The Wajarri people, also spelt Wadjari, Wadjarri, Watjarri, and other variations, are an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the T ...

people whose traditional lands are in the Mid West region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

. Boolardy Station, along with the tiny settlement of Pia Wajarri adjacent to it, are part of the site of the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO). As the MRO lies within Wajarri country, negotiations towards an Indigenous land use agreement (ILUA) have been proceeding for some years.

Country

Wajarri lands are located in the Mid West (also known as Murchison) region, encompass an estimated . The northern borders range as far as the hills above Lyons River headwaters, including Mount Isabella and the Teano and Waldburg ranges. The upper Gascoyne River also forms part of their traditional lands. The western border is around Byro and the Dalgety Downs, and west of the Three Rivers. Erivilla, and Milgun. Wadjari lands extend as far south as Cheangwa and the Roderick and upper Sanford rivers.

Indigenous Land Use Agreement

Boolardy Station, the site of the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, lies on the traditional lands of the Wajarri people. The

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

(CSIRO) and the

Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a radio telescope array located at Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The facility began as a technology demonstrator for the i ...

(ASKAP) office have been working with the Wajarri people to enable the various radio telescope projects located on the MRO to proceed. It is important to respect Wajarri cultural needs as well as to deliver some benefits to people, in particular the tiny and remote Pia Wajarri community next to Boolardy Station. For several years leading up to 2020, negotiations have been taking place ahead of the signing of an ILUA between the Wajarri people and the CSIRO, guided by the federal Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (now the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources). About 15 traditional owners are involved in the negotiations, representing different groups. There are challenges involved in working out how to respect the cultural significance of the area, and how to build the infrastructure (ultimately part of the international

Square Kilometre Array The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SK ...

(SKA) project) with minimal disruption to the landscape. Surveys of heritage sites have been undertaken, but the work and negotiations were somewhat disrupted by the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January ...

. The Wajarri people are still able to move freely across the land, so long as they respect the radio silence. The MRO was designated a protected radio quiet zone by the

Australian Communications and Media Authority The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 with the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Au ...

(ACMA) in April 2005, and in July 2011, an enhanced radio-quiet zone was imposed. , the outer "coordination" zone extends for a radius of . Within the radio quiet zone, there are restrictions on all radio communications equipment, including

television transmitter A television transmitter is a transmitter that is used for terrestrial (over-the-air) television broadcasting. It is an electronic device that radiates radio waves that carry a video signal representing moving images, along with a synchronized ...

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive telephone call, calls over a radio freq ...

CB radio Citizens band radio (also known as CB radio), used in many countries, is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance person-to-many persons bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two way radios operating o ...

s, and other devices, so as not to interfere with radio telescopes.

Language

Wajarri is one of the

Kartu languages The Kartu languages is a group of Indigenous Australian languages spoken in the Murchison and Gascoyne regions of Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of t ...

Notes

Citations

Sources