A BORDER indigenous leader yesterday spoke out in support of the Wodonga rail bypass, downplaying the significance of the Aboriginal sites on the proposed route.
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Richard Kennedy, the former chairman of the Mungabareena Corporation, said the overwhelming majority of the Aboriginal community were in favour of the project but calls for it to be halted were giving them a bad name.
And he said Gary Murray, who has led the charge on behalf of the Dhudhuroa people, had no ties to the Albury-Wodonga indigenous community.
Mr Murray last week wrote to federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett urging the project be halted to protect heritage sites.
“We are not talking about rock paintings,” Mr Kennedy said.
“It’s a few scraps of quartz near the Melrose Drive end of the bypass.
“These are pieces of archaeology, a few artefacts, that give rise to evidence of Aboriginal habitation; if you looked hard enough you would find them everywhere.”
The Mungabareena Corporation would not comment yesterday.
Others from the Border indigenous community have supported Mr Kennedy’s claims in phone calls to The Border Mail this week.
Mr Kennedy says the Dhudhuroa spokesman has tenuous links to the area and a history of activism.
“When it suits he is Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, Dhudhuroa or whatever other tribe he wants to be,” he said.
“He is just a lone individual playing the power card.
“The sad fact is that the local community will cop the blame for this but you wouldn’t find a handful who are opposed to the rail bypass.”
But Mr Murray has hit back, saying he was proud of his heritage.
He claims links to Wamba Wamba, Dhudhuroa, Dja Dja Wurrung, Baraparapa, Yapagalk, Yorta Yorta, and Wergaia tribes.
“I’m proud of my heritage, yes I’m multi-clanned but I trace my history back through my parents and grandparents,” Mr Murray said.
“Just because I’m not living there doesn’t mean I don’t care.”
A cultural heritage management plan prepared by archaeologists and released last week found six sites of indigenous significance on the bypass route.
Three are under the footprint of a planned new train station and the experts admit that only one can be fully protected.
The Wodonga railway project will take the line out of the city’s central business district, opening up 20ha for development.
It’s scheduled for completion in 2010.
A new station will be built near the Melrose Drive bridge and the line will cross the Wodonga flats and Lincoln Causeway on its way to Albury.
