another spin on things

GROOTE EYLANDT, MINING AND ABORIGINAL SACRED SITES: The politics of Manganese and of throwing the Greens (another) bone.
Nov 18th, 2010 by Arnold Jago in Australia, Environment, Money, Multiculturalism, PoliticsNo Comments Groote Eylandt, a 60 by 50km island in the Gulf of Carpentaria 600km southeast of Darwin, has been open-cut mined for about 40 years for its deposits of manganese ? a vital component of stainless steel, aluminium drink cans, dry cell batteries etc.
Groote Eylandt currently supplies about 15 percent of the world?s available manganese.
China is keen to continue buying it.
Groote Eylandt?s manganese being mainly in the western half of the island, exploration of the adjacent sea bed seems a promising place to seek more manganese deposits.
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A company called Groote Resources Ltd obtained the rights to explore there ? proposing to start round about now.
Then, the other day, along came Warren Snowden, Indigenous Health Minister, telling Groote Resources that there is ?vehement? opposition from the Aboriginal residents of Groote Eylandt ? and that ?the best result would be for Groote Resources to forgo their plans?.
Following that performance, Groote?s shares fell by about 18 percent, and the company is in trouble.
Mr Snowden also said that the marine environment of the area is ?far too precious? to permit undersea mining.
Or is it, perhaps, the support of the Greens Party in parliament that is far too precious . . . ?
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The reason stated for the locals? objections is that the sea bed in that area includes sacred ?song-lines? ? pathways allegedly followed by alleged Dreamtime creator-beings (Barnumbirr, the Rainbow Serpent etc.) while singing the world into existence.
Why should such animist beliefs trump the requirements of an industry providing everybody, black and white, with things we think we need (stainless steel, batteries etc)?
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Anybody passing through Darwin Airport or other Northern Territory destinations, knows the stranglehold wielded by promoters of certain versions of Aboriginal spiritual traditions.
King-size representations of Dreamtime personages everywhere ? waiting areas, tourist offices, resort dining rooms. You name it.
Apart from inside the Cathedral, I don?t recall seeing any representation of a Cross, the Blessed Virgin Mary or Our Lord himself . . . .
Why not?
Probably not so much out of genuine belief in Aboriginal myths, except as money spinners . . . more likely as an expession of contempt directed at the Catholic Church, its Founder and its beliefs.


http://marymackillop.org/groote-eylandt-mining-and-aboriginal-sacred-sites-the-politics-of-manganese-and-of-the-greens-another-bone