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BNTAC has made the difficult decision to cancel the Karijini Experience 2026 as a result of the ongoing uncertainty and risk of insufficient fuel supply across regional Western Australia.
The increasing pressure on supply and transport networks has created significant logistical and operational risks for an event of this scale in a remote location.
We acknowledge this decision is disappointing and it was not made lightly. The safety of the Banjima and broader community, partners and visitors, along with the ability to deliver a high-quality event on country, have been central to this decision.
Rest assured that all ticket holders will receive a full refund via Humanitix. Refunds will be processed automatically to the original payment method, and confirmation will be sent directly from Humanitix. Please allow a few business days for funds to be returned to your account.
We sincerely thank our sponsors, partners, artists, suppliers and the broader community for their support, commitment and understanding. The effort, time and passion that so many have contributed to bringing this event to life is greatly acknowledged and deeply appreciated.
We look forward to bringing this exceptional event to Karijini next year.
Gordon Legal, on behalf of Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC), today commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court against the State of Western Australia, seeking justice for the cultural and environmental devastation caused by the Wittenoom asbestos mine.
The asbestos contamination zone on the Banjima peoples’ traditional lands contains over three million tons of asbestos waste; enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground twice over. It is the largest contaminated waste site in the southern hemisphere and continues to spread across the Banjima country.
For generations, the Banjima people have lived with the fear, heartbreak, and cultural loss caused by contamination from the Wittenoom mine site.
This year, 2026, marks sixty years since the Wittenoom mine closed. Forty years since the state became aware of the deadly consequences of asbestos. And ten years since the WA Government was first informed that the Banjima people suffer the highest per capita incidence of asbestos cancer in the world.
That statistic is a direct consequence of WA Government’s inaction over the decades since it first owned the waste and the contaminated sites. In that time, the WA Government has extracted over $70 billion in royalties from mining in the Pilbara, and has not spent a single dollar on remediation.
Successive WA Governments have held many inquiries, commissioned many reports, formed many committees and employed many bureaucrats to talk about this disaster. But in all that time and after all that talk, not a single shovel-load of asbestos has been removed from Banjima land.
The State of Western Australia needs to stop using committees, reports and bureaucracies as excuses for a total lack of action.
The legal proceedings commenced today aim to force the Government to clean up the contamination and to seek reparations for the Banjima people for the harm that has been done.
BNTAC Deputy Chair, and a Banjima traditional owner, Johnnell Parker, said:
“We Banjima people belong to one of the most beautiful parts of the world, and our connection to Banjima Country runs deep. As Uncle Maitland Parker said, ‘I still cry for Country, but that’s imbedded in me I just can’t walk away from it.’
Despite the damage, our Elders have raised us to be strong and resilient. We carry in our hearts their strength as we continue the fight, to heal our Country, to protect it, and to ensure future generations can stand on healthy land and remain connected to who they are.”
Senior Partner at Gordon Legal, Peter Gordon, won the first asbestos verdict over the Wittenoom mine as a young lawyer in 1988. He led the fight that obtained justice for over 350 diseased Wittenoom workers in the late 1980s and has acted for over 2,000 mesothelioma sufferers.
Now forty years on, through this proceeding, Gordon Legal is returning to the Courts and asking our nation’s legal system to focus on the shameful history of Australia’s treatment of the Banjima people and their land. The legal case seeks accountability and a just conclusion for traditional owners, to the most enduring environmental, racial, and occupational health disaster in the country’s history.
BNTAC seeks orders requiring the State of Western Australia to remediate the contaminated areas, including the mines, tailings dumps, Wittenoom floodplain, creeks, rivers, and other parts of the Determination Area where the asbestos waste continues to accumulate.
The Banjima people also seek redress for the devastation wrought over the past eighty years to their people and their Country. Many have died, and many will die from mesothelioma as a result of the inaction of the Government of Western Australia.
Peter Gordon, said:
“The relocation, dispossession, exploitation, and erosion of the cultural integrity of the Banjima nation will take generations to repair. But the longest journey to clean up the largest contaminated site in the southern hemisphere begins with a single step.”
The WA Stolen Generations Redress Scheme has opened.
First Nations people who were removed from their families in Western Australia before 1 July 1972, while under the age of 18, are eligible to apply for an individual payment of $85,000 through the Stolen Generations Redress Scheme. Payments are expected to be delivered in late 2025.
For more information and to apply, visit the WA Government website and/or download the related fact sheet.
Yurlu | Country will be released in Australian cinemas nationwide on 13 November 2025. Ahead of the official release, there are special Q&A screenings in select locations, including Sydney (6 Nov), Perth (9–10 Nov), and Melbourne (12–13 Nov), featuring the director Yaara Bou Melhem, Banjima Traditional Owners, and guest speakers like Peter Garrett and Ernie Dingo.
BNTAC acknowledges the Banjima Elders, past, present, and emerging. BNTAC also acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land where our Perth and Tom Price offices are located, the Whadjuk Noongar People and the Eastern Guruma People, respectively.
