'We froze ... We were worried that there could be other missiles covered by the sand and in the bushes. There are over 20 heritage features all within a one-kilometre radius ... It’s only through luck that that was not destroyed.'
A group of Aboriginal Traditional Owners were inspecting a culturally significant site in remote South Australia when they discovered a high-tech anti-aircraft missile, a joint investigation by SBS News and NITV can reveal.
“It startled us. There were four of us and we froze about five metres away from it,” says Kokatha man Andrew Starkey, who registered Lake Hart West as a heritage site with the South Australian government in the early 2000s.“We were worried that there could be other missiles covered by the sand and in the bushes.
The Defence Department maintains it does not test weapons at culturally significant Aboriginal sites. But neither the department nor Saab have addressed questions over why the missile was found at Lake Hart West.The salt-encrusted surface of Lake Hart, near the town of Woomera.Lake Hart lies in a remote part of the South Australian desert, a glistening white salt lake that was briefly mined in the early 1900s.
Kokatha man Andrew Starkey stands near a culturally-significant site, less than 100 metres from where the missile was found.– respected senior figures, or lore men, who have devoted many years to documenting and preserving sites around Lake Hart. “Defence does not use the area associated with Lake Hart West,” reads a confidential report prepared for the department and obtained by SBS News and NITV.
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