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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-09-05 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

BROWN, MRS EILEEN KAMPAKUTA

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:04): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P. CAICA: On behalf of the South Australian government, I wish to extend my sincere condolences to the family of Mrs Eileen Kampakuta Brown. Mrs Brown is a highly respected, beloved Aboriginal elder and Pitjantjatjara woman who was born at Iltur, south-east of Wataru. I am told that she spent her early years working as a domestic on cattle stations across what are now known as the APY lands.

In October 1953, the British government detonated a nuclear bomb at Emu Field. At Wallatina Station, Mrs Brown observed a black mist which caused many people to become ill, with this experience becoming a significant influence on her life and her actions from that time on. She later gave evidence at the 1984-85 Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia.

In 1995, Mrs Brown and other Kungkas formed the Senior Aboriginal Women Elders Council of Coober Pedy to fight against a proposal to develop a radioactive waste dump on their land. The Kungka Tjuta were a major factor in determining the federal government's decision in 2004 to abandon their plans for the dump. Their advocacy also influenced state government policy and former premier Rann's opposition to the dump.

In 2003, Mrs Brown and Eileen Wani Wingfield were joint winners of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize—and members would know that the Goldman Environmental Prize is the equivalent in the environmental world of the Nobel Prize—in recognition of their work as part of the Senior Aboriginal Women Elders Council of Coober Pedy.

In 2003 Mrs Brown also became a member of the Order of Australia 'for service to the community through the preservation, revival and teaching of traditional Anangu Aboriginal culture and as an advocate for Indigenous communities in Central Australia'. I am advised by Rosemary and Karina Lester—and I have acknowledged Karina in this place today—that their grandmother's passion was about transferring knowledge from generation to generation for the benefit of young people and this passion was reflected in Mrs Brown's work with the Coober Pedy Area School.

But her work was not confined to young people. Mrs Brown was also instrumental in establishing the Umoona Aged Care Facility indicating that her influence extended across the generations from the young to the elderly. Mrs Brown was truly a remarkable woman. I thank you, Madam Speaker—the member for Giles—for attending Mrs Brown's funeral in Mimili last week on behalf of the government. Once again, on behalf of all members of the parliament, I extend my sincere condolences to her family.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

The SPEAKER (14:07): Thank you, minister, and I also want to pass on my condolences. She was a very special and amazing woman, and it was an honour for me to be at her funeral. To the Umoona Aged Care community, the Coober Pedy community, the APY community and particularly to her family, Karina who is here today and to her father, Yami, I pass on my condolences. She was a very special woman to me also.

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