‘Violence, division’ from Fortescue dealings: Yindjibarndi

Multiple witnesses describe how violence and division spread in the wake of a Fortescue-inspired split in the Yindjibarndi people.

Fortescue boss Andrew Forrest. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sharon Smith

Billionaire philanthropist Andrew Forrest is an “evil spirit” whose iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group has torn apart a ­Pilbara Indigenous community, according to witness statements freshly released by the Federal Court.

The written submissions of 10 Yindjibarndi elders and members who testified in the group’s ongoing legal challenge against Fortescue earlier this year were officially made public by the Federal Court on Friday, shedding new light on the miner’s controversial early land access negotiations and the lasting cultural and social fallout from its activities.

The statements also describe in detail some of the violence that has occurred between members of the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and their counterparts from Wirlu-murra Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation.

WYAC was formed as a splinter group after YAC knocked back offers from Fortescue when the miner was trying to expand its Solomon iron ore operations. While the Fortescue-backed WYAC went on to strike deals with the miner, YAC in 2019 was granted exclusive native title over much of the Solomon area. The Federal Court case is considering what sort of compensation should be paid to YAC, with some estimating the claim could be worth up to $1bn.

In one of the recently released witness statements, Yindjibarndi elder Stanley Warrie described Dr Forrest as a “joona”, or evil spirit.

“When I first met Andrew Forrest, I trusted him because he told us he grew up with Aboriginal people at Mindaroo Station … He knew about our suffering from being taken off our land. I thought that he was a good bloke,” Mr Warrie said.

“Looking back now, I can see that there was no respect, and he was going to stop at nothing to build the mine without taking the Yindjibarndi people’s permission, culture or feelings into account.”

At rear: John Quigley, George Irvine, Kevin Michel, Justice Steven Rares, Michael Woodley and Ben Wyatt. Front: Angus Guiness and Wayne Stevens. Picture: Marg Bertling

He said the “yoondri”, or tearing apart, was growing feelings of revenge and hate within the Yindjibarndi people. “It grows hard and burns and you have fires burning with every person you are up against, and you start hating everyone. You are then full of hate, and it is burning up inside you and it will kill you and it can make people kill,” he said.

“I can see this in our Yindjibarndi community now. Even though we are family, these issues with FMG are yoondri until people can forgive and clear everything up.”

Lorraine Coppin, who is married to YAC chief executive Michael Woodley, described how she had been caught up in around 20 fights since the Yindjibarndi community split over the Fortescue issue.

She described how she had been hospitalised “a few times” as a result of the fighting, while she said her mother had been hit in the head with a chair while she was asleep. She described how she had a nervous breakdown after her son, who was seven or eight at the time, was bashed up by boys twice his age.

“FMG has used our own people to harm and hurt us. We were all strong together but FMG broke us. We wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone,” she said.

Multiple witness statements, including one by Angus Mack, described how fighting and violence had increased dramatically in the community since the split.

“It has been so disappointing to see the way that WYAC has been fighting us all these years, for the wrong reasons. And then FMG just keeps making billions of dollars and Andrew Forrest gets richer and richer,” he said.

Hearings in the long-running court case are expected to resume in the next few months, before the parties make closing submissions late next year.

A spokeswoman for Fortescue said the company cared deeply about all First Nations people and was committed to seeing the ­matter resolved.