Long before Wittenoom’s asbestos industry put it on the map for all the wrong reasons, the area was home to the Banyjima people.
Now an ethnographic and archaeological survey of the area has revealed the Banyjima’s rich history of rock art and significant sites, protected by their isolation and, ironically, because Wittenoom’s asbestos contamination has removed it from the tourist trail.
Socio-linguist Sue Hanson, who led the Wittenoom Project, says her team was amazed to discover the largely intact petroglyphs (rock carvings).
“We found a huge amount of rock art and significant sites, and that was just in four days,” said Mrs Hanson, who has 26 years’ experience working in the Kimberley and Pilbara. “There was little indication of impact from people, so the sites were all in good condition.”
“There are 20 registered significant sites in the area, but we believe there are many more. The gorges where the mining took place were the traditional walkway from the lower to higher ground. In the rainy season when the lower area flooded, they would move, so there’s an indications that there are a lot more sites higher up the gorge.”
Mrs Hanson, anthropologist Alexandra Lyneham and archaeologist Donald Lantzke were guided by Banyjima’s most significant elder.
He, too, was thrilled to find the sites in good condition. Dislocated from their land by several waves of mining and then the asbestos contamination, the Banyjima had lost touch with their land.
But Mrs Hanson also found much evidence of the traumatic impact of asbestos mining on the indigenous community.
Banyjima people were used as labourers to mine asbestos at Yampire Gorge and later at Wittenoom. According to anthropologist Dr William Day, who worked in the Pilbara for many years, after the mine closed in the 1960s, Aboriginal people returned to Wittenoom to live in houses left empty by former miners and their families.
They were eventually relocated to Roebourne and Onslow, but many were to suffer – and die – from asbestos-related diseases.
“As we proceeded on the survey, people working with us continued to tell us about the people who were deceased (from asbestos-related diseases). It certainly uncovered their trauma,” Mrs Hanson said.
“Because they have never had an avenue to express the trauma that was created for those families, it was really quite a cathartic experience for them and a very intense experience for us (the survey team).”
The five-month Wittenoom Project was commissioned by the Department of Regional Development and Lands in a bid to understand the significance of the area to Aboriginal people.
“We started with research and found very little (research) in the area… There are also other complex issues involved because the area is under Native Title claim,” Mrs Hanson said.
“The study showed there are very strong links between the people and the land and that the people want to go back to their country and heal it.”
Further information on the Wittenoom Project will be available later this year.
By Catherine Madden