An Australian court has found a Lake Bolac farmer guilty of destroying an Aboriginal heritage site after the farmer removed rocks from the stone arrangement residing on his property, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The stones, known as the Kuyang stone monument or Lake Bolac stone arrangement, form a 300-meter eel-shaped design on the property.
Eels are, and have been, a crucial staple food in the diet of the Djab Wurrung, an Indigenous nation that traditionally resided in the volcanic plains of Victoria, which includes the volcano-created Lake Bolac. Indigenous people gathered at Lake Bolac during the annual eel migratory season, reinforcing the significance of eels for the community, per the Budja Budja Aboriginal Cooperative.
This stone formation is thought to be 1,500 years old and is registered as one of Victoria's Aboriginal heritage sites, per the ABC.
In 2021, landowner Adrian McMaster used an excavator to remove nearly 60 meters (200 feet) of rock from the tail end of the stone arrangement, saying he was trying to take care of the property, according to an initial report. McMaster said the incident was an honest mistake and that he didn't know which stones were part of the eel formation.
However, the use of an excavator may have permanently damaged the stones.
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The apparent disregard for the structure's cultural significance created a wave of shock and sadness.
"There's sorrow within the community. You're losing something that your ancestors, your old people have created," said National Native Title Council CEO Jamie Lowe, per the ABC.
Preserving historically and culturally significant sites allows communities to pass on history to future generations. The destruction of these sites erases centuries and even millennia of history and Indigenous identities.
Magistrate Mark Stratmann of the Ballarat Magistrates' Court refused McMaster's claim of ignorance.
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McMaster proceeded with the stone removal despite having received multiple warnings that the land was part of an Aboriginal heritage site. Stratmann also considered McMaster's comments about having seen no Aboriginal people in the area and work in the mining industry, finding him guilty of violating the Aboriginal Heritage Act. McMaster was sentenced to a 12-month undertaking and ordered to pay $7,000 to the Aboriginal Heritage Council for protection and preservation.
"He suffered from an absence of knowledge that he did nothing to sharpen," Stratmann said, per the ABC.
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