Engineering, Environment and Sustainability, Passenger Rail

Calls for stop-work after Sydney Light Rail workers find Indigenous artefacts

Transport for NSW says it is working with Aboriginal groups to properly manage the discovery of tens-of-thousands of Indigenous artefacts at the planned site of the Sydney CBD and South East Light Rail stabling yards at Randwick.

Some have called for work at the site to be shut down, at least until a formal plan to deal with the discovery can be established.

But Transport for NSW has given no indication that work will stop altogether, instead telling the ABC: “All work that has occurred on the site since the artefacts were found has been in consultation with all Aboriginal groups.”

A spokesperson quoted by the ABC said Transport, along with the project’s delivery consortium ALTRAC Light Rail, were investigating opportunities to recognise the items found on the site, “for example in displays or education programs”.

“The social value of the site to the local Aboriginal community is very high and we are continuing to work with [Aboriginal groups] to identify the artefacts and how they came to be found in Randwick.”

Several groups are not happy with the level of response, however.

Speaking with 702 Radio, Darug Elder Uncle Des Dyer called for the worksite to be closed, and the land protected.

“I’d like to see it stopped and the area classed as an Aboriginal heritage area,” Dyer said.

He explained the historical importance of the discovery: “Each area has its own stones. And on our song-lines one group would come down to us and they’d bring their stones and tools with them to swap and we’d give them ours and they’d take it back to wherever they came from.”

Dyer said some artefacts appeared to show contact between the local Indigenous people, and Indigenous people in the Hunter Valley.

The NSW Greens have called work to halt at the site.

“The government must issue an immediate stop work order to halt the destruction of this irreplaceable Aboriginal heritage site,” Greens Aboriginal justice spokesperson David Shoebridge said.

“In Australia, we have the privilege to live amongst the oldest continuing culture on the planet, yet governments continue to treat it with contempt.

“Excavation on the site has already likely destroyed thousands of artefacts, which have been crushed by heavy machinery.

“Those artefacts that have been recovered have already lost their connection with place and with that a good deal of their cultural significance.”

Shoebridge contended that a discovery of this kind in Athens or Paris would have resulted in an immediate stoppage of work, and a proper investigation into how the site could be saved.

“But in Sydney under Mike Baird the bulldozers aren’t even stopped for a day,” he said.

“This site should be protected and celebrated, the story it tells about the history of Aboriginal people and its evidence of trade routes and potential first contact makes it genuinely unique.”

1 Comment

  1. Desmond Ernest Dyer is a dirty rock spider who raped and murdered Marlene farruggio in 1978. Hes no elder. Just a dog.
    Google it.