PERHAPS the recent disgraceful destruction of an ancient Aboriginal site in the Pilbara by Rio Tinto will help us to make the right decision here in Bathurst regarding the location of the go-kart track.
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The proposed location is the top of Mount Panorama, a recognised sacred site for the Wiradjuri community.
"It is a place where women are said to have handed their sons to men for tribal initiations. This is our grandmother's and this is our ancestor's place," says aunty Leanna Carr-Smith, "Wirribee" from the Wiradjuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation.
The Western Australia site, two rock shelters, is recognised as one of Australia's oldest known Aboriginal heritage sites with evidence of human occupation from over 46,000 years ago, scores of thousands of years earlier than previously thought.
This has significance not just nationally but internationally. Rio Tinto's blasting of this site has been compared to Islamic State's destruction in Palmyra.
What we have here is important to our local history. Let us honour it and keep Wahluu open for everyone. How about a mini national park instead, to preserve the remnant endangered box gum woodland atop the sacred Wiradjuri site?
Cathie Hale, Bathurst
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