|
AngloGold Ashanti Australia's Sunrise Dam Gold Mine's stakeholder and community
engagement programme has in the past year led to the publication of an account of an
indigenous aboriginal community from Laverton, a town situated some 50 km from Sunrise
Dam Gold Mine. Laverton's population numbers some 600 people. The publication, entitled
'Willing People', traces the trials and tribulations faced by the aboriginal people of this
region, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, and records the establishment of the Wongatha
Wonganarra Aboriginal Corporation (WWAC). In 1974 The Wongatha Wonganarra Aboriginal
Corporation was formed with the objective of facilitating the social and economic
development of these aboriginal people in the Laverton region and a transient population of
some 1,500 people who travel up to 600 km to reach the centre.
The project of recording the WWAC story was born out of an alliance between Curtin
University of Western Australia, the student volunteers from Tulane University of New
Orleans from the USA, Placer Dome's Granny Smith Gold Mine and Sunrise Dam Gold Mine.
Each organisation became a partner in the production of the book by working together and
contributing resources both financially and in kind.
The WWAC has provided not only employment, but significant training opportunities across
a range of sectors (housing management, construction, business and office management,
mining, seed collection, sports and environmental health). The WWAC is strongly
represented on local and regional forums dealing with a variety of issues including health,
education, family violence and youth affairs.
'Willing People' provides for this community a platform which records the sometimes painful
history of the founders of WWAC. Through their memories the book provides an
acknowledgement of this past, the strong sense of community characteristic of this
community both in the past and the present, and a fresh perspective on the future. |
Community (PDF -
1.0MB)
