Indigenous elders who were successful in their bid to protect a culturally important site from a proposed gold mine in Central West New South Wales have broken their silence to defend their opposition to a proposed dam on the site.
Yanhadarrambal Uncle Jade Flynn and Wirribee Aunty Leanna Carr are members of the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation (WTOCWAC).
Last month, federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek upheld the corporation's application for a protection order over part of Regis Resource's McPhillamy mine site near Blayney.
The decision put a halt to the mine's plans to build a tailings dam on the headwaters of the Belubula River and attracted widespread local and political criticism.
Yanhadarrambal Uncle Jade Flynn and Wirribee Aunty Leanna Carr on country near Blayney, NSW. (ABC News)
The project had been green-lit by NSW planning processes which included consultation with local Aboriginal groups and heritage experts.
Yanhadarrambal Uncle Jade Flynn said his group had endured weeks of intense political and media speculation.
"We've been slandered," he said.
"We've been accused of lying, accused of profiting from the application.
"We've had our members threatened and harassed."
'Country is us'
Yanhadarrambal said his group wanted the site protected from mining activity because "we are country and country is us".
He said the site contained artefacts and held great spiritual importance to his people.
"There's 19 artefact scatters and 18 isolated finds," he said.
"This proof of occupation and use of that site directly correlates to the intangible cultural heritage of the area. So, that's the creation and dreaming stories and the song lines."
The former Coalition government upheld a Section-10 application lodged by the same group when it rejected a proposal for a go-kart track at the nearby Mount-Panorama-Wahluu.
Yanhadarramba said the corporation comprised traditional owners and elders and all its directors were volunteers.
"The corporation doesn't receive any ongoing funding, it has no political ties or agendas, other than its aim to protect country and to provide cultural orientation and education to improve outcomes for Aboriginal people," he said.
The Belubula River originates at the mine site. Its springs and tributaries a significant for Wiradyuri people. (ABC Central West)
Land council consulted
Regis Resouces said it had consulted with numerous registered Aboriginal parties and other independent experts.
He said while the company would look for another dam site, any new development application could be a decade away.
Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council was consulted extensively but declined to comment when approached by the ABC.
The group originally opposed the gold mine proposal but changed its position to neutral in its final submission to the Independent Planning Commission before it was approved last year.
Land councils are established entities in NSW law, elected by any Indigenous people living within boundaries defined by the government.
Wiradyuri Tractional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation had previously met with Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council to discuss the gold mine and the site's cultural significance to them.
A spokesperson for the NSW Aboriginal Land Council said it was deeply concerned about the debate surrounding the mine and what it saw as the weaponisation of Aboriginal culture to serve political and commercial interests.
It said Aboriginal culture and heritage law reform was needed at state and federal levels to provide greater certainty for all.
Maria Cotter says NSW laws don't adequately protect Aboriginal cultural heritage. (ABC News: Peter Sanders)
State laws lacking
The legal mechanism Wiradyuri Tractional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation used to protect the Belubula headwaters was Section 10 of the federal Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.
Section 10 allows the federal Environment Minister to intervene if applicants successfully prove state heritage legislation is failing to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage.
Land rights expert Maria Cotter said laws in NSW to protect cultural heritage weren't fit for purpose and didn't take into account the importance of spiritual and cultural connections.
"One of the real challenges is that it's weighted towards the technical archaeological side of things; it's not really weighted to Aboriginal cultural values," Dr Cotter said.
She said Aboriginal people were forced to use Section 10 as a lever of last resort when state laws failed them.
"Clearly they're saying, we haven't been … listened to," she said.
Yanhadarrambal Uncle Jade Flynn and Wirribee Aunty Leanna Carr's group used federal legislation to protect a section of the Belubula River. (ABC News)
Different connections to place
Dr Cotter said because NSW laws didn't allow a "holistic view" of Aboriginal heritage, local groups were often pitted against one another in a bid to protect what they consider important.
"Why is it that Aboriginal people have to have a consensus view on the heritage value of a place? Because they all have different connections to that place," she said.
She said Aboriginal Land Councils had a right and a role in consulting with industry, but other Aboriginal people had legitimate voices.
"It's a sense of the state government needing a one-stop shop [Local Land Councils] to interact with Aboriginal people … and absolutely, they have a right and a role in those but it's not an exclusive right."
Yanhadarrambal said there needed to be more consultation done for State Significant Projects and the consultation net needed to be cast wider.
"Government and developers also need to know that while local Aboriginal and councils have a function in the community, they do not have any cultural authority over Aboriginal cultural heritage whatsoever," he said.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek declined to be interviewed.