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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Comment
Ben Abbatangelo

Binybara is not just home to the Gouldian finch. It’s part of the Larrakia nation. And it deserves protection

Gouldian Finch at Lee Point, Darwin
Binybara is a pristine and abundant biosphere that is home to more bird species – including the mesmerising Gouldian Finch – than Kakadu. Photograph: Tobias Aakesson

The Gouldian finch is a pint-sized bird with a rainbow presence – the life of the party when it’s able to live and fly freely. Like all else belonging to this continent and its adjacent islands, it has endured displacement and dispossession. It is now the unnecessary collateral damage of the extinction economy, as scientists continue to warn against sleepwalking across a threshold of no return.

Last week, in the middle of Naidoc Week and during the hottest week ever recorded, bulldozers began ploughing through the sacred grounds of Binybara, colloquially known as Lee Point. With the Northern Territory’s rapidly expanding military presence, Binybara is being sacrificed for defence housing.

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