This Sunday, 19 March, a new book documenting 50 years of struggle against uranium mining in Western Australia's Northern Goldfields will be launched at a special event in Perth.

"Yeelirrie 50 years of resistance" is the true story behind Western Australia's longest battle to prevent the mining of uranium. It is the story of how three multinational mining companies tried, and failed, to dig up one of Australia's largest uranium deposits, 650 km northeast of Perth.

The book will be made available to the public for the first time at a launch event in Northbridge presented by the Conservation Council of WA.

Ngalia Traditional Owner and anthropologist, Kado Muir, has long been a part of the campaign to protect Country.

"Yeelirrie is taken from the word yulara, which means to weep", he said.

"Today we have a new meaning for Yeelirrie, our struggle has shown how the small and weak can stand up against titans and be victorious. Where once we wept, we now celebrate."

Yeelirrie is a highly significant cultural place and part of the Seven Sisters Songline, rich with important cultural sites.

Shirley Wonyabong, a Tjiwarl Elder who grew up at Yeelirrie Station, said "we're going to stop" uranium mining at Yeelirrie.

"That's the story for the Seven Sisters... the Old People told me that story and I don't want that mine to go ahead," she said.

The area's cultural significance is matched by its environmental significance. Below the surface of the proposed mine site, a 17-kilometre-long aquifer and labyrinth of caves is home to approximately 100 species of subterranean animals known as stygofauna, many of which don't live anywhere else on earth.

Above ground the landscape is home to vulnerable species like the malleefowl, princess parrot, and the greater bilby, and is dotted with spinifex and low-lying plant life.

WA's Environmental Protection Authority has said the the nine-kilometre open pit required for mining uranium at Yeelirrie risks the extinction of between 11 and 15 native species.

Shae Callan, a zoologist involved in a subterranean fauna survey at Yeelirrie between 2009 and 2011, said the research identified 55 species of stygofauna at the site, including amphipods, beetles, syncarids, and copepods - and 45 species of troglofauna - such as spiders, pseudoscorpions, isopods, millipedes, and insects.

"We found only five species were known beyond Yeelirrie: in other words, 95 per cent of Yeelirrie's subterranean fauna species had been sampled nowhere else in the world," he said.

While the proposal by Canadian company Cameco to mine uranium at Yeelirrie expired in January 2022, advocates say the threat of uranium mining is not gone.

Tijwarl woman Vicki Abdullah said: "We were happy when Labor came to government and banned uranium and were glad when they said no to Cameco when they wanted to extend their approval."

"We hope Labor will take away the approval altogether, help to protect Yeelirrie into the future", she said.

"That place is special to me and my family. Yeelirrie should never be mined, and this government can make sure it is safe forever."

Yeelirrie – 50 years of resistance will be launched at Rooftop Movies in Northbridge on Sunday 19 March. For more information is available online.