Muckaty station
Encyclopedia
Muckaty Station, also known as Warlmanpa, was a pastoral lease
, now Aboriginal
freehold land in Australia's Northern Territory
, near Tennant Creek
. Originally under traditional Indigenous Australian ownership, the area became a pastoral lease in the late 19th century and for many years operated as a cattle station
. It is traversed by the Stuart Highway
, built in the 1940s along the route of the service track for the Australian Overland Telegraph Line
, a natural gas
pipeline built in the mid 1980s, and the Adelaide–Darwin railway, completed in early 2004. Muckaty Station was returned to its Indigenous custodians in 1999.
The area comprises semi-arid stony ridges, claypans and a stony plateau, and experiences a sub-tropical climate, with a wet season between January and March. The vegetation is mostly scrubland, including spinifex grasslands
. The fauna is generally typical of Australian desert environments, and includes the Red Kangaroo
, the Eastern Wallaroo
, the Northern Nail-tail Wallaby
, and the Spinifex Hopping Mouse
. As of 2010, a site within Muckaty is being considered for Australia's low-level
and intermediate-level radioactive waste
storage and disposal facility.
groups or clan
s who are traditional owners of the land and dreaming
sites now known as Muckaty Station (and often referred to as just "Muckaty"): Milwayi, Ngapa, Ngarrka, Wirntiku, Kurrakurraja, Walanypirri and Yapayapa.
In the 1870s the Australian Overland Telegraph Line
was constructed from Adelaide to Darwin
. Repeater stations were built at regular intervals along the line, including at Powell's Creek to the north and Tennant's Creek to the south, but not on what is now Muckaty Station. A dirt track was formed to service the telegraph line, which became the Stuart Highway
, crossing the eastern part of Muckaty. The route became an all-weather highway in late 1940, but was not sealed until 1944.
At the same time as the telegraph line was completed, a pastoral industry began to develop in central and northern Australia. The first pastoral lease was granted in 1872, and by 1911 there were at least 250 such leases covering over 180000 square miles (466,197.9 km²) of the Northern Territory. The Muckaty pastoral lease was created in the late 19th century. In the 1930s, the Australian government
was sufficiently concerned about the condition and (lack of) development of the pastoral leases that it held two inquiries between 1932 and 1938. Historian Ted Ling's accounts of those inquiries, however, make no mention of Muckaty, which was not singled out for comment by either investigation. By the 1940s the lessee was a Mr Fred Ulyatt. The lease was held by James and Miriam Hagan from 1982 to 1988, and by Hapford Pty Limited and Kerfield Pty Limited from 1988 until 1991.
Throughout the history of Australia's pastoral industry, Indigenous Australians were a major part of the workforce. In 1928 for example, 80 per cent of Indigenous people with jobs were employed on the stations, with many living on and travelling across the pastoral leases, including Muckaty. In 1991, the cattle station was taken over by the Muckaty Aboriginal Corporation. The Corporation focused on rehabilitating the land, which had been degraded by excessive numbers of cattle, and by late 1993 Muckaty had been destocked of cattle for several seasons. On 20 December 1991, the Northern Land Council
lodged a claim over Muckaty on behalf of traditional owners under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976
. The claim was made by members of the seven groups that each has responsibility for different sites and dreamings
in the area. In 1997, the Aboriginal Land Commissioner recommended that Muckaty Station be handed back to the traditional owners, and in February 1999, title to the land was returned. At the time there were about 400 formal traditional owners, amongst 1,000 people with traditional attachments to the land; some lived on the station, but others were elsewhere in the region, including in the nearby towns of Tennant Creek and Elliott
. As Aboriginal Freehold land it is inalienable communal title, and cannot be bought or sold. The pastoral lease holder and manager of the station since 1993 has been Ray Aylett.
Between 1985 and 1987 a natural gas
pipeline was built across the station, carrying gas from Palm Valley
in the Amadeus Basin
to Channel Island near Darwin. The Adelaide–Darwin railway, completed in early 2004, passes through the western part of Muckaty station.
The eastern parts of the station form a stony plateau within the Ashburton Range. The central parts are flat and include claypans, while to the west are stony ridges. The region is drained by an ephemeral waterway, Tomkinson Creek, and is considered a good candidate to contain manganese
deposits, the mineral having been extracted in the 1950s and 1960s at the Mucketty mine just east of Muckaty Station.
The region is semi-arid
, and the vegetation is generally scrubland. The climate is subtropical, with a wet season between January and March, during which the area receives monthly rainfall of between 50 and 125 mm (2 and 4.9 ). For the rest of the year there is usually less than 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) of rain each month.
Muckaty Station lies at the boundary of two bioregions, Tanami and Sturt Plateau, and most of the fauna species are typical of desert environments. The Tanami bioregion is made up primarily of sandplains vegetated with Hakea lorea
, desert bloodwoods, acacia
s and grevillea
s, together with spinifex grasslands
. The Sturt Plateau bioregion also includes spinifex grasslands, but with an overstory of Corymbia
bloodwood trees. Fauna in the region includes the Red Kangaroo
, the Eastern Wallaroo
(also known as the Euro), the Northern Nail-tail Wallaby
, and the Spinifex Hopping Mouse
. The Central Pebble-mound Mouse
also occurs in the region, and other mammal species including the Forrest's Mouse
, Desert Mouse and Short-beaked Echidna
have been predicted by biologists to occur on the station. The station may lie within the range of the critically endangered Night Parrot
(Pezoporus occidentalis).
passed legislation, the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act, to facilitate the siting of a radioactive waste facility in the Northern Territory. Following criticisms made by the Northern Land Council, in December 2006 the legislation was revised to allow Aboriginal Land Council
s to nominate potential sites for a facility. In May 2007 the Northern Land Council, on behalf of Ngapa clan traditional owners, nominated a small area (for which the Ngapa had traditional responsibility) to be considered as a possible site for the facility, and in September 2007, the government accepted the nomination. The Government of the Northern Territory
opposed the nomination, but could not prevent it. Ngapa clan members have volunteered a 4 sqkm area to be considered for the facility, which is expected to require 1 square kilometre of land.
Reports, and a parliamentary inquiry, indicated that the Indigenous traditional owners of Muckaty station were divided over whether it should host a radioactive waste facility. Some members of the Ngapa clan supported hosting the facility, while other traditional owners of Muckaty opposed it. There were also claims that some members of the Ngapa clan were amongst those who had signed a petition opposing the facility. Political scientist Rebecca Stringer criticised the federal government's approach to the siting of the waste facility, arguing that it undermined the Indigenous owners' sovereignty and control of their own lands. Environmental organisations and political party the Australian Greens
are opposed to using the site for a dump.
In 2009, the Australian government received a consultant's report that examined Muckaty Station as one of three possible sites for a nuclear waste facility in the Northern Territory. The report was released in 2010. As of February 2010, the Muckaty Station site was the only one still under consideration by the government.
), and lawyer Julian Burnside
to commence legal proceedings against the Northern Land Council and the Australian government in the Federal Court of Australia
to stop the nomination of Muckaty Station as a nuclear waste storage facility.
Pastoral lease
A pastoral lease is Crown land that government allows to be leased, generally for the purposes of farming.-Australia:Pastoral leases exist in both Australian commonwealth law and state jurisdictions....
, now Aboriginal
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
freehold land in Australia's Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
, near Tennant Creek
Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
Tennant Creek is a town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the fifth largest town in the Northern Territory and it is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with the western terminus of the Barkly Highway....
. Originally under traditional Indigenous Australian ownership, the area became a pastoral lease in the late 19th century and for many years operated as a cattle station
Cattle station
Cattle station is an Australian term for a large farm , whose main activity is the rearing of cattle. In Australia, the owner of a cattle station is called a grazier...
. It is traversed by the Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway
The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. It is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 extending from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south—a distance of...
, built in the 1940s along the route of the service track for the Australian Overland Telegraph Line
Australian Overland Telegraph Line
The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a 3200 km telegraph line that connected Darwin with Port Augusta in South Australia. Completed in 1872 the Overland Telegraph Line allowed fast communication between Australia and the rest of the world. An additional section was added in 1877 with the...
, a natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
pipeline built in the mid 1980s, and the Adelaide–Darwin railway, completed in early 2004. Muckaty Station was returned to its Indigenous custodians in 1999.
The area comprises semi-arid stony ridges, claypans and a stony plateau, and experiences a sub-tropical climate, with a wet season between January and March. The vegetation is mostly scrubland, including spinifex grasslands
Triodia (plant genus)
Triodia is a large genus of hummock-forming grass endemic to Australia; they are commonly known as spinifex, although they are not a part of the coastal genus Spinifex. There are currently 64 recognised species...
. The fauna is generally typical of Australian desert environments, and includes the Red Kangaroo
Red Kangaroo
The Red Kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest mammal native to Australia, and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests.-Description:This species is a very...
, the Eastern Wallaroo
Eastern Wallaroo
The Eastern Wallaroo also known as the Common Wallaroo or the Hill Wallaroo is part of the Wallaroo family . It is a large, variable species of macropod ....
, the Northern Nail-tail Wallaby
Northern Nail-tail Wallaby
The Northern Nail-tail Wallaby , also known as the Sandy Nail-tail Wallaby, is a species of macropod found in Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory. Unlike the Bridled Nail-tail Wallaby , the Northern Nail-tail Wallaby is not a threatened species. The only other member of the genus,...
, and the Spinifex Hopping Mouse
Spinifex Hopping Mouse
The Spinifex Hopping Mouse , also known as the Tarkawara or Tarrkawarra, occurs throughout the central and western Australian arid zones, occupying both spinifex-covered sand flats and stabilised sand dunes, and loamy mulga and melaleuca flats.The population fluctuates greatly: in normal years it...
. As of 2010, a site within Muckaty is being considered for Australia's low-level
Low level waste
Low-Level Waste is a term used to describe nuclear waste that does not fit into the categorical definitions for high-level waste , spent nuclear fuel , transuranic waste , or certain byproduct materials known as 11e wastes, such as uranium mill tailings...
and intermediate-level radioactive waste
Radioactive waste
Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
storage and disposal facility.
History
There are seven AboriginalIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
groups or clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s who are traditional owners of the land and dreaming
Dreaming (spirituality)
The Dreaming is a common term within the animist creation narrative of indigenous Australians for a personal, or group, creation and for what may be understood as the "timeless time" of formative creation and perpetual creating....
sites now known as Muckaty Station (and often referred to as just "Muckaty"): Milwayi, Ngapa, Ngarrka, Wirntiku, Kurrakurraja, Walanypirri and Yapayapa.
In the 1870s the Australian Overland Telegraph Line
Australian Overland Telegraph Line
The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a 3200 km telegraph line that connected Darwin with Port Augusta in South Australia. Completed in 1872 the Overland Telegraph Line allowed fast communication between Australia and the rest of the world. An additional section was added in 1877 with the...
was constructed from Adelaide to Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
. Repeater stations were built at regular intervals along the line, including at Powell's Creek to the north and Tennant's Creek to the south, but not on what is now Muckaty Station. A dirt track was formed to service the telegraph line, which became the Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway
The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. It is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 extending from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south—a distance of...
, crossing the eastern part of Muckaty. The route became an all-weather highway in late 1940, but was not sealed until 1944.
At the same time as the telegraph line was completed, a pastoral industry began to develop in central and northern Australia. The first pastoral lease was granted in 1872, and by 1911 there were at least 250 such leases covering over 180000 square miles (466,197.9 km²) of the Northern Territory. The Muckaty pastoral lease was created in the late 19th century. In the 1930s, the Australian government
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
was sufficiently concerned about the condition and (lack of) development of the pastoral leases that it held two inquiries between 1932 and 1938. Historian Ted Ling's accounts of those inquiries, however, make no mention of Muckaty, which was not singled out for comment by either investigation. By the 1940s the lessee was a Mr Fred Ulyatt. The lease was held by James and Miriam Hagan from 1982 to 1988, and by Hapford Pty Limited and Kerfield Pty Limited from 1988 until 1991.
Throughout the history of Australia's pastoral industry, Indigenous Australians were a major part of the workforce. In 1928 for example, 80 per cent of Indigenous people with jobs were employed on the stations, with many living on and travelling across the pastoral leases, including Muckaty. In 1991, the cattle station was taken over by the Muckaty Aboriginal Corporation. The Corporation focused on rehabilitating the land, which had been degraded by excessive numbers of cattle, and by late 1993 Muckaty had been destocked of cattle for several seasons. On 20 December 1991, the Northern Land Council
Northern Land Council
The Northern Land Council is in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. It has its origins in the struggle of Australian Aboriginal people for rights to fair wages and land. This included the strike and walk off by the Gurindji people at Wave Hill, cattle station in 1966. The head...
lodged a claim over Muckaty on behalf of traditional owners under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976
Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976
In Australian history, the Aboriginal Land Rights Act established the basis upon which Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory could claim rights to land based on traditional occupation. The Act was strongly based on the recommendations of Justice Woodward, who chaired the Aboriginal Land...
. The claim was made by members of the seven groups that each has responsibility for different sites and dreamings
Dreaming (spirituality)
The Dreaming is a common term within the animist creation narrative of indigenous Australians for a personal, or group, creation and for what may be understood as the "timeless time" of formative creation and perpetual creating....
in the area. In 1997, the Aboriginal Land Commissioner recommended that Muckaty Station be handed back to the traditional owners, and in February 1999, title to the land was returned. At the time there were about 400 formal traditional owners, amongst 1,000 people with traditional attachments to the land; some lived on the station, but others were elsewhere in the region, including in the nearby towns of Tennant Creek and Elliott
Elliott, Northern Territory
Elliott is a town in Northern Territory, Australia. It is located almost halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway. The town is in the Yapurkulangu ward of the Barkly Shire. The area is the home of the Jingili people and the traditional name of the town is Kulumindini...
. As Aboriginal Freehold land it is inalienable communal title, and cannot be bought or sold. The pastoral lease holder and manager of the station since 1993 has been Ray Aylett.
Between 1985 and 1987 a natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
pipeline was built across the station, carrying gas from Palm Valley
Palm Valley (Northern Territory)
Palm Valley, within the Finke Gorge National Park, is an east-west running valley in the Krichauff Range 123 km southwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia. Palm Valley and the surrounding area is the only place in Central Australia where Livistona mariae palms survive...
in the Amadeus Basin
Amadeus Basin
The Amadeus Basin is a large intracratonic sedimentary basin in central Australia, lying mostly within the southern Northern Territory, but extending into the state of Western Australia. It is named after Lake Amadeus which lies within the basin...
to Channel Island near Darwin. The Adelaide–Darwin railway, completed in early 2004, passes through the western part of Muckaty station.
Geography
Muckaty Station, or Warlmanpa, lies 110 kilometres (68.4 mi) north of Tennant Creek, in Australia's Northern Territory. It includes a homestead that lies 8 kilometres (5 mi) west of the Stuart Highway and 60 kilometres (37.3 mi) east of the railway. The residence has associated cattle yards, an airstrip, and workers' accommodation.The eastern parts of the station form a stony plateau within the Ashburton Range. The central parts are flat and include claypans, while to the west are stony ridges. The region is drained by an ephemeral waterway, Tomkinson Creek, and is considered a good candidate to contain manganese
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
deposits, the mineral having been extracted in the 1950s and 1960s at the Mucketty mine just east of Muckaty Station.
The region is semi-arid
Semi-arid
A semi-arid climate or steppe climate describes climatic regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not extremely...
, and the vegetation is generally scrubland. The climate is subtropical, with a wet season between January and March, during which the area receives monthly rainfall of between 50 and 125 mm (2 and 4.9 ). For the rest of the year there is usually less than 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) of rain each month.
Muckaty Station lies at the boundary of two bioregions, Tanami and Sturt Plateau, and most of the fauna species are typical of desert environments. The Tanami bioregion is made up primarily of sandplains vegetated with Hakea lorea
Hakea lorea
Hakea lorea, commonly known as bootlace oak or cork tree, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Proteaceae found in central and northern Australia....
, desert bloodwoods, acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
s and grevillea
Grevillea
Grevillea is a diverse genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the protea family Proteaceae, native to Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Sulawesi. It was named in honour of Charles Francis Greville. The species range from prostrate shrubs less than 0.5 m tall to trees...
s, together with spinifex grasslands
Triodia (plant genus)
Triodia is a large genus of hummock-forming grass endemic to Australia; they are commonly known as spinifex, although they are not a part of the coastal genus Spinifex. There are currently 64 recognised species...
. The Sturt Plateau bioregion also includes spinifex grasslands, but with an overstory of Corymbia
Corymbia
Corymbia is a genus of about 113 species of tree that were classified as Eucalyptus species until the mid-1990s. It includes the bloodwoods, ghost gums and spotted gums. The bloodwoods had been recognised as a distinct group within the large and diverse Eucalyptus genus since 1867...
bloodwood trees. Fauna in the region includes the Red Kangaroo
Red Kangaroo
The Red Kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest mammal native to Australia, and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests.-Description:This species is a very...
, the Eastern Wallaroo
Eastern Wallaroo
The Eastern Wallaroo also known as the Common Wallaroo or the Hill Wallaroo is part of the Wallaroo family . It is a large, variable species of macropod ....
(also known as the Euro), the Northern Nail-tail Wallaby
Northern Nail-tail Wallaby
The Northern Nail-tail Wallaby , also known as the Sandy Nail-tail Wallaby, is a species of macropod found in Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory. Unlike the Bridled Nail-tail Wallaby , the Northern Nail-tail Wallaby is not a threatened species. The only other member of the genus,...
, and the Spinifex Hopping Mouse
Spinifex Hopping Mouse
The Spinifex Hopping Mouse , also known as the Tarkawara or Tarrkawarra, occurs throughout the central and western Australian arid zones, occupying both spinifex-covered sand flats and stabilised sand dunes, and loamy mulga and melaleuca flats.The population fluctuates greatly: in normal years it...
. The Central Pebble-mound Mouse
Central Pebble-mound Mouse
The Central Pebble-mound Mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae, native to Australia. The Kimberley Mouse was, until recently, considered distinct from P. johnsoni, but they are now known to be conspecific. It is one of the pebble-mound mice.-References:* Baillie, J. 1996....
also occurs in the region, and other mammal species including the Forrest's Mouse
Forrest's Mouse
Forrest's Mouse or Desert Short-tailed Mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.It is found only in Australia....
, Desert Mouse and Short-beaked Echidna
Short-beaked Echidna
The short-beaked echidna , also known as the spiny anteater because of its diet of ants and termites, is one of four living species of echidna and the only member of the genus Tachyglossus...
have been predicted by biologists to occur on the station. The station may lie within the range of the critically endangered Night Parrot
Night Parrot
The Night Parrot is a small broad-tailed parrot endemic to the continent of Australia. The species was originally placed within its own genus , but most authors now prefer to place it within the genus Pezoporus together with the two ground parrots.No known sightings of the bird were made between...
(Pezoporus occidentalis).
Radioactive waste facility
The search for a site at which to dispose of or store Australia's low and intermediate-level radioactive wastes commenced in 1980. A formal public process of site selection that had commenced in 1991 finally failed in 2004. On 7 December 2005, the Australian governmentHoward Government
The Howard Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard. It was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition, which won a majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives at four successive elections. The Howard Government...
passed legislation, the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act, to facilitate the siting of a radioactive waste facility in the Northern Territory. Following criticisms made by the Northern Land Council, in December 2006 the legislation was revised to allow Aboriginal Land Council
Land council
Land councils, also known as land and sea councils, are Australian community organisations organised by region that represent the Indigenous Australians who occupied that region before the arrival of European settlers...
s to nominate potential sites for a facility. In May 2007 the Northern Land Council, on behalf of Ngapa clan traditional owners, nominated a small area (for which the Ngapa had traditional responsibility) to be considered as a possible site for the facility, and in September 2007, the government accepted the nomination. The Government of the Northern Territory
Government of the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is governed according to the principles of the Westminster system, a form of parliamentary government based on the model of the United Kingdom...
opposed the nomination, but could not prevent it. Ngapa clan members have volunteered a 4 sqkm area to be considered for the facility, which is expected to require 1 square kilometre of land.
Reports, and a parliamentary inquiry, indicated that the Indigenous traditional owners of Muckaty station were divided over whether it should host a radioactive waste facility. Some members of the Ngapa clan supported hosting the facility, while other traditional owners of Muckaty opposed it. There were also claims that some members of the Ngapa clan were amongst those who had signed a petition opposing the facility. Political scientist Rebecca Stringer criticised the federal government's approach to the siting of the waste facility, arguing that it undermined the Indigenous owners' sovereignty and control of their own lands. Environmental organisations and political party the Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
are opposed to using the site for a dump.
In 2009, the Australian government received a consultant's report that examined Muckaty Station as one of three possible sites for a nuclear waste facility in the Northern Territory. The report was released in 2010. As of February 2010, the Muckaty Station site was the only one still under consideration by the government.
Legal action
Mark Lane Jangala and other traditional owners instructed law firms Maurice Blackburn, Surry Partners (a firm that includes human rights lawyer George NewhouseGeorge Newhouse
George Newhouse is an Australian human rights lawyer, a former local councillor and political activist. He was Mayor of Waverley in the eastern suburbs of Sydney from 2006 to 2007, and the Australian Labor Party candidate for the seat of Wentworth at the 2007 Australian federal election...
), and lawyer Julian Burnside
Julian Burnside
Julian William Kennedy Burnside AO QC is an Australian barrister, human rights and refugee advocate, and author. He is known for his staunch opposition to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, and has provided legal counsel in a wide array of high-profile cases...
to commence legal proceedings against the Northern Land Council and the Australian government in the Federal Court of Australia
Federal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law , along with some summary criminal matters. Cases are heard at first instance by single Judges...
to stop the nomination of Muckaty Station as a nuclear waste storage facility.
External links
- Australian Government webpage on radioactive waste management.