Ancient rock paintings in the 40,000-year-old Koonalda Cave in South Australia are at serious risk of decay, according to scientists and Indigenous owners, after the state government halted research at the national heritage site.

The ban comes after a two-year consultation process failed to decide which Indigenous group has the right to be the “cultural monitors” of archaeological work at the remote Nullarbor Plain site 900km from Adelaide near the border with Western Australia.

Two groups of traditional owners and native title holders and an Indigenous advisory group have agreed that tests of water, temperature and humidity at the internationally renowned cave should go ahead, but it is understood they cannot agree who should oversee the work by a team led by archaeologist Keryn Walshe.

Koonalda is in the Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area and is located on the native title land of the Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation (FWCAC).

Two other groups – the Nullarbor Parks Advisory Committee (NPAC)) and the Council of Mirning Elders (CME) – are officially acknowledged as having a voice in the management of the cave and were involved in the long consultation process.

Clem Lawrie is a custodian of the cave and a member of the group holding its native title. Mr Lawrie is a member of Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation (FWCAC), which previously issued research permits to Dr Walshe. He is also chair of Nullarbor Parks Advisory Committee (NPAC).

He had been told by the state Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation that the Council of Mirning Elders (CME) had threatened legal action if FWCAC entered the site.

Mr Lawrie said that there had been a complete failure on the government’s part in putting the Council of Mirning Elders – which had also raised issues of intellectual property and the problem of women entering the site – ahead of the advice and decisions of other stakeholders.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/indigenous/cultural-standoff-risks-south...


The People's Front of Judea threaten legal action if the "Judean People's Front" (splitters!!)  are allowed to enter the cave. They have "intellectual property issues", dont you know. Intellectual propery is an ancient Aboriginal concept as every schoolboy knows. They practically invented the concept, like they did agriculture, towns, astrophysics and legal action.   
Oh! And no sheilas neither! Oh no!

And the government goes aslong with this nonsense because it is afraid of lawfare and the bone being pointed at it by the pouting, head-tilty crowd.