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An article in the Sydney Morning Herald about one
month ago about the Roebuck Plains being bought by the Northern Land Council for
eleven million dollars for increased grazing activity, and possibly cotton
growing using ground water , incidentally mentioned that the Land Council is
given fifty million dollars a year to purchase land not subject to native
title.
Roebuck Plains is the prehistoric delta of the
Fitzroy River, immediately inland from Roebuck Bay and Broome Bird
Observatory,and supports exraordinary populations of birds,eg flocks of up to
200 Yellow Chats.
If bird conservationists have sacred sites, this is
one of them.
The indiginous people I have worked with
and among in many forays to the North in the last forty
years have always given me the impression that pristine land is their real
heritage, not grandiose agricultural schemes.
Is it not possible that all our sacred sitesand
unspoiled lands be saved by a small proportion of that fifty million dollars a
year?
Michael Hunter
Is there not some way that all our essentially
untouched sacred sites can be saved by a small proportion of that fifty million dollars a
year?
Michael Hunter
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