Australia: Aboriginals to ‘benefit’ from wood supply coming from stripping forest bare for Bauxite mine

Traditional owners have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a
logging company to harvest 850 hectares of timber in Arnhem land. The
Gumatj Corporation signed the deal with Forestry Tasmania today. The
Gumatj are traditional owners of land around the Gove Peninsula in
north east Arnhem land. Some of the timber will be used to build
houses for traditional owners.

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Galarrwuy Yunipingu represented the Gumatj at today’s signing in Hobart. “The forestry project is a win-win-win outcome,” he says. “It will create a future for Gumatj men and women on their own land, using their own material and building  their own homes.” A mill already exists near Port Bradshaw on the Gove  Peninsula and a second mill there is also in the works. Forestry  Tasmania says it is working on a similar deal with the Thamarrurr  Development Corporation at the Nortehrn Territory Aboriginal community  of Wadeye.

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FELICITY OGILVIE: Arnhem Land in Australia’s Top End is slightly
bigger than Tasmania and the state known for its forest industry has
joined forces with the Top End’s traditional owners to set up their
own timber industry.Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu has signed a
deal with Forestry Tasmania to teach locals how to harvest trees
that’ll be used to build houses.

GALARRWUY YUNUPINGU: And our style of homes that we’re going to build
out of our local timber will be our style of home which is more
suitable to Aboriginal people and Aboriginal environment.

FELICITY OGILVIE: Bob Gordon is the managing director of Forestry Tasmania.

BOB GORDON: We’ve been invited up there by the Aboriginal landowners
who are interested in processing their local timber, converting that
to products including houses and furniture-grade material.

FELICITY OGILVIE: The hardwood that’ll be cut down is growing on 850
hectares of land where Rio Tinto has a bauxite mining lease. Galarrwuy
Yunupingu says if the wood wasn’t cut down it would’ve been bulldozed
to make way for the mine. Under the deal the Gumatj Association will
pay Forestry Tasmania to teach Aboriginal workers how to cut down
trees and run sawmills. The money will come from royalties paid to the
Gumatj Association by the bauxite mine and the Federal Government’s
job creation fund.

GALARRWUY YUNUPINGU: And I think it’s long overdue kind of
opportunity, giving young men and women both the skills to cut timber.

FELICITY OGILVIE: The deal has been cautiously welcomed by the
coordinator of the Northern Territory’s Environment Centre Stuart
Blanch.

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