Deeper survey needed
Letters to the Editor | The Advocate | August 8 2020 | www.theadvocate.com.au
Up until about 1830, Aboriginal people had lived and died at Robbins Island since time began.
The environment on Robbins has changed significantly over the last 200 years, leaving little trace of my people’s villages, corroboree or burial grounds. A ‘sticks and stones’ survey for Aboriginal heritage in 2002 found nothing, despite thousands of generations of my people lived there.
The UPC wind farm proposal will install 300 wind turbines on 100 x 100 metre concrete footings, with road works extending all over the island to build and service the towers. A gravel pit will be dug up on the island. Sand on the island will be mined.
If a superficial survey failed to find where the villages and burial grounds were, what are the chances of a decent survey finding anything after the completion of this industrial complex? Is there no sense of moral responsibility to identify and retain the Aboriginal past? If a wind farm is needed, build it somewhere else.
Michael Mansell, Land Council chairman, Launceston
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/08/08/deeper-survey-needed/