A letter penned by a Traditional Owner family has been delivered to Pine Gap, the joint Australian-US satellite communications and signals intelligence surveillance base near Alice Springs, demanding the return of the area's sacred lands.
Its delivery comes after hundreds converged on Alice Springs demanding the closure of the facility and a rethink of Australia's deepening American military ties.
Written by the Hayes family, Arrernte traditional owners for Kuyunba — the land Pine Gap occupies — the statement calls for the complex to be closed down.
"There was never consent for the Australian and US governments to put that base on our sacred land," the letter states.
"Our old people were working on their Country until the base took over. Our elders, the elders of this Country, did not know anything about Pine Gap.
"They didn't know why it was put there. They didn't know what it would be used for. They were never told. The Australian government just came and took over the land."
The three-day gathering is marking the 60th anniversary of the agreement between Canberra and Washington which paved the way for Pine Gap's construction.
The Hayes family said before making the agreement, the Government "didn't know who was responsible for that Country".
"They didn't know it was Hayes family Country," they said.
"They didn't know there were songlines. They didn't know it was a sacred place. They just went and marked the place up, put the pegs down, and started digging underground. They weren't interested in finding out who the owners of the Country were."
The letter details the sacred nature of the land approximately 18km south of Alice Springs.
"That this place is sacred. It's not just the base - the prison, where our young people are locked up - even the power station - that's all our sacred Country," the Hayes family said.
"They never asked for permission to put any of those facilities there.
"All of this Country is very special to us. It's part of our traditional well being, part of our life. It's our Country."
The family said since the base was built they've been locked out of their own sacred land.
"We can't go there with our families to have a look at the paintings, the rock art," the said. "We're suffering because we can't take our next generation to that place.
"We feel homeless on our own Country."
Through the letter the family also stood in solidarity with international communities who they say have been affected by Pine Gap's operations.
"We feel guilty that it's coming from our land," they said. We feel sorry for the families around the world whose lives have been taken away by that base.
"We feel sorry for the little ones, the families, men, women, children, old people overseas in Gaza and other places who are getting killed by that base.
"We are there for these families around the world. We want them to know that when they come to Central Australia, to Alice Springs, they are coming to a place of harmony.
We want these people to come and live on our land without being scared of what might happen if the base gets attacked."
A delegation including the Hayes family Barb Shaw, David Shoebridge, and Nour Salman negotiated their way through police lines to present the letter to a Pine Gap representative stating the Hayes family's demands.
The demands included:
- Return of Kuyunba (the land where Pine Gap sits)
- The closure of Pine Gap
- Compensation for the years Kuyunba has been occupied
- Compensation to the families in Gaza for the lives lost there due to the activities at Pine Gap
