Mapoon - Book Three
The Cape York Aluminum Companies (Alcan, Comalco, R.T.Z., Kaiser, C.R.A., Billiton, Pechiney, Tipperary) and the Native Peoples
Publisher: International Development Action, (I.D.A.), Fitzroy
Year Published: 1976
Pages: 106pp Price: $1.80 (Aus) Resource Type: Book
Cx Number: CX235
Chronicle of the policies and actions of the Aluminium Companies with respect to the native peoples and their land claims.
Abstract:
IDA is a small Melbourned-based group of people critically analyzing Australia's relationship to other countries and to its own native peoples.
Since 1973, IDA has focused its attention on neighbouring Fiji and published a document entitled "Fiji", A developing Australian Colony". Concerned over Australia's close links with South Africa and how that was supporting the continuing existence of the apartheid system, IDA published a critical document entitled "Australia's Economic Links with South Africa". In this current document, IDA continues to examine critically the "current colonial oppression of the Australian Aborigines."
"Mappon -- Book Three" focuses in on the Aboiriginal Mapoon community of Cape York, which is a large peninsula that forms much of the North-East corner of Australia. Books I and II documented the history of this community and the consequences for it with the discovery of vast deposits of bauxite. Soon after the discovery, Australia granted much of the Mapoon land to Comalco for strip mining. In 1965, Alcan also recieved mining rights. In 1974, a group of Mapoon peoples returned to reclaim the land from which they were evicted. They are demanding the recognition of their Aboriginal ownership rights to this land and compensation. "Mapoon - Book Three" documents the policies and actions of the Cape York Aluminium Companies with respect to the native peoples and their land claims. Furthermore, the IDA examines how these same companies have treated native peoples elsewhere in the world such as Brazil, South Africa, Nambia and Rhodesia. A consistent pattern of colonialism and exploitation emerges. The Australian experience is not an isolated one!
Two other important sections of this publication should also be noted. The history, ownership and investment policies and strategies of each of the companies involved are documented. And finally, the enviromental problems of bauxite mining and the health hazards of bauxite smelting are described.
This publication identifies the Canadian Taskforce on Corporate Responsibility as doing similar research with respect to the Canadian scene.
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