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is being kept out because they want to drill for
oil near sacred sites. The Noonkanbah people arc
distressed because the government does not recognize
how important these sites are in the life of Aboriginal
people.
The memory of an (Amax) bulldozer going straight
through a sacred site area in 1979 is still very
fresh (Mikurrunya, 19.3.SO).
Amax was supported by the Government, which ignored the rights
of the marrngu.
13.7 Theorizing about the missions
The activities of missions are denounced and seen as destructive
of the Law, since they set out to destroy authority patterns, and
to destroy the culture. In theorizing about the activities of missions*
and rejecting them, the marrngu unite in theorizing also about the
power of their Law.
The missions said they would lift up the young
people in their mission school but they only broke
them, turned them crazy. Look at Jigalong, that
is a mission place. They did a good job of killing
the people there. Cundelee is a mission place.
The mission did a good job of killing the young
people. Nearly every week we bury another one
(Mikurrunya, 28.11.79).
Grog is an enemy recognized by all. The people theorize about
grog as being the cause of deaths, through the outcome of drunken
brawling. The supplying of grog is also seen as an activity of
government. The (sedimented) belief is held that the Government
in the early days wished the people to die out and supplied grog
for this purpose. The people impressed on Dowding, A.L.P. member
of the Legislative Council for Western Australia, the fact that
People were being killed by grog and grog-related
disturbances (Mikurrunya 2S.11.79).
They were severely disturbed about the deaths at Jigalong:
There have been several deaths at Jigalong recently.
Snowy, Jacob and Crow are very worried about this
because they believe that it is grog that is causing
the deaths (Mikurrunya, 2.10.79).
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ɪ IVhilc the missions in general are rejected, individuals may be
accepted; a religious sister working with alcoholics at Roebournc
was held in esteem.