As stone artefacts are pulled from waters around Australia, concerns are growing that 'tens of thousands' of possible sites of archaeological significance are not being adequately protected. The latest concern is in the Top End, where a gas company is pushing ahead with a pipeline.
Standing on an isolated beach looking into the aquamarine Arafura Sea, Tiwi elders Marie Francis Tipiloura, Ancilla Kurrupuwu and Molly Munkara sung out to their ancestors on land and in the ocean."We believe in our Tiwi spirituality," Ms Munkara told ABC News.
They plunged to their lowest point around 20,000 years ago, explains Flinders University maritime archaeologist Jonathan Benjamin. As senior elders celebrated on boats, divers pulled stone artefacts from seabeds in the Pilbara that were last exposed to land at least 9,000 years ago."You'd be surprised how many archaeological sites do survive inundation and then are well preserved for thousands of years.
This means Santos is still waiting on fresh environmental approval for its drilling in the Timor Sea, with a decision expected this year.The company was hit by another roadblock in January when NOPSEMA put a halt on its pipeline's approval, and told Santos to do an underwater cultural heritage assessment.The company's archaeological survey found 60 features in the pipeline's route with "high archaeological potential", including dunes and former shorelines.
Dr Brendan Corrigan, who used to work for the Northern Land Council, wrote in his report for Santos that many people told his team there was a spirit being that travelled through the waters that could be disturbed by the pipeline.Standing on the remote beach, Tiwi elder Molly Munkara said one of the stories the elders have passed on is about a crocodile man.
"It would have had deep wide gorges, huge river channels, big deep lakes, and waterfall cascades," the University of Western Australia associate professor said. ABC News tried to contact Dr Corrigan for further comment. His final report for Santos disputes Dr O'Leary's finding about the burial grounds.According to the Wessex report, Santos said the pipeline was 65 centimetres in diameter and its installation won't "actively remove sediment or material".
It now appears to have the go ahead, after NOPSEMA said it has satisfied their initial direction. The statutory body declined an interview. "The offshore environmental regulation system is broken because an approval no longer means an approval," chief executive Samantha McCulloch said. "The seas off our islands have always been, and remain, of great cultural and economic significance to our people," Tiwi Land Council chair Gibson Farmer Illortaminni said.As Santos battles to get its beleaguered project going, the recognition of underwater cultural heritage by offshore developers is only growing.And the company that is proposing to put a transmission cable between Tasmania and Victoria is working with First Nations people on underwater heritage too.
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