Kevin Buzzacott (1947 - 29 November 2023), often referred to as Uncle Kev as an Aboriginal elder, was an Indigenous Australian of the Arabunna nation in northern South Australia. [1] He campaigned widely for cultural recognition, justice, and land rights for Aboriginal people, and initiated and led numerous campaigns including against uranium mining at Olympic Dam mine in South Australia on Kokatha land, and the exploitation of the water from the Great Artesian Basin.
In 2001 Buzzacott was awarded the prestigious Nuclear-Free Future Award, in Ireland, which provided him with an opportunity to travel to Europe and speak to supporters of Indigenous land rights. [2]
The Australian Conservation Foundation awarded Buzzacott the 2007 Peter Rawlinson Award for two decades of work highlighting the impacts of uranium mining and promoting a nuclear free Australia. [3] [4] ACF executive director Don Henry describing him in the award citation as
In April 1999, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, and the Minister for the Environment, Robert Hill, formally refused to pursue the World Heritage listing of Lake Eyre, instead allowing a mining company, BHP Billiton to commence mining operations. The appellant, Buzzacott, claimed that Downer's failure to pursue World Heritage listing amounted to genocide against his people. Nulyarimma v Thompson was heard in the Federal Court of Australia and was decided in favour of the Government. [6]
Buzzacott initiated a peace walk from Lake Eyre to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, [7] [8] and another from the Olympic Dam uranium mine to Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2002 Buzzacott reclaimed his tribe's emu and kangaroo totems used in the Australian coat of arms from outside Parliament House, Canberra. He was arrested three years later at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy for theft of the coat of arms. [9] This resulted in a lengthy court battle where he served the government with a counter writ on charges of genocide.
In 2003 the Special Broadcasting Service and the Australian Film Commission Indigenous Unit produced a documentary called We of Little Voice in the "Australia By Numbers" series, which featured Buzzacott on a journey through northern South Australia to hear the stories of Aboriginal elders who have experienced the effects of the nuclear industry, from uranium mining to nuclear testing. [10]
He has given support to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, where he lit the Fire for Justice in 1998. He was also involved in Camp Sovereignty at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, referred to by many indigenous people as the Stolen-wealth Games.
In Melbourne on 21 April 2007 a group of non-indigenous and indigenous supporters raised money in support of his efforts to raise awareness about uranium mining issues.
In February 2012, Buzzacott legally challenged the Commonwealth Environment Minister Tony Burke's environmental approval of the Olympic Dam mine expansion. Environmental approval had been granted by state and federal governments in October 2011. Buzzacott was represented by the Environmental Defenders' Office and appeared in the Federal Court in Adelaide on 3 and 4 April 2012. [11] His challenge was unsuccessful and was dismissed on 20 April. An appeal of the judge's decision in 2013 was also unsuccessful. [12] [13]
Buzzacott featured in several documentary films, including First Fleet Back (2005), [14] Near and Far (in production[ when? ]) and shorts by filmmakers including Jessi Boylan [15] and Pip Starr. [16]
Buzzacott died on 29 November 2023.[ citation needed ]
Jabiluka is a pair of uranium deposits and mine development in the Northern Territory of Australia that was to have been built on land belonging to the Mirarr clan of Aboriginal people. The mine site is surrounded by, but not part of, the World Heritage–listed Kakadu National Park.
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a permanent protest occupation site as a focus for representing the political rights of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. Established on 26 January 1972, and celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022, it is the longest continuous protest for Indigenous land rights in the world.
The Ranger Uranium Mine was a uranium mine in the Northern Territory of Australia. The site is surrounded by, but separate from Kakadu National Park, 230 km east of Darwin. The orebody was discovered in late 1969, and the mine commenced operation in 1980, reaching full production of uranium oxide in 1981 and ceased stockpile processing on 8 January 2021. Mining activities had ceased in 2012. It is owned and operated by Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), a public company 86.33% owned by Rio Tinto Group, the remainder held by the public. Uranium mined at Ranger was sold for use in nuclear power stations in Japan, South Korea, China, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account for 68% of world production. Other countries producing more than 1,000 tons per year included Namibia, Niger, Russia, Uzbekistan, the United States, and China. Nearly all of the world's mined uranium is used to power nuclear power plants. Historically uranium was also used in applications such as uranium glass or ferrouranium but those applications have declined due to the radioactivity of uranium and are nowadays mostly supplied with a plentiful cheap supply of depleted uranium which is also used in uranium ammunition. In addition to being cheaper, depleted uranium is also less radioactive due to a lower content of short-lived 234
U and 235
U than natural uranium.
Kakadu National Park, located in the Northern Territory of Australia, possesses within its boundaries a number of large uranium deposits. The uranium is legally owned by the Australian Government, and is sold internationally, having a large effect on the Australian economy. The mining has been controversial, due to the widespread publicity regarding the potential danger of nuclear power and uranium mining, as well as because of objections by some Indigenous groups. This controversy is significant because it involves a number of important political issues in Australia: Native Title, the environment, and Federal-State-Territory relations.
The Peter Rawlinson Award is an annual Australian environment award by the Australian Conservation Foundation consisting of $3000 and a plaque made to individuals who have made an outstanding voluntary contribution to the Australian environment. It commemorates Dr Peter Rawlinson's contribution as an environmental campaigner and researcher. Rawlinson was an ACF Treasurer and Vice President and a biologist and conservationist who died while doing field work in Indonesia in 1991.
Nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining and export, and nuclear power have often been the subject of public debate in Australia, and the anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history. Its origins date back to the 1972–1973 debate over French nuclear testing in the Pacific and the 1976–1977 debate about uranium mining in Australia.
Yvonne Margarula is an Aboriginal Australian environmentalist who won the 1998 Friends of the Earth International Environment Award and the 1998 Nuclear-Free Future Award. She also won the 1999 US Goldman Environmental Prize, with Jacqui Katona, in recognition of efforts to protect their country and culture against uranium mining.
The prospect of nuclear power in Australia has been a topic of public debate since the 1950s. Australia has one nuclear plant in Lucas Heights, Sydney, but is not used to produce nuclear power, but instead is used to produce medical radioisotopes. It also produces material or carries out analyses for the mining industry, for forensic purposes and for research. Australia hosts 33% of the world's uranium deposits and is the world's third largest producer of uranium after Kazakhstan and Canada.
Beginning as a conservation movement, the environmental movement in Australia was the first in the world to become a political movement. Australia is home to United Tasmania Group, the world's first green party.
Radioactive ores were first extracted in South Australia at Radium Hill in 1906 and Mount Painter in 1911. 2,000 tons of ore were treated to recover radium for medical use. Several hundred kilograms of uranium were also produced for use in ceramic glazes.
The uranium mining debate covers the political and environmental controversies of uranium mining for use in either nuclear power or nuclear weapons.
The Yeelirrie uranium project is a uranium deposit located approximately 70 km southwest of Wiluna, in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The name Yeelirrie is taken from the local sheep station.
The three-mine policy, introduced in 1984 and abandoned in 1996, was a policy of the government of Australia to limit the number of uranium mines in the country to three.
The Olympic Dam mine is a large poly-metallic underground mine located in South Australia, 550 km (340 mi) NNW of Adelaide. It is the fourth largest copper deposit and the largest known single deposit of uranium in the world. Copper is the largest contributor to total revenue, accounting for approximately 70% of the mine's revenue, with the remaining 25% from uranium, and around 5% from silver and gold. BHP has owned and operated the mine since 2005. The mine was previously owned by Western Mining Corporation.
Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry (RUEI) (also known as the Fox Report) was a committee established by the Whitlam government in Australia, which sought to explore the environmental concerns surrounding uranium mining. The Inquiry was established in 1975.
Kym Winter-Dewhirst was a senior South Australian public servant, former mining industry professional and political lobbyist. He was appointed to the role of Chief Executive Department of the Premier & Cabinet in the Government of South Australia in January 2015, where he became the highest paid public sector employee in South Australia's history. He was previously employed as Vice-President of Coal at BHP Billiton, and had worked extensively on the Olympic Dam mine expansion project as an employee of Western Mining Corporation prior to 2005 and BHP Billiton thereafter.
The nuclear industry in South Australia is focused on uranium mining, milling and the export of uranium oxide concentrate for use in the production of nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants. The state is home to the world's largest known single deposit of uranium, which is worked by BHP at the Olympic Dam mine.
