Fortescue has ‘stolen’ and ‘destroyed’ Yindjibarndi land: elder
Fortescue Metals Group had “stolen” and “destroyed” Yindjibarndi land, a visibly upset traditional owner told the Federal Court during an on-country hearing in a landmark compensation case.
Under the full sun in north-west Western Australia on Monday, Yindjibarndi elder Stanley Warrie cried as he pointed Federal Court judge Stephen Burley to observe red land adorned with Fortescue’s large metal pipes on the outskirts of its iron ore pit.
Yindjibarndi men Michael Woodley (left) and Stanley Warrie on the balcony of the former Victoria Hotel in Roebourne. Brad Thompson
The native titleholders have been waiting 15 years for the last chapter in an epic legal war with Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue. They are seeking upwards of $1 billion in royalties and compensation for damage to cultural sites at Fortescue’s Solomon iron ore hub in the Pilbara, which is on Yindjibarndi land and was mined without agreement with the First Nations owners.
“Fortescue has stolen the land,” Mr Warrie told the court.
“This is my religion, and it’s been destroyed, my stories, my life. Yindjibarndi land is where my religion is.”
Fortescue has shipped millions of tonnes of iron ore from Yindjibarndi country since production at Solomon began in 2013, generating $50 billion in revenue.
But the miner is yet to pay a cent to Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation. The landholders lodged the Federal Court action to change that, after a long-running legal battle which granted the YAC “exclusive possession” over the iron ore-rich north-west Pilbara land in 2017.
Fortescue insists it does not owe compensation to the Yindjibarndi people. It argues the bill should be paid by the state of WA because it granted the tenements. The WA government disputes this, saying the
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