Sovereignty is at the heart of an important battle unfolding in Lurtuwita (Tasmania). On one side is Tipruthanna Ruth Langford, a Lurtuwita-born Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung woman, who is upholding her ancient cultural obligations. On the other side is a recent interloper — a legal system imposed to protect capitalist property rights. In this instance, logging companies.
Langford, was arrested twice last year while defending Country — opposing clear felling of native forests. In January, she was arrested while protecting the Eastern Tiers Forest Reserve in Tasmania’s east. The forest is home to the critically endangered Swift Parrot, where recent research suggests that fewer than 500 birds remain. Police arrested her again in April. This time she was defending the yellow gum forest, found only on plateaus and mountains, and endemic to south-eastern Tasmania.
Langford, who is also the State Secretary of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, was slapped with three charges including trespass. She is defending herself in court and pleading not guilty to all charges. Langford asserts that, far from trespassing, she was acting with the express permission of a Senior Palawa Law Keeper to protect Country from destruction. Her case centres on her cultural obligation as a First Nations woman to defend the land, the ancient forests and the important water catchments.
By mounting a public defence campaign, Ruth is exposing the hypocrisy and teaching that Palawa law has not been extinguished. She last appeared in the Hobart Magistrates Court on January 20. The day prior, a billionaire businessman, whose riches come from logging and extraction, was given a tap on the wrist by the court for destroying Aboriginal heritage. He was fined $12,000, well below the maximum fine of $181,000, with no conviction recorded. In contrast, if found guilty of trespass, Langford could face 12 months in jail!
A crowd filled the courtroom to support Langford, who applied for the charges of trespass to be heard on her Country at Piyura Kitina (Risdon Cove). Her plan is to call expert witnesses, including First Nations people who understand the complexities of cultural obligations to protect Country. The court is considering this request and adjourned the case until the end of March. It has also set three days aside for the case in June.
We stand with Ruth Langford, who is bound by Aboriginal Law, which existed long before invasion. Hands off the native forests of Lurtuwita. Sovereignty has never been ceded — always, was always will be, Aboriginal land!
