Swan Brewery Protests
The Day I Finally Fell Out of Love with the Government of West Australia -
and Broke a Rib!

It was like South Africa revisited - police vehicles pushing back a wall of
nonviolent, passive resisters.   As the vehicles pressed forward, so did we,
chanting "go back, go back, go back".  I could hear Clarrie Isaacs pleading
with the police to stop, and pleading with us to give way.  "These police are
killers.  They won't worry if they hurt you."   Although we had linked arms,
I felt myself falling and as I heard the loud crack and sharp pain of a
cracked rib, I heard a voice saying "Wait, wait, this old lady is falling." 
I wondered what would be worse: being trampled underfoot by my comrades, or
driven over by the police vehicle.  In the event, neither of these occurred,
but nothing will ever assuage the pain of betrayal; that I had voted for a
government that was prepared to hurt citizens who were exercising their
democratic right to protest against what they perceived as an injustice.

The Swan Brewery has been a site of struggle for many years.  Many different
interest groups have been involved in calls for the demolition of the eyesore
and the restoration of the site to parkland.  The government and the media,
however, have chosen to treat the matter as an Aboriginal issue.  This has
given open slather to racists to drum up support for any group or strategy to
discredit the Aboriginal claim that the Swan brewery stands on a site of
significance to the Nyoongah people.  The group, led by Robert Bropho, asks
for no hand-outs, no concrete rewards.  They ask only that the crumbling ruin
should be demolished out of respect for their culture, their spiritual
fountainhead, the track of the sacred Waugyl.

The government, on its side, has a much more complex agenda.  It must recoup
the millions spent on a bad investment and subsequent poor financial
strategies.  Voila!  They find a plan whereby they can turn a liability into
an asset and, at the same time, reward a large donor to the ALP.  John
Roberts' Multiplex will take  over the ruin for a peppercorn rental and will
"restore" it into an office block with several chic restaurants and even (the
sweetener), an Aboriginal art gallery/museum.   If there's one thing Perth
does not need at this time, it is more offices and restaurants and especially
on the most desirable piece of real estate in the city.

Crowds of supporters of the "demolish the brewery" call have been arriving at
dawn each chilly morning this week to reinforce the hardy stalwarts who have
kept up a daily vigil for years.  The aim is to stop Multiplex from moving on
to the site.  It has been a cat-and-mouse game until today, while all parties
awaited 
a)  the decision of Industrial Relations commissioner Halliwell 
b)  the outcome of the Trade's and Labour Council meeting where building
workers decided on whether or not to heed the commissioner's ruling, and 
c)  the outcome of the injunction brought against the actions of Heritage
Minister, Jim McGinty

All of the above ended in defeat for the protesters.  On Wednesday 26 August,
with the help of the police, Multiplex moved in.

Not satisfied with their apparent victories in the courts, "the system" set
out to discredit the protesters in general and Robert Bropho in particular.  
$10,000 was raised by Federal Member for Kalgoorlie, Graham Campbell (the
"major donor", he says, is John Roberts of Multiplex) to bring down
Aboriginal elders from various parts of West Australia to denigrate Bropho
and to deny that the brewery site was sacred.  It was also an opportunity to
change the focus from the government and Multiplex as villains of the piece
to a new scenario of inter-tribal rivalry, "black-on-black conflict" or,
using an anti-apartheid metaphor, "the Buthelezi Option."

It is ironical that at a time when the government is endeavouring to increase
tourism, using Aboriginal art and culture as a lure, it should so ruthlessly
trample upon the very same Aboriginal culture!

The struggle continues.  Despite inclement weather, bales of restraining
wire, and a large contingent of police, the supporters of the 'return of the
site to park land for the pleasure of all the people of Perth' will continue.
Sheila Suttner