Community profiles of the proposed NT sites for the Commonwealth radioactive waste dump.
40km north west of Alice Springs on the Tanami road.
Were Therre community is literally across the road from the Mt Everard site, with some houses as close as 3 kilometres. Steven McCormack, traditional owner for the area, musters wild horses for sale and the community has recently begun a programme for groups of interstate school children to stay at Werre Therre and learn about bush tucker, bush medicine and local indigenous culture.
"This land is not empty - people live right nearby. We hunt and collect bush tucker here and I am the custodian of a sacred site within the boundaries of the defence land. We don't want this poison here”. Steven McCormack
165km north east of Alice Springs on the Plenty Highway.
Engawala community and Aboriginal owned Alcoota cattle station are situated 8km north of the Harts Range Defence site.
“We don’t want anyone destroying our land, culture, ceremonial life and all other things in our surroundings” Marjorie Petrick, Atitjere (Harts Range) community.
"Other pastoralists have also expressed concern over the perception by the public that the beef will be contaminated. The cattle industry out here prides itself on being clean and green”. William Tilmouth, Alcoota Aboriginal Corporation Chairman.
43km south east of Katherine.
Valerie and Barry Utley own and manage a 230sq km pastoral station, Yeltu Park, which completely surrounds the proposed site. Their home is around 8km away from the area under investigation.
“If we find anything that's any worry in the future about our staying here, we'll have to put the place on the market. It's such a pristine environment that we wouldn't want to see anything changed”. Valerie Utley