Cossack caretakers abandon historic WA site

NGARLUMA and Yindjibarndi caretakers of Cossack today walked away from the historic town after it claimed the State Government refused to transfer ownership of the popular tourist site to the Roebourne-based community 1500km north of Perth.
The decision after four years of management means the closure at the start of the tourist season of Cossack’s museum, art gallery, prison, cafe, accommodation and boat hire, the loss of more than 10 jobs and uncertainty over the 32nd Cossack Art Awards in May, one of the premier arts and cultural events in the Pilbara supported by Rio Tinto and the City of Karratha.
According to StreetWise sources, the State Government cannot find $400,00 a year to support the community’s vision of delivering , “social, cultural and economic outcomes for the Aboriginal community”.
StreetWise Media contacted the WA premier and ministers for tourism, culture and the arts, finance and planning asking for comment about the decision announced in a three-page media statement released by Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation Ltd.
“A series of bureaucratic bungles and broken promises by the State Government has jeopardised the future of a significant heritage townsite in WA’s North-West.”
It states the lands department failed to meet its tenure commitments and that NYFL, despite nearly four years of having managed the site (at a cost of $1.6 million), were denied “legal permissions and contract”, to continue operating the site about 15km from Roebourne and 50km from Karratha.
In 2020, former lands minister Ben Wyatt announced NYFL as, “preferred proponent to take control of the historic townsite”, so that according to NFYL the, “traditional owners could be permanent owners and managers of the site”.
NYFL says the State Government as recently as November 2023, “indicated a major proposal would be provided to NYFL to support the realisation of self-determination and long-term activation of the site, but after waiting months for a draft, NYFL was recently informed there is insufficient interest and support within the department of lands to pursue a partnership”.
After receiving no response to correspondence requesting a meeting with the lands minister in March, the not for profit organisation decided to announce it had abandoned Cossack, known as Bajinhurrba.
StreetWise has contacted NYFL CEO Sean-Paul Stephens who said in the statement today it had no choice but to walk.
“We are disappointed and frustrated to be leaving Cossack but our dealings with the State Government have reached breaking point,” he said, adding tourists will no longer be able to camp or visit the historic buildings overlooking Butcher’s Inlet at the mouth of the Harding River.
However, Mr Stephens claim that ‘Cossack’ will be closed for the foreseeable future is incorrect as only the buildings will be closed to the public. People can still visit, fish and pace their pets here, but they cannot stay overnight unless the City of Karratha approves short-stay camping.
Having published at www.streetwisemedia.com.au numerous reports on Cossack in the past few years, StreetWise raised concerns with the premier and ministers over the safety of Cossack’s historic buildings and artefacts at the now unmanned site.
Cossack (formerly ‘Tien Tsin’) was gazetted in 1872 as a pearling and pastoral port where hundreds of people lived and worked. The harbour was chosen after Lars Peter Hedlund, in the cutter Mystery, sailed into Butchers Inlet in 1863. (Hedlund’s descendants still live in the Pilbara). By the 1950s, Cossack was abandoned.
Mr Stephens says Cossack could become a ghost town again, “its buildings decaying and its future grim”. The existing heritage trail, fishing wharf and boat ramp will remain available for the public to access, “at its own risk”.
One of several private landowners Terry Patterson asked: “Who’s going to look after the town?”
Importantly he says, “what’s going to happen to the museum and artefacts and who is going to keep an eye on them, once they leave it is open slather”. Without a caretaker, the buildings will be broken into or damaged and artefacts stolen from WA’s first NW port.
StreetWise understands Cossack’s significant artefacts will be moved to Roebourne.
Additional Cossack stories at www.streetwisemedia.com.au.