Wiradjuri advisor Roy Ah-See wrote to environment minister Tanya Plibersek dissecting the arguments behind federal intervention to stop a NSW gold mining project.
In a letter seen by The Weekend Australian, Mr Ah-See told the minister that claims regarding ancient camp ovens, possible burial sites and an initiation area near the proposed mine were examined and dismissed as having "no authenticity" in a cultural audit overseen by the Elders representing the local land council.
Ms Plibersek took the advice of a charity organisation, the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation, rather than the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council which holds land on behalf of Wiradjuri Traditional Owners and has cultural authority for the area under state law.
Mr Ah-See's letter, The Australian reports, communicates the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council's frustration and disappointment that the expertise of its Elders was dismissed in favour of "baseless claims" of the charity group, and called for an urgent review of the Section 10 evidence.
"You have made baseless claims now the accepted truth," Mr Ah-See wrote.
"You and your advisors do not have the skills to make these determinations. Surely Aboriginal culture and heritage decisions should be under the guidance of the Aboriginal Affairs Minister.
"OLALC are respectfully requesting a review of the Section 10 evidence, through proper consultation … OLALC have a voice and they are using it, they just want to know if you are listening."
Mr Ah-See wrote that the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council insisted mine proponent Regis Resources grant it access to the proposed site so its own surveyors could conduct cultural audits after the initial section 10 application made claims regarding significant sites - camp oven sites, scar trees, an ochre site and possible burial sites aligned with the frontier wars - in and around the proposed mine area.
The surveyors, which Mr Ah-See described as highly skilled and respected, rejected claims of camp ovens and some of the scar trees as having no authenticity. However, the ochre site was found to be real and the Land Council secured an agreement with the company that it would be protected, along with a previously unknown scar tree, which would be preserved or relocated under the mine's heritage management plan, The Australian reports.
A former Orange land council employee, Lisa Paton, registered a burial site on intensive farmland on the western edge of the proposed site in 2020, but it is outside the area formally protected by Minister Plibersek in her section 10 declaration.
Mr Ah-See noted that the land council is satisfied that the rest of the proposed mine site has been appropriately checked and no other potential burial sites were identified.
"Further cultural audits were done in regard to the claim of an initiation area. No archaeological or other tangible evidence could be found supporting this claim," Mr Ah-See wrote, The Australian reports.
"OLALC consulted the knowledge holder in regard to the intangible claims made and he confirmed there is no basis for these claims. You and your advisors have rejected his advice and have disrespected a highly regarded Wiradjuri elder and knowledge holder. How dare you!"
Mr Ah-See's letter suggests that Indigenous opponents of the mine added to their claim over time, including an alleged song-line regarding the blue banded bee.
"They (the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council) provided evidence from numerous highly respected Elders that these song-lines have never previously existed. You and your advisors completely rejected their evidence and have disrespected these highly regard Wiradjuri Elders."
Minister Plibersek has said she blocked the tailings dam site only, and the mine itself can still proceed.
Regis Resources claims it will take five to 10 years to find another viable site.
The Orange land council was opposed to the mine in 2019 but took a neutral position last year after it became satisfied the proposal would not impact any significant sites.
Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation director, Yanhadarrambal Jade Flynn, told the ABC this week that corporation members had been slandered, threatened, harassed and accused of lying since Ms Plibersek blocked the tailings dam at the head of the Belubula River.
"There's 19 artefact scatters and 18 isolated finds. This proof of occupation and use of that site directly correlates to the intangible cultural heritage of the area. So, that's the creation and dreaming stories and the song lines," he said.