The history, background and political overview of Djaki Kundu
published this on 2nd of August 2021
Our Songlines would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land we work and live. We acknowledge their ongoing spiritual connection to the land, water and culture. We acknowledge their ongoing fight and resistance, and we pay our respects to all elders past, present and emerging.
I am a non-Indigenous ally living on Wurundjeri land. I am sharing this information and adding my voice to the movement to protect Djaki Kundu because I believe in acknowledging that sovereignty was never ceded, and this means acting to protect Indigenous sacred sites from destruction and desecration.
Djaki Kundu site July 2021
Were you aware of the Juukan Gorge caves before they were destroyed by Rio Tinto? What about the Djab Wurrung sacred Direction tree? Not to mention, the vast number of significant Indigenous sacred, cultural and archaeological sites that have been destroyed without media attention and without consequences for the perpetrators?
Djaki Kundu is a sacred site of the Kabi nation, located near the town of Gympie, Queensland. For a number of years the site has been threatened with destruction by the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR), headed by Mark Bailey, for the Bruce Highway expansion between Cooroy and Culla. Politicians are largely side-stepping around the issue, shamefully using loopholes and technicalities to avoid justly cooperating with the Indigenous Custodians at Djaki Kundu.
This is our chance to acknowledge, respect and protect the vast and incredible histories and cultures of Indigenous Australia before we hear about it being destroyed in the media.
Djaki Kundu is an ancient healing site on Kabi Country situated on the Seven Sisters Songline. The Traditional Custodian’s lores and totems originate from this connection to the Seven Sisters, and demonstrate the site’s sacred and cultural significance. Djaki Kundu also holds incredible archaeological importance despite having faced centuries of ruin and desecration as a result of colonialism. Artefacts such as stone wall constructions, grinding grooves, stone arrangements and remnants of crushed quartz stone statues remain as evidence of the site’s cultural and sacred use. Protecting and using the site is an integral part of the local Kabi people’s spiritual and religious practices, the specifics of which are rightfully kept private.
In the words of the Sovereign Native Tribes of the Kabi First Nation State,“The sacred site of Djaki Kundu is connected to the creator Biral, and it is the place to learn about the sky Ancestors, the ‘Seven Sisters Dreaming’ story, and the creation of Kabi at the beginning of time. The seven sisters came from the star system known as the Pleiades, ‘Kabi’ is Pleiades. In the beginning, there was a big war in heaven, and the fighting caused people to leave their sky home. The seven sisters came to earth and they liked this place, they began to make it their home. The seven sisters were chased all the way across the sky to earth, by the three brothers in the big canoe. The big canoe consists of the three belt stars from the star system known as Orion. The men from the big canoe liked the seven sisters, and lusted after them for their wives. One sister fell in love with a man from the big canoe, and they stayed here, taking on human form in order to survive in this environment.” (source: Djaki Kundu)
The QLD state govt – Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 states in part I, section 8, that:
“Aboriginal cultural heritage is anything that is –
- a significant Aboriginal area in Queensland; or
- a significant Aboriginal object; or
- evidence, of archaeological or historical significance, of Aboriginal occupation of an area of Queensland.”
The Federal Government Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 states in part I, section 3, that:
“2. For the purposes of this Act, an area or object shall be taken to be injured or desecrated if:
in the case of an area:
i) it is used or treated in a manner inconsistent with Aboriginal tradition;
ii) by reason of anything done in, on or near the area, the use or significance of the area in accordance with Aboriginal tradition is adversely affected; or
iii) passage through or over, or entry upon, the area by any person occurs in a manner inconsistent with Aboriginal tradition…
- For the purposes of this Act, an area or object shall be taken to be under threat of injury or desecration if it is, or is likely to be, injured or desecrated.”
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (which Australia supports) states in article 32 that:
“States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.”
The list of laws, legislation and declarations that the DTMR are acting against doesn’t end there.
In efforts to protect Djaki Kundu from destruction by the DTMR, the Sovereign Native Tribes of the Kabi First Nation State peacefully exercised their rights to self-determination in 2015. They believe their reassertion of sovereignty is well within their rights, given that sovereignty was never ceded in the first place and a history of dispossesion and cultural genocide has left them unjustly disconnected and excluded from their culture. The declaration of self-determination in 2015 was triggered by the continued failure of government systems to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage.
The Djaki Kundu Custodians are not opposed to the construction of the highway itself, only that it goes through the middle of their sacred site. Mark Bailey, Minister for the DTMR, ignores this and has been widely criticised for refusing to acknowledge the significance of Djaki Kundu. The reason behind this is that, according to the DTMR, there is no tangible evidence of Aboriginal cultural heritage at the site. But how did the DTMR reach this conclusion?
First of all, the DTMR states that there have been numerous archaeological studies into the Djaki Kundu site and none of them have found tangible evidence of Aboriginal cultural heritage. This is in contradiction to the email exchange between Traditional Owners and the government in the late 1970s, where the government was made aware of the significance of the area and acknowledged this in their reply. Kabi people also told the DTMR at the beginning of the highway extension planning that it was a sacred site. Wit-Boooka, a Traditional Owner of the site, explains that the highway was planned around a nearby church and railway lines, but not around Djaki Kundu. Furthermore, one of the archaeological studies referenced by the DTMR which claims that there was no cultural heritage present, was in fact looking for European cultural heritage – not Aboriginal. In 2013/2014, the current native title holders went to the DTMR office to explain that Djaki Kundu is a sacred landscape site, but they were ignored and had to leave (the Custodians of the Djaki Kundu site were part of the native title holding group at the time). The Djaki Kundu Custodians believe that some archaeological studies say the site has cultural heritage, but avoid calling it Aboriginal cultural heritage in efforts to circumvent the site falling under the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003. This said, Indigenous sites have value in their cultural and spiritual heritage – not merely their archaeological worth. Archaeological studies alone cannot give a full picture of the sacred and cultural significance of sites.
Secondly, the DTMR states that they have been in consultation with the native title holders of the site to approve of the Bruce Highway expansion – however, the Traditional Custodians of the Djaki Kundu site are no longer part of the native title holding group. Senator Larissa Waters explains that the Custodians of Djaki Kundu believe native title has acted to “divide nations and pit us against each other”, allowing the government to pick and choose which people can speak for Country. Wit-Boooka says that over the last eight years the native title applicants have changed three times, so the government can get the right people to sign off on the Bruce Highway expansion. In November 2020, the Supreme Court denied the Sovereign Native Tribes of the Kabi First Nation State’s attempt to get an injunction to prevent interference at Djaki Kundu. However, this was only due to a legal technicality, and most importantly, the judge said that the group has a right aside from the one that the native title claimants have to protect this land. The DTMR has a duty to consult with the Traditional Owners at Djaki Kundu, not just the native title holders who do not represent their interests.
The struggle to protect Djaki Kundu from desecration reveals a nation-wide issue – are native title systems and various Aboriginal culture heritage legislations providing sufficient protection of significant Indigenous sites? In the case of Djaki Kundu, Mark Bailey and the DTMR have so far been able to ignore the Traditional Custodians of Djaki Kundu, and construction work has already been greatly affecting the sacred site. Now is the time to add your voice to protect Djaki Kundu, before centuries of culture and spirituality are bulldozed away for a road. Show your support here:
Greens Submission Template to Mark Bailey
Written by Claire
Resources:
The Reassertion of Sovereignty in the Great South Land, now known as ‘Australia: http://sovereignty-truth.net/
NITV, Kabi Kabi Traditional Owners fight to protect Djaki Kundu, 24th March 2021: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=468766137609216
James Hall, ‘Qld Indigenous elders say Bruce Highway upgrade will destroy Aboriginal artefacts and spiritual sites’, The Australian 17th February 2021, https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/qld-indigenous-elders-say-bruce-highway-upgrade-will-destroy-aboriginal-artefacts-and-spiritual-sites/news-story/34e51c859a544139a3cd01ea98344d2f
The Gympie Times, 10th May 2021, ‘Gympie Pyramid’ site saved from Bypass bulldozers for time being’.
Gympie Today, 26th February 2021, ‘They want to dragus off our sacred site’: https://gympietoday.com.au/news/2021/02/26/they-want-to-drag-us-off-our-sacred-site/
The Gympie Times, 16th April 2021, ‘Utterly outrageous’: Senator joins ‘Gympie Pyramid’ fight’.
Correspondence between Mark Bailey and Amy McMahon, 25th February 2021: https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Documents/TableOffice/TabledPapers/2021/5721T197.pdf
Queensland State Government Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003: https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/2016-09-27/act-2003-079
Native Title Legislation Amendment Bill 2020, second reading in the senate, 2nd February 2021: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansards/0cd97387-e8a2-46f1-92cb-16f6be35aee2/&sid=0051
Federal Government Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C00937
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf
Notes and photos from Amy’s experience at Djaki Kundu, July 2021.
