Residents in the far north of South Australia have lost the battle to keep the city open and say they are now being evicted from the city before New Year’s Day, despite the state’s extreme heat.
Key points:
- A report sent to Mintabie found it to be a drug and alcohol center heading to the APY lands
- Locals have discussed many of the report’s findings and challenged the eviction
- Now residents say they have been forced to leave the city on New Year’s Day
The state government has decided to close the opal mining town of Mintabie and return the land to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands.
The city was condemned by a report released last year that found it to be a drug and alcohol center entering Aboriginal communities on APY lands.
Local resident Margaret Venturi, who has lived in Mintabie for 35 years, said this week’s heat wave, along with the Christmas season, made the move more difficult.
“It’s unbelievable that on January 1, everything left behind became state property, which is crazy,” he said.
“It’s pretty depressing, I’m starting to feel pretty sick with the heat trying to keep the water going and everyone is the same.
“I don’t know why they chose a time like this”
South Australia is experiencing its second heat wave in the last two weeks, with temperatures sloping to stay close to 40 degrees Celsius in Adelaide until a cool change on Monday.
At the northern end of the state, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has forecast temperatures of about 42 ° C in Mintabie for the next three days.
Ms Venturi said people were almost wasting time trying to pack their homes before the deadline.
“It’s really horrible … my brother came to help me and almost fainted with the heat,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Mintabie Miners Progress Association (MMPA) initiated a Federal Court action against the state government in an attempt to stop the eviction.
The lawsuit was settled in November this year and the state government pledged to close the city on December 31.
Mintabie had been home to about 30 permanent residents and was crucial to Australia’s opal trade for over 40 years.
The land has been leased to the government by the APY Lands executive for opal mining purposes since the 1980s.
“Everyone gets tired, dehydrated”
Ms Venturi said since the city lost the legal battle, residents had been abandoned to pack their lives and homes before the new year.
He said some residents had been forced to leave some of their belongings because they had nowhere to put them.
“I’m 70. I’d rather be able to do it in cooler weather, not in the heat of the horrible summer we’re living in,” he said.
“We even have mental health nurses talking to everyone, trying to stay in the mood.”
Earlier this year, the state government said it had offered support to residents to move to state-owned housing in Coober Pedy, Port Augusta and other locations.
Mines Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan said contributions had been made to the relocation costs of former residents, but the detail was confidential.
“In June 2018 the former residents were asked to leave before June 2020, but in the end it was mutually agreed on December 31,” he said.
“Former residents were notified 12 months in advance and asked to leave in the middle of last winter, but they asked for more time and agreed the December 31 deadline.”