Ever since Rio Tinto (legally) blew up 46,000-year-old sacred rock caves in Western Australia’s Juukan Gorge in 2020, the multinational mining company has been on a long campaign of image rehabilitation and woke-washing.

The scandal cost former chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques his job, led to now-repealed cultural heritage laws in WA and led to Rio spending millions supporting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ’s failed Indigenous Voice to parliament.

Now, Rio Tinto is set to contribute funding to the University of Melbourne’s forthcoming Eddie Mabo Centre, named after the pioneering land rights campaigner who was the plaintiff in the famous 1992 High Court case that brought an end to the doctrine of terra nullius and paved the way for native title.

The centre is billed as a “transformational joint initiative of the National Native Title Council and the University of Melbourne”. It will “support Traditional Owners in this transition and First Nations youth to become community leaders and drive economic change in their communities”.