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

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

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 th ...

Boolardy Station Boolardy Station is a remote former sheep and cattle station in the Mid West (Murchison) region of Western Australia, about north-north-east of Pindar and west-south-west of Meekatharra. It is within the Shire of Murchison and situated on ...

, along with the tiny settlement of Pia Wajarri adjacent to it, are part of the site of the

Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory The Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) was established by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in 2009. It lies in a designated radio quiet zone located near Boolardy Station in the Murchison Shire of ...

(MRO). As the MRO lies within Wajarri country, negotiations towards an

Indigenous land use agreement Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

(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 in ...

(ASKAP) office have been working with the Wajarri people to enable the various

radio telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...

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 The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources was a department of the Australian Government responsible for consolidating the Government’s efforts to drive economic growth, productivity and competitiveness by bringing together indu ...

(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 (SKA ...

(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 Januar ...

. 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 A radio quiet zone is an area where radio transmissions are restricted in order to protect a radio telescope or a communications station from radio frequency interference. The Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) def ...

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 Austr ...

(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 a ...

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 calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

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 on ...

s, and other devices, so as not to interfere with

Language

Wajarri The Wajarri people, also spelt Wadjari, Wadjarri, Watjarri, and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands are in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Boolardy Station, along with the tiny settlement of ...

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. They are thought to be closely related and to form a low-level genealogical group. The languages usually cons ...

Notes

Citations

Sources