Sowing seeds for stronger rehabilitation

Grace

Traditional Owner and Elder of Thanakwith Country (where our Weipa mine operates)

“We are collecting seeds. Because it’s good for ourselves, and for our Country.

At first I thought it was a waste of time. But one of the Elders who helped start the project came down to my house. I had a big tree growing next to my house, and she said, “Come on, can I get this tree down and pull all the seeds out?”

And I said, “Yeah, what for?”

She said, “Well, see, for the seeds. I want to put them back on Country.”

So I helped her from there. And now I talk to all my young ones. We try and get them involved, and we tell them we're not doing it just for the money. We're doing it to put trees back on Country.

We don't want introduced trees to come over from other places. That's why I always say to Rio Tinto, “Please let us pick the trees.” We know that it won't grow the same as it was, but we want our trees that have been taken off. Because we use them for our bush medicines, our calendars, and if we get lost in the bush, we know which fruit trees we can eat to survive. And trees give us water too – we know we can find water with them, even in the pandanus, just dig up a little hole on the side of the root.

You don't know how happy I am to see all these trees growing back. I know it won't be the same. But when I went out a couple of years back, I cried, because it was the handiwork of our Elders that have gone. And the trees are growing really nice now.

I’m really proud of that.”

Anna

Rehabilitation and Closure Advisor, Weipa operations

“I've lived in Weipa nearly my whole life. So rehabilitation is very important to me and many others who have lived in Weipa for so long. We need to make sure that we’re taking care of the landscape for generations to come.

Having Traditional Owners like Gracie involved in the community seed collection program is vital. They can pass on their knowledge about how to collect particular seed species, and why they’re culturally significant to them.

Our target seed mix that we use in rehabilitation has evolved over the years. We’ve refined it in consultation with Traditional Owners to make sure that we’re returning the right species of plants to the right part of Country.

Once the community collects the seed and sells it to us, we dry and store it, ready for rehabilitation season. Then, we either propagate culturally significant species in the nursery, or mix it with a bulking agent like sand, ready for tractor broadcast seeding. We also hand-plant some seeds that are too big to fit through the tractor spreader.

It's important for the Traditional Owners to feel confident the right plant species are coming back in the rehabilitation so there's medicinal value, there's a food source, and it encourages animals to return.

Animals are hugely significant to the Traditional Owners, and to encourage biodiversity and long-term sustainability. We’ve been excited to see animals returning to some of the rehabilitated areas already – plenty of skinks and goannas, tree-dwelling mammals like possums, and lots of birds like kingfishers, which have started nesting in the wetlands.

Above all, our team prides ourselves on having the Traditional Owners come and see the species of seed that they’ve collected now thriving in the rehabilitated land.

When we hear them say their ancestors would be happy that Country has been returned to this landscape, that’s probably the highest accolade we could receive – it makes me feel incredibly proud.

And I’d love to be able to bring my own kids back our here and show them how we contributed to this rehabilitation, and that an area that was once mined is now beautiful bushland.”