Rock formation Parlapuni a source of strength for outback community

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

Just outside the remote mining town of Pannawonica, a trapezoid-shaped rock sits on top of a spinifex-covered hill.
The outcrop, about 1,400 kilometres north of Perth, has a touch of the supernatural.
Its prominence in the surrounding Pilbara landscape draws comparisons with the Devils Tower outcrop in Wyoming made famous by Steven Spielberg in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
While many in town know it simply as the Panna Hill, the area's traditional owners — the Robe River Kuruma people — call it Parlapuni.
"It's the most peaceful place," Robe River Kuruma woman Tuesday Lockyer said.
The Robe River Kuruma people believe Parlapuni was not always on the outskirts of Pannawonica.
Thousands of years ago, the hill is believed to have sat on land belonging to a neighbouring Pilbara group — the Marthudunera people.
Ms Lockyer said that changed during a bitter feud between the two groups.
"While [everyone] was fighting one another, two old people decided to send out two birds from here called putt putts," she said.
According to the story, the birds then sang a song that dragged the hill from Marthudunera country to where it sits today.
In the end, Ms Lockyer said each group's elders stepped in and ended the feud.
"[It] must have been going on for a while and they must have got tired of fighting one another," she said.
Today, a clearing just in front of Parlapuni is one of Ms Lockyer's favourite places to gather with friends and share stories around a campfire.
"You feel that the spirits are here," she said.
"It's like home. It welcomes you home."
In recent years, visiting Parlapuni has also meant confronting a distressing situation for the Robe River Kuruma people.
Just in front of the hill is an empty river bed.
It is one of several rivers that the Robe River Kuruma people say are running dry more often than usual.
They attribute the situation to years of groundwater extraction by mining giant Rio Tinto to supply local iron ore mines and provide drinking water to coastal towns in the Pilbara.
Ms Lockyer has been involved in a long-running campaign to reduce water extraction on Robe River Kuruma country.
She said she had drawn strength from Parlapuni to sustain what had been a draining campaign.
"It's like a David and Goliath fight. We are the little Davids," Ms Lockyer said.
"But still we gotta have hope, you know, and we always do, that the country will get rain, we will get water."
In response to the traditional owners' concerns, Rio Tinto is building a desalination plant in Dampier, which is set to be completed next year.
The company believes that from 2030, no more groundwater will be taken from Robe River country.
Ms Lockyer said passing down stories, like the origin of Parlapuni, was just as important as advocating for the protection of country.
"Our obligation is not only to look after country but also to pass down the stories that have been passed down from our elderly generations," she said.
"That's why we keep these stories going, and it's good that the stories will keep on going for many, many years."