Aboriginal elder protests rocket launch in SA’s far west

An Aboriginal elder in South Australia is calling on the State Premier to halt a rocket launch she says would devastate to her traditional lands.

Aunty Sue Haseldine of the Kokatha nation, travelled from Ceduna to Adelaide recently to protest about the launch by Southern Launch in the gar west of the State.

Southern Launch and US-based company Varda Space Industries have signed an agreement to facilitate 20 new spacecraft return missions at Koonibba Test Range by 2028.

Aunty Sue Haseldine of the Kokatha nation, travelled from Ceduna to Adelaide recently to protest about the launch.

The missions will, the company says, see in-space manufacturing capsules return to earth with payloads containing a number of experiments in microgravity.

“I’ve been trying to fight for country for many years against all different comers – miners and whatever – and now we are fighting the threat of rockets launching and devastating our country,” Ms Haseldine told South Australia’s InDaily.

“Southern Launch has been speaking with the Koonibba council and the Far West Coast Native Title Claim, but they haven’t consulted with everybody; they certainly didn’t consult with me, because they would not get consent from me to destroy country and the animals that live on that country as well.

“That’s why we’ve come all the way to Adelaide: to make city people aware of our fight, because it’s not going to get out any other way.”