The Guardian 9 February, 2005
Sandon point historic win
In a historic win for Aboriginal people, the NSW Land and Environment Court has found that Stockland Development Pty Ltd unlawfully dumped thousands of tonnes of fill on top of an ancient Aboriginal site at Sandon Point, near Wollongong, on the NSW south coast.
Stockland was found to have breached the Environment and Planning Assessment Act 1976.
Justice Pain said Stockland Development had arranged to have work carried out requiring development consent on part of Lot 235 zoned residential 2(b) under the Wollongong Local Environment Plan 1990.
It had done this without first obtaining a valid development consent in breach of Section 76A (1) of the Environment and Planning Assessment Act.
The plaintiff, Aboriginal Elder Allan Carriage, said his mother urged him to protect the culture of the Wadi Wadi people just before she died.
"This victory is a real tribute to Mum and the other Elders who began this fight many years ago", Mr Carriage said. "The culture of the first Australians is important and needs to be protected, not destroyed".
Greens MLC, Ian Cohen, who campaigned to protect the site from over-development, said: "This is a great win for Allan and the Sandon Point community who have been actively opposed to the development of this area of unique cultural and natural heritage".
Koori Mail