“The Blue Mountains are one of the most beautiful places. Why would we destroy it? It’s criminal to inundate our world heritage, and it will not solve the problem of flooding.”
Desecrating Indigenous culture
The southern Blue Mountains is an extensive and rich cultural landscape belonging to the Gundungurra People. The rivers, waterholes and mountains of the Blue Mountains landscape tell one of the most intact and documented dream-time stories in Australia - the epic battle of tiger cat (Mirrigan) and snake (Gurrangatch) which formed the southern Blue Mountains.
When Warragamba Dam was built in 1960 it resulted in the flooding of a large proportion of the cultural heritage and dreamtime stories of the Gundungurra people. If the dam wall is raised the remaining sites of this story - including Indigenous archeological sites, creation waterholes and cave art - will be destroyed.
An indigenous cave art site that would be inundated.
They have already applied for an Aboriginal Place nomination to the NSW Government to try and stop the dam raising destroying their last cultural sites [i]. By getting involved with the campaign, you can assist the Gundungurra people save their remaining cultural heritage from destruction. Having lost so much already, we need to make sure we stop the dam raising to protect what is left.
[i] Isla Cunningham (2018) Gundungurra Group Lodge Proposal to Protect Sacred Sites at risk in Warragamba Dam Plan, The Blue Mountains Gazette. Available Online: https://bit.ly/2NN8xbp
