On Wednesday, a quiet revolution happened in the board room of one of Australia's biggest mining companies. 

Rio Tinto, which drew international condemnation when it destroyed 46,000-year-old caves in Juukan Gorge containing priceless Aboriginal artefacts, added an Indigenous Australian to its board of directors.

That person is former Western Australian state treasurer Ben Wyatt.

He also made history in June when he joined the board of Woodside Petroleum, and in doing so became the first Indigenous board member of an ASX200 company.

"The fact that I appear to be the first I think is a great thing," he tells ABC News Breakfast from his base in Perth.

Ben Wyatt is accustomed to firsts

In 2017, the Yamatji man became the first Indigenous treasurer of any state or territory when Labor took power in Western Australia under Premier Mark McGowan.

He was just pipped to the title of first Aboriginal person to become a government minister by his cousin, Ken Wyatt, who was appointed to Malcolm Turnbull's frontbench in 2015.

When Ben Wyatt decided to leave politics at this year's March state election, he was courted by a number of corporates keen to have the former lawyer, politician and graduate of the London School of Economics on their team.

Rio Tinto's fateful decision to destroy the caves while searching for iron ore devastated the traditional owners, the Puutu Kunti Kurrawa and Pinikura (PKKP) people and saw a public and investor backlash that cost the jobs of the CEO, several executives and directors.

In deciding to join a company whose reputation had been so harmed, Ben Wyatt says he made a conscious decision to improve a miner which is one of the biggest employers of Indigenous people in Australia.

"It's important for every Aboriginal person in the Pilbara, in Western Australia, and for every Australian, that Rio gets back to its leadership position in respect to its relationships with Aboriginal people," he says.

Ben Wyatt's appointment 'groundbreaking'

Darren Godwell, the CEO of Indigenous business consultancy i2i Global, describes Mr Wyatt's appointment as a "fantastic achievement".

"Having Indigenous interests in business has been there for many decades but having that on an ASX200 board is groundbreaking," Mr Godwell said.

Rio Tinto Chairman Simon Thompson said Mr Wyatt's knowledge of public policy, finance, international trade and Indigenous affairs add significantly to their board.

"At a time when we are seeking to strengthen relationships with key stakeholders in Australia and around the world," he said.

While First Nations people have become more prominent in business executive roles in recent years, the top leadership bodies of leading ASX companies, their boards, have been starkly bereft of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

It's most noticeable at the extractive industry titans, which turn huge profits from leases on Indigenous land and employ thousands of First Nations people, but don't have Indigenous representation at board level.

When asked why, CEO of the Australian Industry Group Innes Willox didn't answer directly but said Ben Wyatt's appointment was the forerunner of more Indigenous non-executive directors to come.  

"His appointment will sharpen the focus of companies doing business, particularly in regional and rural Australia to translating their community engagement work at a ground level into decision making and setting strategy at the highest level. 

"This can only be a good thing."

Mr Wyatt says "quite rightly" the boardroom conversation around diversity and environmental, social and governance (ESG) has focused more on gender diversity.

But he believes companies are now starting to broaden their horizons around diversity, looking at experience and ethnicity.

Not everyone is on board with this historic appointment

Mr Wyatt's groundbreaking board roles have drawn criticism, most notably from his fellow WA Labor politician, Senator Pat Dodson.

Senator Dodson was on the federal parliamentary committee which examined the Juukan Gorge cave destruction.

He was highly critical of Rio Tinto in its findings, and slammed Mr Wyatt's appointment.

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Senator Dodson also told the Guardian that Mr Wyatt's joining two big company boards just months after leaving a politics "made a mockery" of the WA government's ministerial code of conduct for post-political life. 

The timing was also of concern to Kimberley Land Council CEO Tyronne Garstone.

"The timing in the current environment [post-Juukan Gorge] takes the shine from the appointment, which should be celebrated."

Left-wing activist group GetUp accused Mr Wyatt of "selling out First Nations people" in accepting the handsomely paid positions.

He is swift to dismiss the accusation.

"GetUp have a proud history I think of from a position, if you like of privilege, telling other groups how they should behave. I don't think so."

Mr Wyatt adds that in his view, as one of the largest employers of Aboriginal people in the Pilbara, Rio Tinto has done more for traditional owners than activist groups like GetUp.

He says the wealth creation mining offers is of great importance to Indigenous economic empowerment.

But tensions between mining and preservation of Aboriginal culture and heritage in WA remain

They remain in part due to a debate over a law Mr Wyatt himself helped draft when he was in parliament.

The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill is intended to better protect Indigenous sites of significance.

To allow local groups to have more of a say when striking deals with mining companies.

It is supposed to ensure that destruction on the level of the Juukan Gorge cave detonation will never happen again.

But many traditional owners are fighting against it, saying crucially it doesn't allow Aboriginal groups the final veto over what land is destroyed in a mining lease deal. 

Mr Wyatt is a staunch defender of the bill he was deeply involved in during his time in politics.

He says he has spoken to Aboriginal groups which support it.

"This is a fundamental shift from the current regime that doesn't have a role in the legislation for Aboriginal people," he says.

As to the question of whether Rio Tinto would have destroyed the Juukan Gorge site if he were on the board, Mr Wyatt says he doesn't have an answer to that.

But he knows a key role will be to rebuild the company's fractured relationship with traditional owners.

"My job now is to ensure that these sorts of relationships keep something like that from happening again."

Mr Wyatt says he got lucky by being elected young, so he can start his post-politics career now.

But he's not closed the door on a return.

"I love public service, I love the political debate on issues of importance, so you never say never."