Shane Mortimer

Last updated

Shane Mortimer
Born (1955-12-24) 24 December 1955 (age 62)
Belmore, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation Ngambri elder, filmmaker and activist
Parent(s) Jim and Lesley Mortimer [1]
Website Shane Mortimer on Twitter

Shane Mortimer (born 24 December 1955) is a Ngambri man with a strong connection to the local Canberra region.

Canberra capital city of Australia

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of 410,301, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney, and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of Melbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a Canberran. Although Canberra is the capital and seat of government, many federal government ministries have secondary seats in state capital cities, as do the Governor-General and the Prime Minister.

Contents

Mortimer was born in Belmore, Sydney in 1955 to parents Lesley and Jim Mortimer. [1] Mortimer lived unaware of his aboriginality until 1989, when he discovered a maternal line going back to Ngambri woman Ju Nin Mingo, daughter of James Ainslie. [2] [3] His grandmother Adelaide McClelland had been taken from her mother Florence Ellen Lowe at the Brungle Mission, prior to the First World War. [1] She was one of the thousands of stolen Aboriginal children to be forcibly removed from their parents under legislation that operated in Australia between 1910 and 1970.

Belmore, New South Wales Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Belmore is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Belmore is located 14 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Canterbury-Bankstown Council.

James Ainslie (1787–1844) was a Scottish shepherd, best known as the first overseer of the property known as Duntroon in the Australian Capital Territory. During his time on the Limestone Plains he is said to have had a relationship with an Aboriginal woman. After 10 years at Duntroon, Ainslie returned to Scotland and after numerous offences committed suicide in jail in 1844.

Brungle, New South Wales Town in New South Wales, Australia

Brungle is a village community in the central east part of the Riverina region, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated by road, about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) south-east of Gundagai and 20 kilometres north-east of Tumut. It has a population of 112.

Mortimer has been living in the Canberra area since the early 1990s. [3] In 2009–10 he co-produced his first feature film, Vulnerable, [4] and he is currently working on a 13-part documentary series on native Australian grasslands. [1] He is also Chairman of the Ag-Arts Residency Kenmore Limited. [5]

Campaigns

Campaigning against biomass and wind farms

Mortimer is an active campaigner against wind farms. [5] [6] [7] He claims that biomass and wind farms are destroying wildlife habitats, adversely impacting on Indigenous communities and do not produce any environmental benefit. [7] [8] He is also concerned the wind power industry has ignored Native Title rights. [9] Mortimer also believes wind farms in the vicinity of Lake George will diminish the fertility of sheep and cattle grazing in the area. [10]

Aboriginal title

Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, the content of aboriginal title, the methods of extinguishing aboriginal title, and the availability of compensation in the case of extinguishment vary significantly by jurisdiction. Nearly all jurisdictions are in agreement that aboriginal title is inalienable, and that it may be held either individually or collectively.

Lake George (New South Wales) Town in New South Wales, Australia

Lake George is an endorheic lake in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) north-east of Canberra located adjacent to the Federal Highway en route to Goulburn and Sydney. Lake George is also the name of a locality on the western and southern edges of the lake, within the area of the Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council.

He has supported protests against construction of Cullerin Range Wind Farm, Capital Wind Farm, Crookwell Wind Farm and Gullen Range Wind Farm. [11]

Cullerin Range Wind Farm wind farm in New South Wales, Australia

The 30 megawatt Cullerin Range Wind Farm is located in the localities of Cullerin and Breadalbane in the Upper Lachlan Shire, New South Wales, Australia. The wind farm was completed in 2009 and cost around $90 million. The owner, Origin Energy, sold the business to Energy Developments, a subsidiary of Duet.

Capital Wind Farm

The Capital Wind Farm near Bungendore is the largest wind farm in New South Wales. It is part of the 6,000-hectare (15,000-acre) Capital Renewable Energy Precinct, along with nearby Woodlawn Wind Farm and the Capital East Solar Demonstration Plant.

Crookwell Wind Farm

Crookwell Wind Farm, located at Crookwell west of Goulburn, New South Wales, consists of eight 600 kW wind turbines giving a total capacity of 4.8 MW. It was the first grid-connected wind farm in Australia when built by Pacific Power in 1998. It is now owned by Tilt Renewables.

Lobbying the Australian War Memorial for greater recognition of Aboriginal Australians

Mortimer lobbied Brendan Nelson, Director of the Australian War Memorial, on the Memorial's refusal to depict Australian frontier wars. [12]

Brendan Nelson Australian politician

Brendan John Nelson is a former Australian politician who served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2009, as the Liberal member for the Division of Bradfield in North Sydney.

Australian War Memorial historic national heritage site in Campbell ACT

The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia, and some conflicts involving personnel from the Australian colonies prior to Federation. The memorial includes an extensive national military museum. The Australian War Memorial was opened in 1941, and is widely regarded as one of the most significant memorials of its type in the world.

Australian frontier wars series of conflicts

The Australian frontier wars is a term applied by some historians to violent conflicts between Indigenous Australians and white settlers during the British colonisation of Australia. The first fighting took place several months after the landing of the First Fleet in January 1788 and the last clashes occurred in the early 20th century, as late as 1934. An estimated 20,000 Indigenous Australians and between 2,000 and 2,500 settlers died in the wars. However, recent scholarship on the frontier wars in what is now the state of Queensland indicates that Indigenous fatalities may have been significantly higher. Indeed, while battles and massacres occurred in a number of locations across Australia, they were particularly bloody in Queensland, owing to its comparatively larger pre-contact Indigenous population.

Lobbying to regenerate Australian indigenous perennial grasses

Mortimer argues that, for a sustainable future, native grasslands must be left to regenerate in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). [13] In 2012 he told the National Indigenous Times that 10 per cent regeneration of the degraded indigenous grasslands in Australia would take more carbon out of the world's atmosphere than has been put there since the industrial revolution. [1]

For environmental reasons, Mortimer has unsuccessfully sought to block land developments in the ACT, including the greenfield suburb of Lawson in Belconnen. [14] He also supports urban infill in the territory, suggesting that for environmental reasons the ACT needs to develop housing on top of existing infrastructure instead of building on the fringes of Canberra. [15]

Civil disobedience

Illegal parking

Mortimer amasses parking tickets, often parking his van illegally in the Australian Capital Territory as an act of civil disobedience; he reasons that because the land is his people's land he should be allowed to park for free. [16]

Providing an illegal housing authorisation

In 2012, Mortimer issued an 'authorisation certificate' in defiance of ACT laws to a local University student living on a raft in Lake Ginninderra. [17] [18] The certificate stated that the student was 'authorised to occupy Lake Ginninderra or any other lake estuary or wetland he may so choose upon to reside as suits his needs in Ngambri country.' [18] [17]

Comments on racism

In 2012, Mortimer filed a claim for $6 million worth of damages for alleged racism after Professor Don Aitkin, former National Capital Authority chairman, wrote that Mortimer looked "about as Aboriginal as I do". [19] [20] Mortimer sought $500,000 in personal damages and a further $5.5 million to be paid to the not-for-profit of which he is chairman, Agriculture Arts Residency Kenmore Limited (AARK). [21] Mortimer said that Aitkin's blog belittled him, discredited his aboriginality intentionally and cast doubt on his community standing. [21] Aitkin refused to retract his statement, saying "there is nothing offensive in saying that Shane Mortimer doesn't look Aboriginal because looking Aboriginal isn't one of the criteria. The criteria are, do you claim to be, and are you accepted by others as one." [19] Aboriginal Northern Territory parliamentarian Bess Price said Mortimer was "silly" to be offended by Aitkin's comments. [22]

Mortimer refused to take part in an ACT Government Aboriginal genealogy project in 2011–12, saying the project was divisive and racist. [23] [24]

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University of Canberra university in Canberra, Australia

The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

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The District of Belconnen is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), used in land administration. The district is subdivided into 25 divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. The district of Belconnen lies entirely within the bounds of the city of Canberra, the capital city of Australia.

Braddon, Australian Capital Territory Suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Braddon is an inner north suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia located adjacent to the Canberra CBD.

Belconnen, Australian Capital Territory Suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Shane Mortimer, entrepreneur and traditional owner chats about: My Ngambri mob and looking after country". National Indigenous Times Newspaper. 9 August 2012. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014.
  2. ↑ Jones, Virginia; Schubert, Annie (7 July 2011). "Indigenous Canberra: Connecting the dots". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013.
  3. 1 2 Bilton, Ross (9 March 2013). "Heart of the Nation: Mount Taylor 2606". The Australian. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  4. ↑ "Cast & Filmmakers". Archived from the original on 27 April 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Wind farming is invalid, claims Ngambri leader". National Indigenous Times. 23 August 2012. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "Protestors send wind up them". Goulburn Post. Fairfax Media. 24 June 2013. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013.
  7. 1 2 Hagan, Stephen (24 September 2012). "Local elder vs. wind industry". Goulburn Post. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014.
  8. ↑ "Rally - Shane Mortimer". 28 June 2013. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013.
  9. ↑ "Elder halts wind farm project". National Indigenous Times. 13 September 2012. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014.
  10. ↑ Musa, Helen (27 November 2012). "Lake art confronts the turbines". Canberra CityNews. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013.
  11. ↑ "Local Politics of Wind Farms". 15 May 2013. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013.
  12. ↑ Daley, Paul (12 September 2013). "Why does the Australian War Memorial ignore the frontier war?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 October 2013.
  13. ↑ Mortimer, Shane (20 May 2010). "Appendix 9: Quote from Mr Shane Mortimer, of the Ngambri People" (PDF). Report of the Grassland Forum. ACT Government. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2013.
  14. ↑ Inman, Michael (19 June 2013). "Another court loss for elder on native title crusade". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014.
  15. ↑ Anderson, Stephanie (25 April 2012). "Fringe development fight an infill boost". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012.
  16. ↑ Daley, Paul (2013). "Territorial Disputes". Archived from the original on 20 August 2013.
  17. 1 2 Anderson, Stephanie (21 March 2012). "Elders say teepee man can stay". The Canberra Times. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012.
  18. 1 2 Anderson, Stephanie (13 April 2012). "Third time lucky as teepee man accepts housing deal". Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013.
  19. 1 2 Hare, Julie (12 November 2012). "Not fair: indigenous identity back in court". The Australian.
  20. ↑ "Shane Mortimer is facing a particularly busy Thursday". National Indigenous Times. 27 March 2013.
  21. 1 2 Kretowicz, Ewa (11 November 2012). "Aitkin sued over alleged slur". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014.
  22. ↑ "Mortimer hits back at critics". National Indigenous Times. 20 November 2012. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014.
  23. ↑ "Indigenous genealogy report branded racist". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 6 January 2012. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013.
  24. ↑ "Traditional owner challenges genealogy report". Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association. 10 January 2012. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012.
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