Rio Tinto in $9.5m Yinhawangka culture deal

Mining giant Rio Tinto will spend $9.5 million over six years on a new Pilbara traditional owner program to create jobs through preservation and protection of culture.

Yinhawangka Aboriginal Corporation’s living cultures program will record language, songlines, art, and other elements of cultural heritage to ensure it can be transferred to future generations.

Rio Tinto’s funding will help the corporation provide jobs and training in areas such as cultural awareness training and land management.

Yinhawangka Aboriginal Corporation chairwoman Lorraine Injie said preservation of heritage would support a better future for Yinhwangka people.

“This project brings an opportunity for changing the way in which Aboriginal programs are conceptualised, planned, and implemented,” she said.

“The living cultures project aims to take back Yinhawangka people’s control of our knowledge and travel further on our journey as traditional owners of our land and in improving social and economic outcomes for our people.

“I am very grateful to (Rio Tinto) for sharing our vision for a better future for our children and the preservation of Yinhawangka people’s history and culture, where our story and songs, carried down by our old people throughout time, are remembered and revered.”

Rio Tinto health, safety, environment, and communities vice president Cecile Thaxter said collaboration with traditional owners was important.

“Together we are dedicated to preserving and enhancing the culture, people, and Country of the Yinhawangka People through programs that promote positive, intergenerational outcomes,” she said.

“We are in a world where ancient and precious cultural heritage is at risk of being lost forever but through this program, we have a unique opportunity to work together to protect and preserve the Yinhawangka people’s culture.”

Yinhawangka Ngurra (Country) covers 11,920 square kilometres around Paraburdoo where Rio Tinto holds substantial mining interests.

It is home to the Yirra rock shelter which, at 50,000 years old, is among the earliest recorded sites of human habitation in Australia.