How $5m reconciled Garriyaj the serpent

May 27, 2001         The Sun Herald

Buried deep in the Federal Budget papers is a 'sorry' story     with a difference - how the Government is spending millions of dollars so a rainbow serpent can rest in peace. Political Correspondent Fia Cumming reports.

It's called "practical reconciliation" and it is Prime Minister John Howard's response to the people who want him to say "sorry".

In the Goondiwindi district, practical reconciliation means a $5 million grant from taxpayers to allow Garriyaj, the rainbow serpent, to lie in peace.

Local Aboriginal people have been fighting for 30 years to stop water skiing on Boobera Lagoon, a 15km-long stretch of water south-west of Goondiwindi.

They did not mind people picnicking, swimming or even canoeing. But they hated the motor boats, which they said disturbed Garriyaj, which lived on the lagoon's bottom.

Garriyaj's plight was raised in Geneva, where ATSIC representatives told a UN committee last August that it was an example of the desecration of heritage sites.

At the end of 1998, former Federal aboriginal affairs minister John Herron agreed that the lagoon was a significant Aboriginal site and gave it legal protection.

But after loud protests from the 250-strong local water skiing club, Environment Minister Robert Hill postponed the ban on water  skiing from July last year to July 2002.

The Boggabilla-Toomelah Land Council responded with court action.

In last week's Federal Budget, Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson - who happens to be the local MP - announced a plan which the Government hopes will restore peace in the Goondiwindi district ... with a little help from taxpayers.

A new man-made lake and channel would be created out of a creek and waterholes, surrounded by 210ha of recreational and tourist park.

It would include an adventure island for Scouts, a 2ha picnic area and walking and biking trails. Fishing would be permitted. There would even be a bush tucker section, featuring edible native plants.

Boobera Lagoon would remain open to the public for quiet, non-motorised water activities and picnics.

But the skiing fraternity would have its own playground across the electoral border -            just 15km away on the outskirts of Goondiwindi.

In a happy coincidence, the Serpentine Water Park would fall in the electorate of another National Party minister, Veterans Affairs Minister Bruce Scott.

A spokeswoman for Anderson said he regarded the project as a way to resolve a black-white conflict that had gone on for decades.

"John's strongest case was this is an area where practical reconciliation can happen, where you can get a good outcome for the whole community," she said.

"The water skiers can still ski and the Aboriginals keep their snake quiet."

The money to make it all happen has been provided by the Environment Department on the grounds that the new water park will be a "natural heritage and recreation facility".

Goondiwindi Town Council is strongly behind the project, which mayor Tom Sullivan is confident will make everyone happy.

"It's going to satisfy the Aboriginal community and it will satisfy the white community, and it has great potential for the tourism industry as well," Sullivan said.

"We have had very good support from the Aboriginal community for this project. They are right behind it and they are going to assist us with the planning."

Sullivan said claims that water skiers could choose from six other local venues, which were included in a report to Senator Herron, did not hold water. He said the alternatives were either unsuitable or too far away.

The only potential problem with the new water park, to be known as Serpentine Lagoon, is where to find enough water to fill it and keep it full.

Mayor Sullivan said excess water from the river could be released into the creek and lagoon during heavy rain seasons.

But whether there would be enough to keep it topped up between rain periods was uncertain.

"That's one of the problems we will have to solve as we go along," he said.

But taxpayers may wonder about the cost effectiveness of spending the equivalent of $20,000 each for a group of water skiers because the local Aborigines refused to share their lagoon.

According to the water skiing club, at one point the local land council allowed half of the lagoon to be roped off because the serpent was only at one end.

But then the council decided this was wrong and Garriyaj actually roamed around the whole lagoon, requiring an end to all noisy powerboat activity.

With the ban supported by Federal law, it was left to the Federal Government to provide a practical solution.

But the lagoon sits oddly with the Government's usual interpretation of practical reconciliation.

It is supposed to provide effective, positive action to bring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people up to the same living standards as other Australians.

Last Tuesday's Budget included an extra $327 million over four years for programs to build on the practical reconciliation strategy, mainly for jobs, health and housing.

The $5 million for the lagoon was not even mentioned in Reconciliation and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Philip Ruddock's statement on the portfolio, entitled "Our Path Together".

But it might have fitted well under the heading "Getting the most out of government services".

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