Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners are concerned about the future of a culturally significant tool-making site, if Adani (Bravus) continues its operations in the area.
Lyndell Turbane, a registered Clermont Belyando native title applicant, is calling for the miner to stop work at the Carmichael site in central Queensland, including the clearance of 3000 cubic metres of ground and transferring it to another area.
Ms Turbane said she's written to the Queensland Government in an attempt to get them to intervene.
"Adani plan to desecrate and destroy our sacred sites and I'm upset about it," she said.
"This can't be allowed to happen. It is my birthright to be able to protect my cultural heritage.
"They're denying that right. Those artefacts are a reminder of who we are, that site contains generations of history."
The move comes just a week after an inquiry into the destruction of the Juukan Gorge in WA's Pilbara region tabled a scathing report, calling for an overhaul of cultural heritage laws across Australia.
Ms Turbane said she had received a reply from the state government, acknowledging they had received her letter.
Wangan and Jagalingou Senior Custodian Adrian Burragubba called for the government to act immediately.
“Adani has a cultural heritage duty of care under section 23 of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 (Qld) to take all reasonable and practicable measures to ensure excavation work does not harm Aboriginal cultural heritage," he said in a statement.
"It is an offence to breach this duty of care and Adani and the Queensland government must act today."
A spokesperson for Bravus said they also hadn't received "any correspondence" from the Queensland Government about the matter.
"All cultural heritage works at Bravus Mining and Resources’ Carmichael Mine are managed according to the legally-binding agreements in place between our company and the Clermont Belyando Native Title applicant group (formerly known as the Wangan and Jagalingou).”
Mr Burragubba said the group has been "deliberately excluded" from participating in the "monitoring and recording of any disturbances" of artefacts.
"This denial and rejection of our right to our cultural identity is comparable with what the settler society did to our ancestors," he said.
Wangan and Jagalingou people have been present on the mine site conducting ceremony since August 28.
Coedie McAvoy has been performing ceremony near the mine site since August 28. Source: Supplied: Leah Light Photography
They've also raised concerns about a sacred spring, called Doongmabulla Springs, which they fear could be impacted by mining operations.
Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners including Ms Turbane, Mr Burragubba and Coedie McAvoy have beenwork at the mine for years, including a series of Federal Court appeals.
Construction began on the mine in 2019. Since then, Traditional Owners have staged a number of on the site, and Mr Burragubba and Mr McAvoy were barred from the site for a period.
In February 2020, the miner was fined $20,000 for giving false or misleading information to the Queensland Government about land clearing.
For Ms Turbane, waiting to hear back from the Queensland Government about her concerns is nerve-wracking, she said, and she's deeply worried about the future of the site.
"It's not just our history, it's a representation of how our old people lived, and it's my spiritual connection too," she said.
"That will be broken if that history is destroyed.
"It really distresses me to think that could happen on my Country."
