More than 1,300 people have thrown their support behind a Senior Elder's petition urging federal Minister of Environment and Water, Murray Watt, to halt rocket and military testing by Southern Launch in South Australia.
Aunty Sue Coleman-Haseldine, the Senior Googatha Elder who started the petition, expressed grave concerns over the potential environmental and heritage impacts on the area.
"Southern Launch have been using my Country and Sacred sites as a test range for dangerous experimental launches without my consent, putting the delicate ecosystem and endangered animals at risk," she said.
"I am worried for the animals with the fire hazard that these rockets cause and I am worried that my sacred sites will be destroyed by the falling debris."
Southern Launch operates from Koonibba Test Range which covers 41,000 km squared of Yellabinna Regional Reserve and Yumbarra Conservation Park.
Both the reserve and the park are home to many endangered and threatened species such as the Golden Mole, Pink Cockatoo, Mallee Emu-Wren and Sand Hill Dunnart. It is also home to the only stunted mallee habitat in the world.
The petition calls for an immediate cessation of the company's activities to protect the Yellabinna Regional Reserve and Yumbarra Conservation Park.
Aunty Sue said the company' activities in the area are also putting her and her family at risk as they regularly make trips into the area to fulfil their cultural duties "caring for the land and many sacred sites that are out there".
"They have launched multiple rockets now while I have been in the rocket range with full knowledge my safety was at risk," she said.
Her petition states that Southern Launch rocket tests are "experimental and as result extremely dangerous especially in such a fire vulnerable environment", noting that "earlier this year the park and reserve experienced the largest fire in decades devastating thousands of acres of land which will take over a century to recover".
"The park and reserve will completely collapse if another fire happens," the petition warns.
National Indigenous Times has contacted Senator Watt for comment.
