Day 268

Hi all muzz here ,

April 19th, 20th, 21st we had 21 people on the Pilliga and Leard  State Forest  Coal & Coal Seam Gas tag along tour starting at at the Pilliga hot bore baths, a great place to camp the night. In the morning we headed of to the  Forest Discovery Centre in Baradine after looking around we where give a talk by the park Ranger about the significance of the area. Then off to the Baradine Local Aboriginal Land Council to look at the significant collections of battle axes,grinding stones, emu callers, rain sticks, clapsticks even a scar tree.

From there we had Lunch at sculptures in the scrub @ Dandry Gorge located in the Pilliga Forest.

The Sculptures in the Scrub are the most recent addition to Pilliga Forest’s landscape.
These amazing artworks are made from bronze, stone and stainless steel, with the
largest creation standing up to 3.5 metres tall. The sculptures were developed by
Australian artists Brett Garling, Col Henry and Ken Hutchinson and Aboriginal artist
Badger Bates, and were funded by Gawambaraay Pilliga Co-management Committee.
The sculptures were developed by Australian artists Brett Garling, Col Henry and Ken
Hutchinson and Aboriginal artist Badger Bates, and were funded by Gawambaraay Pilliga

After Dandry Gorge we spent the night at the Pilliga Pottery enjoy fine food and fine company, the morning took us to the  gas field with local farmer Tony Pickard : tour of the coal seam gas: visit rehabilitation areas of the coal seam gas well sites; site of serious spills; gas pipeline; pilot production wells; discussion on poorly remediated, previously unlined produced water ponds,contaminations, water treatment plant, evaporation ponds.

The Santos proposed leasehold in the Gunnedah Basin includes plans for 50 well sets in the
Pilliga section of the leasehold over the next 3 years. Santos are to reassess the reserves claimed
by Eastern Star Mining in PL238.

Then over to the Leard State Forest to see two Open Cut Coal Mines, one in the State Forest!!! Every one one was quite taken back by the big hole, and the clearing of the forest for more mining, when you see an Open Cut mine first hand you get a good understanding of ” Open cuts don’t heal ” We also had two Japanese forest campaners to see Idemitsu’s ecocide face to face.

The week end just past we had 4 Japanese students living   in Sydney stay for the weekend looking for Koala’s in the Leard State Forest and  at Watermark, near Breeza NSW where another coal mine is dew to start !!!!

The Campane to stop the Open Cut Coal Mines is going very well with Whitehaven looking very shaky with low share price’s. The Boggabri Coal ” Idemitsu ” is harder to read with the sacking of 106 workers but still clearing the Forest for more mining.

So if you can come out and support the Leard State Forest please   do not hesitate, we all ways need more numbers in camp.

Stand and Protect

Love and Respect