The culprit this time is the Australian Defence Force, which undertakes live-fire training exercises and weapons-testing activities at the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA). Within range of falling missiles and mortars there is evidence of sequential spiritual engagement spanning centuries in rock engravings, heritage artefacts, tool-making sites, and also sites of mythological importance for Indigenous people.
Andrew and Robert Starkey are Kokatha Badu (respected senior figures, or lore men) from the Western Desert region of South Australia who have devoted decades to registering and protecting heritage sites on their land. Their ancestors have occupied the area for more than 11,500 years.
Part of the WPA cuts across Kokatha land, and BHP’s Olympic Dam Mine sits in its north. The area is known for its spectacular salt lakes, which Andrew says are an integral part of the Indigenous cultural landscape, important in Dreamtime stories that criss-cross the country.
In January 2021, a group of Kokatha traditional owners conducting heritage-site inspections discovered an unexploded high-tech missile in a location where Defence says it does not test weapons. This secretive department has refused to explain how the missile, manufactured by Saab, came to be at Lake Hart West, a registered heritage site.
‘Within a one-kilometre radius of the missile there are more than 20 heritage features, with priceless rock engravings only a couple of kilometres away’, said Andrew.
It took 12 months to remove the missile. A Defence Department spokesperson confirmed it was recovered on 18 January 2022, adding that Defence had, ‘worked closely with Traditional Owners to locate and recover the war materiel’.
The beautiful salt lake has the misfortune of being located inside the red zone (most often used) of the WPA. A video from 2018 and a tweet from 2019 show Defence undertaking live-fire training with Saab missiles over Lake Hart. Such testing is permitted over the lake; the heritage sites are close by and are off-limits.