This petition supports the demands of the Hayes family, Traditional Owners of Kuyunba, the land Pine Gap Facility occupies. This petition is organised by the Close Pine Gap Sacred Land Back Convergence.

The Hayes Family Letter:

We, Arrernte traditional owners for Kuyunba, the land Pine Gap occupies, want the Australian government and the Australian people to know:

That there was never consent for the Australian and US governments to put that base on our sacred land. Our old people were working on their Country until the base took over. Our elders, the elders of this Country, did not know anything about Pine Gap. They didn’t know why it was put there. They didn’t know what it would be used for. They were never told. The Australian government just came and took over the land.

The Australian government didn’t know who was responsible for that Country. They didn’t know it was Hayes family Country.

They didn’t know there were songlines. They didn’t know it was a sacred place. They just went and marked the place up, put the pegs down, and started digging underground. They weren’t interested in finding out who the owners of the Country were.

Our grandparents used to tell us these stories. We know these stories.

That this place is sacred. It’s not just the base – the prison, where our young people are locked up – even the power station – that’s all our sacred Country. They never asked for permission to put any of those facilities there. All of this Country is very special to us. It’s part of our traditional well being, part of our life. It’s our Country.

The government needs to know that this place is sacred and we want Pine Gap to be closed down.

Since the base was built, we’ve been locked out of our own sacred land. We can’t go there with our families to have a look at the paintings, the rock art. We’re suffering because we can’t take our next generation to that place. We feel homeless on our own Country.

We feel sorry for the families around the world whose lives have been taken away by that base. We don’t want to be feeling guilty all the time when there’s bad things happening overseas to little ones. We’re not the ones controlling that facility, but we feel guilty that it’s coming from our land. We feel sorry for the little ones, the families, men, women, children, old people overseas in Gaza and other places who are getting killed by that base.

We are there for these families around the world. We want them to know that when they come to Central Australia, to Alice Springs, they are coming to a place of harmony. We want these people to come and live on our land without being scared of what might happen if the base gets attacked.

We demand:

1. The land back that’s been taken from us. We want to be able to occupy our own land. We want our next generations to be working on the land. We want jobs for our young people as rangers, so they can look after the Country and our sacred sites.

2. That the base be removed. We need to close it, because it’s a danger to our land and to our people. It’s causing a lot of worries, and a lot of sadness for people around the world who are being affected by war.

3. To be compensated for all the years the base has occupied our Country without our consent. We need that money so we can get houses at Whitegate community. There’s not enough houses in that community. We are struggling.

4. That the families in Gaza be compensated for all the lives lost there. At the moment, they are living in poverty, starving and drinking dirty water. Their lives are at risk.

The Hayes Family