Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta

The Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta is a council of senior Aboriginal women from Coober Pedy, South Australia.[1][2] They protest against Government plans to dump radioactive waste in their land, and for the protection of their land and culture.[3]

The council was formed in 1995 by Eileen Kampakuta Brown, Eileen Wani Wingfield and other Aboriginal elders. The elders come from the Arabana, Kokatha, Yankunytjatjara and Antikarinya peoples.[4] Kupa Piti is the Indigenous name for Coober Pedy; kunga tjuta means 'many woman' in the Western Desert language.[5]

Brown and Wingfield were awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2003 for their efforts.[6]

In August 2004 the Australian government abandoned its plans for the nuclear waste dump, after a court decision.[2]

  1. ^ "Irati Wanti. the poison – leave it!" irati wanti (Retrieved 30 December 2007)
  2. ^ a b "Aboriginal women win battle against australian government" Archived 11 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine Friends of the Earth International (Retrieved 30 December 2007)
  3. ^ Commons Librarian (22 December 2023). "Campaigns that Changed South Australia". The Commons Social Change Library. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  4. ^ Wilson, Irene (2018). Indigenous Peoples as Subjects of International Law. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. p. 106.
  5. ^ Tracey Banivanua-Mar; Penelope Edmonds, eds. (2010). Making settler colonial space : perspectives on race, place and identity. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230221796. OCLC 903282272.
  6. ^ Eileen Kampakuta Brown & Eileen Wani Wingfield Archived 4 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine The Goldman Environmental Prize – Islands & Island Nations 2003 (Retrieved 30 December 2007)