Art courting again 22,000 years, which is sacred to First Nations individuals, has been destroyed by vandals.
The Koonalda Caves holds nice non secular significance to the Mirning individuals of the Nullabor Plain however it was additionally crucial to archaeological understanding of all indigenous Australians.
Vandals are alleged to have dug below a metal gate earlier this 12 months and utterly destroyed a bit of delicate finger-marked cave artwork on the heritage-listed website.
The group graffitied the phrases “don’t look now, but this is a death cave”.
A South Australian authorities spokesman stated the vandalism was “shocking and heartbreaking”.
“If these vandals can be apprehended they should face the full force of the law,” they stated.
In the wake of the vandalism, the SA authorities stated that they had consulted Traditional Owners in current months to develop a plan to “better protect this important site”.
“The existing fencing and general difficulty in accessing the caves deters the vast majority of visitors from trespassing,” the spokesman stated.
The destruction has made worldwide headlines and sparked outrage on Twitter.
“What the f**k is wrong with people?” one particular person wrote.
Live CCTV surveillance is being thought of.
Under Australian legislation, the Mirning individuals haven’t been recognised as conventional custodians of the land and nonetheless have to request permission from the SA authorities to entry the positioning.
Koonalda Caves up-ended scientific acceptance of the historical past of First Nations individuals because it was the primary website that might date indigenous rock artwork to sooner than 8,000BC.
The artwork was in a position to show that indigenous Australians had existed a minimum of 22,000 years in the past.
It is just not the primary time indigenous artwork has been destroyed in recent times.
In 2020, mining firm Rio Tinto detonated the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge Rock shelters to make method for an growth of an iron ore mine.
