[antiwar-van] Fw: CDN Woman Terrorized/Native Title Tainted in AUS*

[Alan Ward]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: J.T. Cooper 
To: Alicia Barsallo 
Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2002 5:51 PM
Subject: CDN Woman Terrorized/Native Title Tainted in AUS*


Alicia Barsallo 
Here is a human rights and justice problem.  It is real and happening now in Australia.  I know the people involved, a white woman and full-blood aborigine man. Their voices in the story I wrote are transcribed from telephone conversations.  This is not a fictional account, yet the protagonists and antagonists and a plot is evident in the storyline -- the third person narrative.   ... People are dying and the protagonists are in grave danger.  I want to get this story out to the right people. Do you have any suggestions? 

James T. Cooper 

 

RUTH SCHAEFER, A CANADIAN AND 
DINGAAL CLAN ADVOCATE, FACES 
DEATH THREATS OVER ABORIGINAL 
LAND RIGHTS IN HOPE VALE. 

[Letter and story follow.  More photographs at the end]
August 8, 2002 

John M. Mundy 
Consul General 
Consulate General of Canada 
Sydney, Australia 

Re:  Security of Canadian citizen working in Australia threatened 

I am writing in regards to the safety of a Canadian citizen working in Queensland, Australia. 

Ruth Schaefer, 34, from Perth, Ontario has been in Australia for about 12 years.  She has a university background in community development and indigenous policy in Australia and is working with the aboriginal community to help them deal with their social problems: poverty, alcohol and substance abuse, unemployment. 

Ms. Schaefer is a personal friend of Gordon Charlie, leader of the Dingaalwarra Clan of Cape Flattery and Lizard Island on the east coast of Queensland, north of Cairns.  Mr. Charlie, a full-blood aboriginal, is at the forefront of native title rights for his people in the Hope Vale area of the Cape York Peninsula. 

Ms. Schaefer is being terrorized as a result of her work with the traditional aboriginal people.  She is the victim of death threats and home invasions. 

I have referred the case of Dingaal Clan to the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneve for examination and observation.  I also refer it to Human Rights Watch for investigation and monitoring.  In addition, I have informed Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation in Queensland and other groups. 

This is a deadly serious matter and involves the safety of Canadians working abroad in the area of community development and social justice.  Your consideration would be very much appreciated.  The details are contained in the story I wrote on behalf of Ms. Schaefer, Mr. Charlie and the Dingaal people. 

Please contact Ruth Schaefer at Mount Molloy near Mareeba at:  011-61-7-4094-1111. 

Regards, 

James T. Cooper 

J.T.Cooper & Company Ltd. 
Vancouver, British Columbia 
CANADA 

Tel/Fax:  604-438-2785 
Email: jtcooper at vcn.bc.ca 

* * * 

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY INFORMED 

The story about the struggle for justice and aboriginal land rights of the Dingaal Clan in Queensland, Australia was sent on behalf of Gordon Charlie, leader of the Clan, and Ruth Schaefer, advocate for the Clan, to Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Special Rapporteur, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneve, concerning the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people.   http://www.unhchr.ch 

The story was also released to Human Rights Watch in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and London for the purpose of investigation and monitoring. 

Mr. Stavehhagen posted a request for submissions on the impact of major development projects on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous communities; and human rights issues for indigenous people in the realm of administration of justice. 

A questionaire was filled out concerning the denial of access to the administration of justice and the existence of a "human rights protection gap" between the spirit and text of the laws and their practical implications as far as indigenous human rights of the Dingaal Clan are concerned. 

The questionaire was sent to Mr.Stavenhagen, including the story and a Legal Report about allegations of corruption in response to his request for relevant information and sources on the two topics as it relates to the problems of the Dingaal Clan. 

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people may examine the issues.  The problems of the Dingaal Clan fall under the two stated topics:  development projects (Cape Flattery Silica Mine) and administration of justice (denial of legal representation on land rights).  It also falls under the UN themes for the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People and the issues of poverty, education, and health with alcohol and substance abuse widespread in aboriginal communities in Queensland. 

Mr. Stavenhagen is preparing a report for the 59th session of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people. The plight of the Dingaal Clan in Queensland, Australia deserves examination and observation by the international community. 

* * * 

SUMMARY 

Gordon Charlie, full-blood leader of the Dingaal Clan, has been denied administration of justice in Queensland.  Legal funding and land claims are controlled by the Cape York Land Council and aboriginal people are administered by the Hope Vale Community Council.  The Dingaal are the traditional owners of the land at Cape Flattery and Lizard Island but are unable to retain a lawyer for their native title interests.  Most of the lawyers in the region either work for the Land Council or have friends that do and are conflicted out.  The Cape Flattery Silica Mine owned by Mitsubishi is on Dingaal territory and the Clan receives nothing from the millions of dollars in royalties collected by the Land Council.  The transfer of native title is underway to the traditional owners of the land in the Hope Vale area.  The Dingaal Clan has been denied legal representation and Ruth Schaefer, advocate for the clan, faces death threats.  The Dingaal people are in despair.  They are sticken by social problems, poverty, alcohol and substance abuse. 
  

* * * 

CANADIAN WOMAN TERRORIZED OVER LAND RIGHTS:  NATIVE TITLE TRANSFER AT HOPEVALE IS TAINTED BY DEATH THREATS AND ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION IN QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA. 

(Images, maps and URL references at end.) 

J.T.Cooper © August 2002 

A Canadian woman in Australia has gone into hiding because of death threats over aboriginal land rights and allegations of corruption in Hope Vale, Queensland. 

Ruth Schaefer, a white woman from Ontario, Canada who is working with the Dingaal Clan of Cape Flattery in northern Queensland, is a victim of threatening phone calls and home invasions.  What is at stake is the transfer of native title in Hope Vale and millions of dollars in royalties from one of the world's largest silica mines owned by Mitsubishi. 

"They told me to go back to Canada.  And they've threatened me.  I'm actually having to run for my life," Schaefer said. 

Schaefer had to leave her home and stay with friends after a series of break ins.  She is concerned about the security of legal documents for the Dingaal land claims.  "I've got files hidden at friend's places because it's not safe here.  My place has been broken into and things stolen," Schaefer said. 

The threats have increased since June when experts in aboriginal law were contacted in Vancouver, British Columbia and Melbourne, New South Wales about representing the Dingaal Clan of Cape Flattery and Lizard Island.  A legal report was sent out about the theft of Clan stories, allegations of bad faith, and corruption concerning the Hope Vale Community Council and Cape York Land Council in northern Queensland. 

Schaefer believes there is a connection between the threatening phone calls and the Land Council.  The anonymous callers say, "You continue doing this and you'll end up dead bitch.  We know people at Cape York Land Council that you are bothering," she said. 

The death threats were recorded on audio cassettes, but Schaefer has put them in safe keeping and not contacted the police because "they are possibly involved as well." 

Tied up in the conflict are claims by 12 surrounding Aboriginal Clans to sections of the Dingaal Clan territory involving the silica mine at Cape Flattery.  The royalties from the mine flow to the Hope Vale Aboriginal Community Council through the Cape York Land Council without any benefit to the traditional claimant. 

Schaefer, 34, is a social activist with an university education in community development and indigenous policy.  She is an advocate of aboriginal rights and a personal friend of Gordon Charlie, leader of the Dingaal Clan of Cape Flattery in the Hope Vale area.  The region is near Cooktown, about 200 km north of Cairns on the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula. 

The feisty Canadian woman with the spirit of the Eagle from the Sandy Lake Indian Band in Saskatchewan, Canada is standing up for the Dingaal Clan and acting as a "friend of the court'" because no barrister will take on the case in Queensland.  Many lawyers and legal firms in the area are working for the Cape York Land Council. 

The Cape York Land Council, established in 1992, has a major influence on the future prospects of aboriginal people on the Cape York Peninsula.  The Land Council runs land claims under state and federal legislation, provides legal representation, and negotiates joint ventures with aboriginal and non-aboriginal interests. 

Noel Pearson, a mixed-blood from the Hope Vale mission area, is the executive director of the Cape York Land Council and played a key role in the shaping of native title laws.  However, relations with the Land Council are tarnished by the lack of fair play and participation in negotiations over royalties and land rights by the traditional full-blood people. 

"It's not happening at the moment.  But that's the way he (Pearson) likes it.  He wants to be the big boss.  He wants to control all the communities.  He set up a big office in Cairns, a big partnership.   It's like a private business, a family business," Charlie said. 

The legal counsel provided by the Land Council acts for competing native title claimants in Hope Vale.  The Dingaal Clan are forced to 'take it or leave it' and this has hindered progress for the past 10 years.  Noel Pearson and his brother Gerhardt control legal funding and keep a firm grip on land claims.  Coercion, bullying and enticement are common tactics used to keep the traditional people in line.  This has led to a bitter dispute and allegations of corruption that started in the early 1990's and continues today. 

"Everything is stuffed up because of the Cape York Land Council.  And that's the way they wanted it, you know," Charlie said. 

Peter Poynton, a barrister, who represented Charlie since 1966 has quit and is now working for the Land Council.  "I have friends in there and this is just the way we handle things," Schaefer claims Poynton said when he closed the file recently.  She has tried to get legal representation from other lawyers, but without success.  The typical response was, "Conflict of interest.  They don't want to get involved," she said." 

Schaefer is back at square one in getting legal help for the Dingaal people.  No one else is willing to help them out and she has taken it on by herself.  "Basically it's landed in my skirt pocket.  I've got all the files here in my living room," she said.  "Gordon has signed me on as his proxy and I am doing everything I can for him." 

What started out as the "Healing Spirit" project months ago for youth and elders in aboriginal addiction treatment and counselling at the Nechi Institute in Alberta, Canada has turned into a fight for survival.  Instead of the Aborigine didgerido and the Indian drum beating together death threats and home break-ins have forced Schaefer to head for cover as another land rights battle smoulders in Hope Vale. 

The 8-year struggle for native title that began in 1994 has taken its toll on the leader of the Clan and the Dingaal people.  "It's in the middle mate.  I could hang myself," Charlie said.  "I'm just about ready to give everything away.  I'm just on the ridge.  It's the bloody land, mate.  I'm just about to give it up." 

The Pearsons and the Land Council have made it difficult every step of the way since Charlie started the claim for land rights for his people.  "They want all this information from me.  They're fightin' against me.  You know, they don't want me to have my rights," Charlie said. 

Charlie, 57, a full-blood Aborigine of the Dingaal Clan, worked as a stock hand for many years and was a community police officer in Hope Vale.  He is one of the few Guugu Yimithirr speaking people of the area who knows the Dream Time stories of the Dingaal Clan.  The Stingray myth of the creation of Lizard Island is a Dingaal story that is the centre of controversy for its use and by whom. 

Schaefer claims that since the Lizard Island story got into the hands of an anthropologist working for the Land Council it is being used to swindle Charlie out of his native title rights.  "The Cape York Land Council hired Feona Powell to try to steal Gordon's stories and the Clan's stories to give to the other 12 Clans to dilute any royalties that Gordon will get paid, if any," Schaefer said. 

The circulation of the Lizard Island stories to the other Clans at Hope Vale would discredit any exclusive claim by the Dingaal Clan to traditional territory at Cape Flattery. 

"Feona is someone who is trying to get all this information to verify that the 12 other Clans own Lizard Island and Cape Flattery.  That's basically the bottom line.  She's going to use anything she can against Gordon," Schaefer said. 

Lizard Island was known as Dyiigurra to the Dingaal people and was regarded as a sacred place.  It was used by the Clan for the initiation of young males and for the harvesting of shellfish, turtles, dugongs (sea cucumbers) and fish.  The Dingaal believed that the Lizard group of islands was created in the Dreamtime.  They saw it as a stingray with Lizard Island being the body and the other islands in the group forming the tail. 

Lizard Island is situated in the northern portion of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, with three smaller islands nearby.  Together these islands form the Lizard Island Group which encircle a deep Blue Lagoon. 

The only settlements on the island are the Research Station, the Lizard Island Resort operated by P&O Australian Resorts and a camping area operated by the Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service.  The Lizard Island Group are part of the Lizard Island National Park, administered by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. 

John B. Haviland, Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics, Reed College, Portland, Oregon is a leading expert on Aboriginal languages in Australia.  Haviland pointed out in his presentations at a Symposium On Language & Culture in 1996 that the stories of Indigenous people are records of their family relationships and traditional territories.  The traditional speakers at Hope Vale make reference to geographical locations in common discourse.  Haviland recognizes that traditional stories have profound significance in establishing land claim title and aboriginal rights and is retained as a consultant by the Cape York Land Council. 

Schaefer says the Lizard Island stories are sacred to the Dingaal and giving the stories to the other Clans violates the duty of the elders.  "In any claim they've got to prove their stories and when stories are all out like this it's a breach of fiduciary duty to the elders that have those stories.  Because it's sacred to them." Schaefer said. 

Native title claimants are required to disclose the basis of their claims to other claimants.  However, Schaefer is concerned that disclosure of their sacred stories to the surrounding Clans would jeopardize the Dingaal claim.  "The federal courts now require that anything Gordon produces he's got to give it to all 12 interested parties.  In which case, if it's sacred information, I've got to put it to the Judge that it can't go to the other parties.  If the vultures get it they will use it to their own accord," Schaefer said. 

The Dingaal Clan is made up of three families:  Charlie, Baru, and Yoren.  The proper name of the Clan is Dingaalwarra.  The traditional territory of the Clan encompasses the land at Cape Flattery and Lizard Island, a group of islands off the coast.  Captain Cook, the British explorer, landed on Lizard Island in the 1700's to find his way through the Great Barrier Reef and many others followed. 

The Dingaal like many other Clans were nearly wiped out during the time of European settlement in Australia.  The Aboriginal Mounted Police were ordered to kill the local Aborigines who interfered with the white gold miners and cattle ranchers in Queensland in the 1870's. 

A man with a rifle being thrown off his horse is depicted at the Giant Horse Gallery in the Laura River area of the Cape York Peninsula.  Many of the Jowalbinna rock paintings are the oldest on Earth and made as long as 35,000 years ago. 

Lutheran missionaries established a mission at Hope Vale during the colonial period.  The half-cast, or mixed-blood aborigine, referred to as Historical People, were privileged and educated; whereas many of the full-blood, referred to as Traditional Owners, had little formal education and were rounded up and sent off to labour camps.  It is this legacy that is the at core of the land rights dispute and racial conflict in Hope Vale. 

Hope Vale today includes both Traditional Owners of the land and Historical People who moved or were moved there and descendants of both groups.  The former Lutheran mission was granted to its Aboriginal residents in 1986 through a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT) and is administered by the Hopevale Community Council.  It is the educated half-castes who took control and the full-blood Aborigines were pushed to the sidelines. 

The Hope Vale aboriginal community is depressed under the DOGIT system and the administration by the Community Council regardless of the millions of dollars in royalties coming from the Cape Flattery Silica Mine in their midst.  "Where I come from, like in Hope Vale, that place has gone down hill.  There's nothing there," Charlie said. 

The Land Act of 1982 established a system of Deeds of Grant in Trust, commonly known as DOGITs, introduced by the Queensland Government. DOGIT land is freehold granted to Aboriginal communities.  DOGITs are essentially inalienable in nature which means it cannot be sold by anybody and the Government can only take back the land by passing an Act of Parliament.  Under the DOGIT system, trustees are given title to the land which is held in trust by the local Aboriginal Community Council for the Indigenous people of the area. 

The provisions of the Community Services Act (Aborigines) 1984, make the Aboriginal Community Council under DOGIT the local government body for the area covered by the grant.  As trustee, a Community Council may not sell land but can surrender it to the Crown.  It can also mortgage the land or grant a lease over it with the approval of the Minister for Natural Resources. 

Under the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976 (Cth), Traditional Owners can form an organisation to become a Prescribed Body Corporate (PBC) under the Native Title Act (NTA).  The PBC can hold the land on behalf of the Traditional Owners.  The PBC may have a Chairperson and Executive who manage the business of the corporation.  The Community Council and a PBC may both hold land and may negotiate any agreements. 

There is a clear requirement that Community Councils should consult in a meaningful way with the Traditional Owners established as the native title holders through the Federal Court.  Consultation may be through the Traditional Owners' Prescribed Body Corporate. 

The Pearsons are using the requirements of the legislation to avoid consultation with Gordon Charlie, the leader of the Clan, by dealing with his brother John, Chairperson of the Walmbaar Aboriginal Corporation.  Walmbarr is the Prescribed Body Corporate of the Dingaal Clan under the Native Title Act, sec. 57.  This snub may be legal but it is hardly "meaningful" consultation.  Schaefer and Charlie consider this tactic as another attempt to divide the families of the Clan and weaken their position. 

There are two main legal sources for the authority of Aboriginal Community Councils: the Community Services Act (Aborigines) 1984, and the Land Act 1994. 

Community Councils are elected and have legal obligations under State law to deliver 'goodrule and government' for their communities 'in accordance with the customs and practices of the Aborigines concerned'.  Each Community Council has broad local government powers and service delivery responsibilities.  Like any other local government authority, they can make by-laws and enforce them. 

The Community Councils can legally develop anything necessary to provide good local government service delivery for the benefit of the community residents without the legal consent or formal approval of any claimed or determined native title holders.  This includes housing, roads, health care centres, schools, rubbish disposal areas or water related infrastructure. 

The Hope Vale Community Council has failed to improve living conditions in the aboriginal communities that it serves.  Unemployment is high and people live in poverty.  "Yah, there's only a few people working.  All the big money is going from Cape Flattery.  There's no money in Hope Vale.  Everybody is out of a job.  There's only about six or seven people workin'," Charlie said. 

"When you go there all the windows are broken in all the houses.  With all the millions they are getting the streets should be paved with gold for chrissakes and it's in ruins.  All the money going to the Hope Vale Council gets spent on select half-caste families that are running the Council," Schaefer said. 

Charlie has tried to get a share of the Dingaal Clan's royalty entitlements from the Hope Vale Community Council for job creation but they claim there is no money.  "Everyone's on the dole, but the money coming from Cape Flattery, millions of dollars.  It's going to the Hope Vale Council and I couldn't get a percentage of that for my people, to start up a business like tourism, or crocodile farm, things like that.  They say there is no money," Charlie said. 

The Commonwealth Native Title Act 1993 (NTA) has so far failed to address the specific circumstances of aboriginal rights.  The NTA does not make specific reference to the special circumstances of Aboriginal Community Councils established on DOGIT Lands.  For most communities, the Queensland Government view is that the granting of the DOGIT is a Category D Past Act under the provisions of sec. 228 of the NTA. 

Queensland legislation deems that native title is not extinguished by the DOGIT nor is the DOGIT extinguished when there is a determination of native title.  Native title and the DOGIT both continue in place. 

The holding of native title over land where an Aboriginal Community Council is in place does not give those native title holders exemption from local government authority.  This means that the exercise of any native title rights will still be subject to the by-laws and regulations of the Community Council. 

The Hope Vale Council controls information about the community and uses various tactics to restrict news media coverage and keep out social activists who are branded as agitators.  The activists are often expelled from the community. 

"Well, the money is being stolen.  See, they don't want any information from Hope Vale.  They don't want camera people to go in there.  You can't use tape.  You can't do anything at the Mission in Hope Vale," Charlie said. 

Charlie has tried to get the news media to do a story on the misery of Hope Vale but the local enforcers drive them out.  "You can't interview them.  I took Channel 7 in there.  They paid those silly people to throw stones at them.  Yah, them people have been paid by the Council.  For three months I was on the police force.  People came from Cairns, big people.  They couldn't stop it," Charlie said. 

Schaefer has been roughed up, threatened with guns, and told to stay away from Hope Vale.  She is certain that Noel Pearson and the Land Council are behind it.  "Because the half-castes threatened me.  Noel is half-caste and he was one of them.  And now he is ruling over the traditional full-bloods.  And they are getting the money.  That's why they don't want Gordon to win on this," Schaefer said. 

Justice Robert French, President, Nation Native Title Tribunal stated in his address to the Mapping Sciences Institute National Conference on May 1998:  The Native Title Act recognises that the Aboriginal people of Australia may have a communal relationship to land and waters which is defined by the traditional law and custom of the community in question.  It may involve responsibility for and rights associated with the land.  There may be rules or conventions which attach rights or responsibilities to a member of the community depending upon whether his or her connection with that community comes from the father's or the mother's side and whether he or she was actually born on the land in question or conceived there. 

The Native Title Act provides for the making of determinations of native title by the Federal Court of Australia.  The National Native Title Tribunal is established to assist parties, including applicants and State and Territory governments, to reach agreements about native title determinations so that when the matter is referred into the Federal Court a consent order may be sought if agreement has been reached. 

In the wake of the Native Title Act, the rights of traditional and historic people reached a flashpoint over who could claim native title. Violence broke out on the streets of Hope Vale.  Thugs forced vehicles off the road and assaulted occupants.  People were speared and shot at, houses were ransacked and torched and cars firebombed.  Eleven people were arrested for offences including arson, drugs, firearms, and grievous bodily harm. 

Chris Griffith, Investigative Reporter in Queensland reported on the violence in Hope Vale in Land Rights Queensland on May 5, 1996: On the night of Thursday February 1st, people were shot at, houses were wrecked and torched, people threw rocks at one another in the street, and a car was firebombed.  Tribal elder, Stan Darkan, 71, whose Dhubbi Warra native title claim includes the surrounds to Hope Vale, said his daughter Gloria's house was set alight, and his daughter's son was speared while he slept.  A week beforehand, Mr Darkan said local thugs had forced his son's vehicle off the road, and then stripped and assaulted him. They left his son bleeding and almost unconscious.  He said youths had also terrorised his daughter while at home on a dialysis machine. 

"There was a war in Hope Vale.  They had to send the army.  ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) showed people on TV taking guns to each other and bombing.  The half-castes against the full-bloods.  And it was about the land rights because the government wouldn't give up the title to the people," Schaefer said. 

The land conflict in Hope Vale began in 1994 when Charlie and other members of the Dingaal Clan lodged an application for a native title determination over land and waters near Cape Flattery.  Charlie approached the Cape York Land Council which was set up to represent native title claimants to handle his claim and was met with opposition.  He then sought legal representation through the Tharpuntoo Aboriginal Legal Service in Cairns. 

"If I knew that land at Cape Flattery, ah, I thought it was just vacant land.  I didn't know it came under DOGIT.  So when I put in for my native title they put that into DOGIT, too.  I thought the DOGIT was just around the Mission area of Hope Vale.  And that's when it all blew up," Charlie said. 

Tharpuntoo Legal Services lodged Charlie's claim for the Dingaal Clan with the National Native Title Tribunal and it was accepted.  The Cape York Land Council's reluctance to provide funding sparked a dispute between the legal services.  Tharpuntoo claimed Pearson and the Cape York Land Council had exercised a conflict of interest.  The conflict spread to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) where Gerhardt Pearson, a commissioner and Noel Pearson's elder brother, moved to deny Charlie funding for preparing and lodging his claim. 

Bronwyn Villaflor, a white woman, helped Charlie start his land title claim for the Dingaal Clan through the Tharpuntoo Legal Services in Cairns in the early 1990's.  Villaflor was terrorized and had to quit over the Dingaal native title case in 1994.  "Bronwyn had to go into hiding because they threatened her.  She went home one night and there was writing on her walls, QUIT THE LAND RIGHTS.  She had to quit because they killed her dog, it was poisoned," Schaefer said. 

Power and money are at the root of the conflict says Schaefer, "There are millions of dollars involved and that's why they wanted to kill her.  Hal Wooton was the Chief of Queens Counsel at the time.  He can remember everything that happened.  And Gerhardt Pearson got people drunk so they could not get their royalties.  The people couldn't go to the meetings.  I have all Bronwyn's original letters, and what she said is all on audio tape, too." 

Pearson, who has no native title claim in Hope Vale, has promoted the sharing of royalties by the entire aboriginal community.  He opposed Charlie's insistence on the full recognition of the Dingaal people's rights and to make a separate claim for Clan territory at Cape Flattery. 

However, a provisional truce was reached when Pearson agreed to support a Heads of Agreement signed on February 22, 1996 between the Dingaal Clan and the 12 other Clans to pursue native title rights together.  It was also agreed that each of the Clans would hold its native title separately.  The Cape York Land Council was to act as agent for all claims by the 13 Clans in Hope Vale and instruct the legal firm of Phillips Fox in Cairns to make the native title and Aboriginal Land Act applications. 

A milestone agreement was signed between the Dingaal Clan, the Cape York Land Council and the Hope Vale Congress of Clans in November 1996.  Charlie's position that protecting Clan rights was the only way to progress the broader claim was embraced by the other 12 Clans in Hope Vale. 

The three families that make up the Dingaal Clan (Charlie, Baru, Yoren) also signed an agreement for separate representation for the Clan within the Hope Vale Native Title process.  The Dingaal Clan, the Congress of Clans and the Cape York Land Council agreed that the claim should be amended to make it clear that the Clans seek a native title determination which spells out the separate native title rights of each of the Clans in their respective areas in accordance with custom and tradition.  The Dingaal Clan signatories and the other parties agreed to take steps to ensure that the claim was amended. 

In 1996 Charlie had difficulties with the way the legal firm of Phillips Fox handled the Dingaal claim and with the actions of the Cape York Land Council.  He retained Peter Poynton as barrister and addressed the Commonwealth of Australia Joint Committee concerning the Native Title Amendment Bill on August 27, 1996 in Cairns.  He raised issues about the Hopevale Community Council, the control of legal funding by the Cape York Land Council, a conflict of interest with the same legal firm representing different claimants and the lack of legal aid available for the Dingaal Clan to represent their own interests. 

Charlie warned of violence in the Aboriginal communities in his address to the Joint Committee.  His ominous warning was published in the Official Hansard Report:  The way I see things for the Wik, with the land council, and where I fit in, is that they have taken my rights away.  Probably a long way down the track some time, when people get a little bit more educated, I would say there is going to be a war of black against black.  It is coming to that end. 

Justice Robert French, President of the Native Title Tribunal, mediated the agreement between the 13 native title parties, statutory authorities and the State of Queensland over the recognition of native title at Hopevale, Far North Queensland. 

The Queensland Cabinet approved the Tribunal-mediated settlement on November 11,1997 involving the Hopevale Congress of Clans and Mr Gordon Charlie on behalf of the Dingaal Clan, and eight parties: the State of Queensland, Telstra, Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Cook Shire Council, the Hopevale Aboriginal Council, Queensland Commercial Fisheries Organisation, Far North Queensland Electricity Corporation, Cape Flattery Silica Mine and Cape York Land Council. 

On December 8,1997 Justice Beaumont granted a determination under sec. 87 of the Native Title Act (1993) that native title rights and interests exist in relation to land and waters near Cooktown.  The Federal Court determination recognized that native title was held by the 13 Clan groups at Hope Vale who were the claimants.  The Hope Vale determination was the first permanent recognition of native title in Australia resulting from mediation of a claim before the National Native Title Tribunal. 

The Hope Vale Community Council agreed to recognise and accommodate the native title holders' traditional interests, rights and customs through a Deed of Agreement in relation to the Determination of Native Title.  However, almost 5 years later the underlying problems of land rights still remains unresolved and the Traditional Owners have not received any economic benefits from their entitlements. 

It now appears that the Pearsons, the Cape York Land Council and the Hope Vale Community Council are ignoring their commitment to recognize separate native title rights.  Schaefer believes the Pearsons are trying to disrupt the three families of the Dingaal Clan and prevent them from attending meetings. 

"The transfer of title is happening this year.  What they've done is got all the 12 Clans from Hope Vale overlapping the Dingaal claim.  They are trying to get Phillip Baru (Dingaal signatory) to go against Gordon and come on their side so his family can be called a separate Clan.  They are trying to stop the people from going to meetings through alcohol and internal conflict," Schaefer said. 

John Bednarek, an officer of the Premier and Cabinet, Native Title Unit is in charge of the transfer of title to the traditional people in Hope Vale. 

"He's (Bednarek) saying, "First there best dressed."  What that means is, if the Dingaal don't make it to meetings they don't get their royalties.  And the fact that they are all alcoholics that's too bad, so sad," Schaefer said. 

Schaefer says that the hiring of a coordinator from Hope Vale for the transfer of title will be used to turn people against Charlie.  "They are going to hire a coordinator and want someone half-caste.  The Officer of the Premier and Cabinet and Noel and Gerhardt Pearson are all trying to get a member of the Clan to go against Gordon.  They are trying to sway the other people not to allow Gordon to have his royalties.  They are trying to turn the people against him," Schaefer said. 

The Cape York Justice Study by Justice Tony Fitzgerald released in April 2002 is a scathing report of government policy and oppression of Aboriginal people in Queensland.  The Report was undertaken in response to a request by Premier Peter Beattie to identify causes contributing to alcohol and substance abuse and any other factors contributing to breaches of the law in Cape York Indigenous communities. 

The Justice Study recommends strategies and supports the continuing development of partnerships between the Queensland Government and Cape York Indigenous communities. 

Yet, the Queensland government maintains its right to exclusive access and control of mineral rights.  The profits of nearly all Aboriginal revenue-producing enterprises are absorbed to cover Departmental costs.  The Aboriginal Community Councils are predominantly dependent on rentals, alcohol profits, federal pensions and special funding to cover municipal functions.  The parious funding position forces Community Councils to rely on canteen revenue and the government controls the beer supply. 

Justice Fitzgerald portrays a despairing picture of Aboriginal people in the conclusion of the Cape York Justice Study Report:  The community landscape is one of social and economic privation.  The children's futures are bleak.  A destructive cycle has been established. 

The Justice Study links child abuse to alcohol consumption and other social problems:  Aboriginal children are over-represented in child protection cases.  Child abuse and neglect is linked to heavy drinking and other social and health problems, including self-harm and suicide, parenting difficulties, crime and incarceration. 

The Dingaal people are struggling with alcoholism, poverty and unemployment.  They have started drinking methylated spirits, a highly toxic alcohol used for industrial purposes. 

"I don't want to see the people die because right now they are into methylated spirits.  It's like turpentine.  It's horrible and it's blue.  And they drink petrol.  Kids at the age of 8 are really sick and dying," Schaefer said. 

The Justice Study states the problems faced by traditional people:  Social and economic problems are widespread in Australia.  Poverty, lack of education, unemployment, welfare dependency, alcohol and substance abuse, and family violence are prevalent in Aboriginal communities. 

Justice Fitzgerald confirms the result of colonial and government policies:  The consequences of colonisation, dispossession, relocation, removal of children, including to dormitories, denial of rights, brutality and racism did not cease when the wider community adopted a more sympathetic and benevolent attitude to Aboriginal Australians in the latter part of last century.  Land had been taken and history, languages and customs had been lost or substantially damaged.  For many Indigenous people, continuity, identity, dignity, spirituality and self-esteem have been drastically eroded. 

The Justice Study appeals for understanding and help:  Aboriginal people are effectively trapped between their traditional cultures and a complex, rapidly changing, mainstream Australian society.  Many members of the Cape York Indigenous communities, and in some cases the communities as a whole, are, and for the foreseeable future will continue to be, traumatised by past events and present circumstances.  Understandably, there is widespread confusion, anger, resentment and distrust in the communities.  It is not a matter of blame or shame that these communities need help. 

The vulnerability to alcohol addiction and substance abuse are weaknesses that can be easily exploited with millions of dollars in royalties the grand prize in a high stakes game.  It doesn't take much to eliminate the opponents one by one, turn them against each other and break down their team spirit.  All it takes is a bottle of liquor to keep them from showing up for meetings or push them over the edge for the perfect crime. 

Henry Baru was one of the signatories of the Dingaal Clan agreement in 1996 for separate representation in the Hope Vale determination of native title.  He was 52 years when he recently died in July 2002.  Schaefer claims his death was not by natural causes or entirely by accident. 

"Henry Baru just died and he went through hell with the Pearsons getting him drunk all the time and not showing up to meetings.  It's really sad,"  Schaefer said.  "Gerhardt Pearson got people drunk so they could not attend the meeting. He got Henry under the tree and said, "You just stay there.  Here's some alcohol."  I've got the woman that was there at the time.  She told me that." 

Justice Fitzgerald reveals the fallacy of the missionary practice and the problems with land grants in Queensland:  After the importance of land to Indigenous people was belatedly acknowledged, some land has grudgingly been made available, initially in the form of Government grants and more recently, even more reluctantly, Native Title has been politically recognised.  On Cape York, land grants have been largely based on the fallacious concept of 'community', which had its historical foundations in the missionary practice of co-locating disparate and often dissimilar groups from different areas to a place which well-meaning white people considered suitable. 

The missionary influence lives on in Hope Vale with the mixed-blood people in control of the Community Council and the Land Council.  The full-blood aborigine people believe the elitists want to maintain the status quo in the transfer of title to the traditional owners of the land.  Schaefer is concerned that the traditional people will lose out on their entitlements because many are too sick to show up for meetings. 

"These people might not get their royalties if they don't show up.  They are too sick.  They are already alcoholics and now they are going on to the methylated spirits.  John, the chairman of the Dingaal is going through so much of it," Schaefer said.  John Charlie is chairperson of the Walmbaar Aboriginal Corporation, the corporate body of the Dingaal Clan. 

"What they are trying to do is swindle Gordon out of the royalties by maybe the Charlies won't turn up for the meetings because some of them have alcohol problems.  So Pearson knows that.  What happens if some of the Charlies don't attend?  Well, that's it.  They won't get their royalties.  It's really dependent if Gordon's people make it to the meetings," she said. 

Schaefer contacted Graeme Neate, current President of the Native Title Tribunal, about the tactics of the Pearsons and the Cape York Land Council in Cairns. 

"He's (Neate) saying, "We still have to let it happen with the Cairns office (Cape York Land Council) because we don't have the resources to handle it."  I said, I find that contradictory because you are saying in every publication about Native Title that indigenous people be self determined.  And now you are not wanting to take this case as separate which it should be because of the corruption involved.  And now that I've stirred some soup up I've been getting threatening phone calls," Schaefer said. 

Scheafer's pleas for intervention by the Native Title Tribunal in the transfer of title at Hope Vale and calls for legal representation for Gordon Charlie and Dingaal Clan has fallen on deaf ears.  She believes it is a plot  by Pearson to saddle the 12 surrounding Clans on the back of the Dingaal claim to Cape Flattery and the royalties from the silica mine. 

"It's a ploy.  He's (Pearson) trying to do that even though the Dingaal are entitled to their title because it's main determination is over Cape Flattery.  When you look at a map of the whole Cape Flattery area it's Dingaal.  There's all these other little Clans around there, that haven't really got strong enough say, but because Gordon can't afford to take this to the High Court, the Federal Court is allowing these hitch-hiking Clans to come on board and when they do they will be just as entitled to those royalties as Gordon.  Unless, the people say at these meetings they want the Dingaal to get the main portion of their royalties," she said. 

It is unlikely the other Clans will give up a share of the royalties that flow from the Cape Flattery Silica Mine.  The Dingaal are asking for 80% of the royalties with 20% going to the other 12 Clans.  Schaefer helped Charlie draft a petition about the division of the royalties which he is circulating in Hope Vale to the Clans.  However, she can't go into the community because of death threats and is concerned about Charlie. 

"I'm worried for him as well because he is trying to get people to sign things.  So it's all of this at once.  I've got to go into hiding again and I can't be exposing myself," she said. 

Charlie has made various attempts to create employment opportunities for the Dingaal people in cultural and tourism projects.  The lack of funds from the Community Council in Hope Vale and interference by the Land Council have thwarted his efforts. 

Charlie is interested in telling Dingaal Clan stories and putting a cultural presentation together.  "Yah, I walkabout.  I'm free now, on my pension, eh.  Yah, I got all of that, that I want to put out.  How the world came together and where our people came from.  I want to make a big one.  I would like to put that out to the world," Charlie said. 

He was recently approached by an investor about a joint-venture to build a resort on Lizard Island.  However, Noel Pearson of the Cape York Land Council intervened and dereailed the project.  Charlie was frustrated because "all the elitists want the money for themselves and little goes to the Dingaal people," said Schaefer. 

Schaefer has been in contact with Chris Griffith, Queensland Whistle Blower, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).  Neither seem interested in doing a story on the transfer of title in Hope Vale and the corruption behind the scenes. 

"I've been in contact with ABC but they won't do my story.  Oh, sorry we don't do those.  You can contact someone else and that person says contact someone else.  We'll get back to you.  And no one takes it on.  Chris Griffith wasn't interested either.  He was supposed to call me back and never did," Schaefer said.  "There is file footage with ABC on the violence in Hope Vale.  People shooting each other and car bombs.  It's all there. It's going to happen again." 

Justice Fitzgerald left a warning in the Conclusion of the Cape York Justice Study with his final words:  It is folly for these matters simply to be ignored. 

"I'm a Canadian woman putting myself out on the line to help the Dingaal because nobody else wants to help them.  It's the right thing to do," Schaefer said.  "I'm here because I was brought up with social justice in Canada.  I'm fighting the apathy of Australia where nobody fights for anybody.  And she'll be right mate.  Well she's not going to be right mate.  The average person in Australia doesn't even know this is happening." 

"She'll be right mate" is a saying in Australia that is similar to the expression "Don't worry about it," Schaefer explained.  "She'll be right mate.  No worries mate.  Well you have to.  Where I come from we do worry about things.  We get things happening for the better," she said. 

"The Office of the Premier and Cabinet says, 'Whoever gets to the meeting they'll get their royalties."  So even though Gordon and his people are the main determinants of Cape Flattery, if they don't make it to meetings, too bad.  The government will give them (royalties) to someone else who makes it to the meetings.  This is how cruel and corrupt this is," Schaefer said. 

The problems faced by Gordon Charlie and the Dingaal Clan stem from the reluctance of the Cape York Land Council to provide adequate legal funding.  The Dingaal have been denied the administration of justice and there exists a "human rights protection gap" in the spirit and text of the law.  The Dingaal need legal counsel to represent and protect indigenous human rights and traditional Clan interests.  In all fairness, a lawyer is required to level the playing field. 

J.T.C. 8/5/02 

# # # 

CONTACT: 

Ruth Schaefer 
Gordon Charlie, leader 
Dingaalwarra Clan 
Northern Queensland 

P.O. Box 18 
Bell, Queensland 
4408 AUSTRALIA 

Tel:  011-61-7-4094-1111 

J.T.Cooper & Company Ltd. 
Vancouver, British Columbia 
CANADA 

Tel/Fax: 604-438-2785 
Email: jtcooper at vcn.bc.ca 

BACKGROUND REFERENCE: 

Aborigines Reach Historic Hopevale Agreement 
Chris Griffith, Investigative Journalist 
Land Rights Queensland - May 5, 1996 
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~chris/1996/hopev1.htm 

Gordon Charlie, Leader of the Dingaalwarra Clan 
Commonwealth of Australia Joint Committee 
on Native Title Amendment Bill 
Official Hansard Report  - August 27, 1996 
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/joint/commttee/j469.pdf 

Hope Vale Native Title Determination 
Justice Beaumont - December 8, 1997 
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/1997/1408.html 

Justice Tony Fitzgerald 
Cape York Justice Study Report - April 2002 
A post-contact history of Cape York - Introduction 
http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/about/community/pdf/capeyork/01.pdf 
Conclusions 
http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/about/community/pdf/capeyork/concl.pdf 

Cape Flattery Silica Mine 
http://www.mitsubishi.co.jp/En/business/living/Mitsubishi 

Port of Cape Flattery 
http://www.pcq.com.au/html/02p_flattery.htm 

Graeme Neate, President 
National Native Title Tribunal (NTT) 
http://www.nntt.gov.au/ 
Justice Robert French, Past President of the NTT 
Native Title: The Spatial Information Sponge - Mapping Sciences Institute National Conference -  May 1998 
http://www.nntt.gov.au/nntt/publictn.nsf/99ab8fba0eb8f374482568e7000cb7a9/ef4ed213a03adecd4825669d000a8855?OpenDocument 

Noel and Gerhardt Pearson 
Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation 
http://www.balkanu.com 
(Balkanu originated from the operations of the Cape York Land Council.) 
http://www.balkanu.com.au/people/organisations/landcouncil.htm 

Hope Vale Aboriginal Community 
http://www.balkanu.com.au/places/communities/hopevale.htm 
http://cwpp.slq.qld.gov.au/hopevale 

Geoff Dickie, Executive Director 
John Bednarek, Director Claims Resolution 
In charge of the transfer of Native Title at Hope Vale 
Native Title Services 
Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Queensland 
http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/about/nativetitle/newweb/pages/home_index.htm 

John Beard Haviland 
Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics 
Reed College - Portland, Oregon 
http://www.reed.edu/~johnh/ 
Pointing, Gesture Spaces, and Mental Maps - Symposium On Language & Culture - April 22,1996 
http://www.language-culture.org/colloquia/symposia/haviland-john/4.html 

Dingaal Clan Agreement - Cooktown, November 19, 1996 
Separate representation within the Hope Vale native title process. 
http://www.nativetitle.com/HopeValeText.htm 

Native Title In DOGIT Communities 
http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/about/nativetitle/newweb/pdfs/aboriginal.pdf 

Premier Peter Beattie 
Government of Queensland, Australia 
http://www.qld.gov.au/ 

IMAGES (14) 

1 RuthSchaeferCDN.jpg 
2 HopeValeCapeFlatteryMap.jpg 
3 CapeFlatteryPort.jpg 
4 CharlieonLizard.jpg 
5 LizardIsland.jpg 
6 DingaalSignatories'96.jpg 
7 Pearsons Brothers.jpg 
8 GordonCharlieWords.jpg 
9 TraditionalPeople.jpg 
10. Beattie&Fitzgerald.jpg 
11 JusticeFitzgeraldWords.jpg 
12 HopeValeCapeYorkMap.jpg 
13 NativeTitleServices.jpg 
14 LauraRiverQuinkans.jpg 
  
  



 

RUTH SCHAEFER, A CANADIAN AND 
DINGAAL CLAN ADVOCATE, FACES 
DEATH THREATS OVER ABORIGINAL 
LAND RIGHTS IN HOPE VALE. 

 

HOPE VALE IS HOME TO 13 ABORIGINAL CLANS 
WITH THE DINGAAL FROM CAPE FLATTERY AND LIZARD ISLAND. 

 

DEEP SEA PORT AT CAPE FLATTERY WHERE TONS 
OF SILICA SAND ARE SHIPPED YEARLY BY MITSUBISHI. 
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN ROYALTIES GO TO THE 
CAPE YORK LAND COUNCIL AND HOPE VALE COMMUNITY COUNCIL 
AND NOTHING TO THE DINGAAL PEOPLE. 

 

GORDON CHARLIE, LEADER OF THE DINGAAL CLAN, 
TRADITIONAL OWNERS OF CAPE FLATTERY AND LIZARD ISLAND. 

 

LIZARD ISLAND IS A SACRED PLACE TO THE DINGAAL CLAN, BUT 
TOURIST RESORTS ARE RUN BY NON-ABORIGINAL INTERESTS. 

 

THE THREE MAIN FAMILIES OF THE DINGAAL CLAN: 
CHARLIE, BARU AND YOREN.  THE CLAN MEMBERS 
SIGNED AN AGREEMENT FOR REPRESENTATION 
SEPARATE FROM THE 12 OTHER CLANS IN 
NATIVE TITLE DETERMINATION OF THE HOPE VALE AREA. 

 

NOEL AND GERHARDT PEARSON OPPOSED 
SEPARATE REPRESENTATION FOR THE DINGAAL CLAN. 
THE PEARSON BROTHERS ARE MIXED-BLOOD AND HAVE NO 
NATIVE TITLE.  THEY CONTROL LEGAL FUNDING AND 
LAND RIGHTS THROUGH THE CAPE YORK LAND COUNCIL 
 AND THE HOPE VALE COMMUNITY COUNCIL. 

 

 

THE TRADITIONAL INHABITATS OF CAPE FLATTERY WERE ROUNDED UP 
BY WHITE SETTLERS AND SENT TO WORK CAMPS.  THE 
LUTHERAN MISSIONARIES AT HOPE VALE EDUCATED THE MIXED-BLOODS. 
THE FULL-BLOOD ABORIGINAL PEOPLE TODAY ARE POORLY EDUCATED 
AND STRICKEN BY POVERTY AND ALCOHOL ADDICTION. 

 

PREMIER PETER BEATTIE ASKED JUSTICE TONY FITZGERALD 
TO IDENTIFY THE CAUSES, NATURE AND EXTENT OF BREACHES OF THE LAW, 
ALCOHOL AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES. 
JUSTICE FITZGERALD RESPONDED WITH THE CAPE YORK JUSTICE STUDY, 
A SCATHING REPORT ON MISSIONARY AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES. 

 

 

IN DECEMBER 1997 THE FEDERAL COURT DETERMINED THAT 
NATIVE TITLE WAS HELD BY 13 CLAN GROUPS AT HOPE VALE. 
THIS WAS THE FIRST PERMANENT RECOGNITION OF 
ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS BY NATIVE TITLE TRIBUNAL MEDIATION. 

 

THE TRANSFER OF NATIVE TITLE IN 2002 TO THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE 
IN THE HOPE VALE AREA OF CAPE YORK IS IN THE HANDS OF TWO MEN: 
GEOFF DICKIE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AND JOHN BEDNAREK, 
DIRECTOR OF CLAIMS RESOLUTION, NATIVE TITLE SERVICES DEPARTMENT, 
OFFICE OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, GOVERNMENT OF QUEENSLAND. 

 

ROCK PAINTINGS IN THE LAURA RIVER AREA OF 
THE CAPE YORK PENINSULA WERE MADE 
35,000 TO 50,000 YEARS AGO.  MORE RECENT PAINTINGS 
DEPICT THE MOUNTED POLICE WHO WERE ORDERED 
TO KILL THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE WHO INTERFERRED 
WITH THE WHITE GOLD MINERS AND SETTLERS








































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