Director of National Parks fined $200,000 over Gunlom Falls sacred site breach
Gunlom Falls could reopen to the public next year as Kakadu traditional owners start the process of ‘healing’ after a five-year battle with the Commonwealth.
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Kakadu custodians have pledged to reopen Gunlom Falls next year after the Commonwealth was slapped with the largest sacred site fine in the Territory’s history.
On Wednesday Territory Local Court Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris fined the Parks Australia $200,000 after a walkway was constructed against the advice of traditional owners, exposing a sacred men’s site to the public.
Ms Morris said the walkway was requested by the traditional owners from the Kakadu Management Board in 2016, with Parks initially designing the plans with the consent and co-operation of Jawoyn cultural leaders.
However during the tender process the clear warnings about the sacred men’s site were ignored and new plans were drawn, despite multiple calls for additional consultation and site visits.
When the track to the Gunlom Falls upper pool opened in 2019, Jawoyn leaders were shocked and hurt to find the pathway was within 10m of the protected men’s site.
Ms Morris said not only were the sacred rock artworks visible to the public, but it exposed women and children to the site Jawoyn believed would cause them harm.
Ms Morris heard from Bolmo clan senior man Joseph Markham on Tuesday, who said as a Junggayi - a cultural “policeman” - he felt a deep sense of “shame” over the sacred site’s exposure.
“He spoke of feeling powerless. He felt like his voice was ignored by the Director,” she said.
Ms Morris said the case represented a clash between the two hierarchies, the cultural responsibilities of the three Jawoyn clans and the bureaucracy of Canberra.
Ms Morris said Parks attempted to act as “landlords”.
She said while Parks was not “wilfully ignorant nor in complete disregard” of the Jawoyn, she condemned their actions as not “reasonable”.
Ironically, it was Ms Morris who was the presiding judge as Parks Australia pleaded not guilty and claiming the Commonwealth “immunity” to the Territory’s sacred site laws more than four years ago.
After a Supreme and High Court battle, the case returned before Ms Morris in a special on Country hearing in the shadow of the sacred site National Parks admitted to breaching.
Ms Morris said Parks appeared truly “remorseful”, having apologised and signed a deed of settlement with the Jawoyn people.
Indeed new Director of National Parks Ricky Archer was visibly emotional as he promised to make rebuilding the agency’s relationship with traditional owners his “priority”.
“As an Indigenous person I take the protection of sacred sites to heart,” Mr Archer said.
“It’s something that I culturally, personally and now professionally will be doing as much as I can to ensure we learn the lessons … and improve the way Parks Australia operates.”
Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority chief executive Benedict Scambary said the NT Sacred Site Act fine set a precedent and a “clear message” to everyone building in the Territory.
None of the local court fine payout will go towards the Jawoyn people or the AAPA, however it is understood that Parks agreed to pay traditional owners $500,000 in a civil compensation case.
The walkway is now termite-ridden and unsafe to climb to the upper pool.
Bolmo clan woman Rachel Willika Kendino said the healing process also needed to occur within “our spirit, of our ancestors and our country”.
“It will be healed when we have lots of animals coming back, and fishes that we can gather and come together,” Ms Willika Kendino said.
“Hunting, fishing and teaching our next generation: That’s where healing comes.
“When we come back and speak to our ancestors, call out to them … that’s part of our healing, because it reconnects to the land.”
Traditional owner and Wurrkbarbar clan senior man Joshua Hunter said visitors would be “back here next year”.
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Originally published as Director of National Parks fined $200,000 over Gunlom Falls sacred site breach
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