A tiny Aboriginal community and former mission town in South Australia launches jobs and dreams as a rocket site, but one elder is concerned the burgeoning industry could destroy significant sites and dreaming stories.
Koonibba looks to the future as a rocket launch site, but one elder is concerned about impact on sacred site sfrom the tiny South Australian former mission town of Koonibba last Friday, it lit the candle for self-determination and the future of local Indigenous youth.But one elder says the project risks damaging sacred women's sites and the next generation's connection to country.
The partnership is already delivering educational benefits for town's small school and nearby Ceduna schools, with plans for a space observatory to attract tourists.She is worried it could help develop weapons technology, the scars of which still plague the lands to the north of Koonibba at Maralinga and Emu Fields, where the
With family and friends, she has been maintaining and cleaning sacred deep waterholes and clearing dirt and soil washed into shallow surface rock pools, to provide safer drinking holes for emus, kangaroos, birds and reptiles.She set up camp in the Yumbarra Conservation Park, part of the 41,000 square kilometre rocket launch range, which allows for rocket re-entry and retrievals.It's taken the Gilmour brothers nearly 10 years to build and design a locally made orbital rocket.
"If weather conditions forecast for a launch present an unacceptable fire risk to the parks, the department would work with Southern Launch to postpone the launch," the spokesperson said.Ms Coleman-Haseldine said she had been going to the area from childhood and had a custodial role to protect the land, animals and stories."Country gives us bush med, food, teaches the kids out here how to survive."It's our pharmacy, our school, our church. Our spirituality's out here.
Records at the South Australian Library show Aboriginal people were employed on the farm, with the quality of wages, rations, food and housing tied to their conversion to Christianity.Children were removed from their families and placed in a home on the mission for decades, and in 1958 the population walked off in protest at the control of their lives by the mission.The rocket collaboration has delivered empowerment for the community and its youth.
Rocket Launch Rocket Science Indigenous School Aerospace Aeronautical Regional Employment First Nations Sacred Site Culture Dreaming Songline Koonibba Rocket Launch Site Kokotha Elder Sue Coleman-Haseldine Southern Launch Geraldine Ware Mark Prince
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