00:00The Wiradjuri people's connection to this place goes back thousands of years.
00:09There's 19 artefact scatters, 18 isolated finds, one open artefact site.
00:15Up until recently it was set to become a waste storage site for the Regis gold mining project.
00:21That was before the Federal Environment Minister issued a rare Section 10 order to protect
00:26the site.
00:27The water is sacred and life-giving, it's healing and it's got spiritual significance.
00:33It's used particularly for different types of ceremony.
00:38They say earlier attempts to have it listed on the register were rebuffed because it was
00:41considered a state-significant development.
00:45Well it says they believe what we say, but they can't do anything about it, which is
00:51really frustrating.
00:53Since the Minister's intervention the pushback has been fierce.
00:56We've been accused of lying, accused of profiteering from the application.
01:02We've had our members threatened and harassed.
01:04Regis says the intervention makes their project unviable and will hurt the local economy.
01:09The mining company insists it followed the correct process every step of the way, consulting
01:14with the local Aboriginal Land Council, which withdrew its opposition during the application.
01:20It declined to comment for this story, but the New South Wales Land Council has issued
01:24a statement saying it's deeply concerned with the debate and wants better systems in
01:29place that aren't used by governments to divide our peoples.
01:32Why is it that Aboriginal people have to have a consensus view on the heritage value of
01:39a place?
01:40Because they all have different connections to that place.
01:44Like many other Aboriginal people, we hold the belief that we are country and country
01:49is us.
01:50A connection that's being protected for now.
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