general manager said it engaged with stakeholders based on their “level of interest” in a project.
“(Council) works with all identified groups in the council area to ensure inclusivity in the decision-making process. Engagement varies between projects and the level of interest of all parties,” Mr Shirley said.
“Engagement occurred with relevant parties, who then determined their role in developing this project.
Mr Shirley said the $660,000 of projects tied to the WTOCWAC included “significant government funding” provided ahead of the 200-year commemoration of the declaration of martial law at the beginning of the Frontier War.
Ahead of the commemoration on August 14, former mayor Jess Jennings wrote to the King asking for his recognition of the project and its imperial history.
“I write to engage His Majesty the King on the matter of the 1824 Proclamation of Martial Law which occurred around Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia,” Mr Jennings wrote in a letter from early May directed to Buckingham Palace.
“The 1824 Proclamation marks the first instance in Australia’s history of broadscale legislated military violence by the British Empire against Aboriginal people, as formally written in New South Wales colonial legislation.
“This letter invites Your Majesty the King to consider meeting with Mayor Jennings and Lord Bathurst to better explain the significance of the opportunity now presented, noting Dr Jennings will be visiting Cirencester 5-11th May 2024 if an in person meeting was feasible.
“Your Majesty may consider holding a formal position with this new cultural organisation, given the fundamental connection it has to the British Empire. The nature of any such formal connection could be explored in detail if you are interested?”
The WTOCWAC also worked alongside Bathurst Regional Council to petition the state government for contributions to its Frontier Wars memorial museum, with WTOCWAC co-director Uncle Jade Flynn travelling to the state parliament alongside Mr Jennings for Legalise Cannabis Party MLC Jeremy Buckingham’s upper house address lobbying for a museum.
So far the Minns government has committed $50,000 to the venture.
The WTOCWAC is paid for its services in cultural events, often providing services that also fall under the purview of the BLALC.
In the exhibition launch for Dhuluny: The War That Never Ended, the WTOCWAC was engaged to develop and support the event’s opening.
WTOCWAC members including Aunty Leanna Carr were also commissioned to provide works for the exhibition.
It was co-funded by the regional council and the federal government through Creative Australia.
The Blayney mine heritage decision was recently subject to a Federal Court challenge by developer Regis Resources.
The WTOCWAC was contacted for comment.
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