Front Line Action on Coal

The Leard Forest Alliance

The Leard Forest Alliance, which has a Protection Treaty with the Gomeroi people, is made up of:

Front Line Action on Coal | Maules Creek Community Council | Lock the Gate Alliance| Greenpeace Australia-Pacific| 350.org Australia | The Wilderness Society | Quit Coal (Sydney) |Australian Student Environment Network| Friends of the Earth Australia | Northern Inland Council for the Environment | Nature Conservation Council (NSW) | Australian Religious Response to Climate Change  | Friends of the Pilliga | Mary’s Mount Protection Alliance | Mullaley Gas and Pipeline Accord | Protect our Water, & Rights | Save Our Soils Liverpool Plains

You can contact the Leard Forest Alliance via Front Line Action on Coal, or on 0490 064 139.

Commitments to Gomeroi Elders and people by members of the Leard Forest Alliance

  • We acknowledge that we are meeting on the traditional country of the Gomeroi people who are the custodians and first people of this Country.

       Respect

  • We acknowledge Gomeroi Elders both past and present

  • We respect the communication protocols of Gomeroi people and the important role of Elders in culture and heritage protection advice

  • We recognise and respect Gomeroi cultural heritage, beliefs, customs and your continuing relationship and responsibility to Gomeroi traditional land and water and day and night sky. We acknowledge that they are of continuing importance to the Gomeroi people living today. 

       Relationships

  • We commit to maintaining and strengthening our partnerships and respectful relationships with Gomeroi Elders and community in the spirit of reconciliation so that together, we can advance the cultural and environmental protection of the Leard State Forest specifically and the regional and global wellbeing of all people and the planet.

  • We will work together and collaborate where appropriate to develop responses to protect both the cultural and environmental landscape under threat

  • We will collectively look for ways in which we can work together/walk together to address the threats of mining and extractive industry, and its effects on climatic change, food security and the wellbeing of our local, regional and global communities.

       Responsibilities

  • We commit to the Ask First principles to guide all our actions which may impact on your cultural heritage and cultural values.

  • We commit to maintaining as light a footprint as possible when on Gomeroi lands and waters, to ensure that we do not adversely impact on sacred sites women’s and men’s business areas, burials and other ceremonial and important cultural areas, in our endeavours to peacefully protect the environment and wellbeing of all in the community

  • We will proactively look for ways in which Gomeroi knowledge and western knowledge can be integrated in any shared advocacy or protection approach

        Self determination

  • We recognise and respect your right to self-determine the ways in which Gomeroi people may seek to protect and maintain your customary obligations and rights

  • We acknowledge that Gomeroi people have a unique differentiation in the way in which you strive for the protection of what’s important to you and your culture.

 Gomeroi Commitments

  • The Gomeroi Elders and community welcome all who enter Gomeroi Country who strive to peacefully protect the Leard State Forest specifically and the wellbeing of all community and the environment.

          Respect

  • We acknowledge and respect your role to peacefully protect Australia’s environment and heritage, and to promote a sustainable way of life.

  • We will respectfully share our cultural protocols and the important role of our Elders

  • We will work towards reconciliation for the bringing together Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia in a spirit of unity, based on an agreed position about change which embraces equity and justice and maintains mutual cultural respect, by creating friendship and peace between all peoples and by working together for a sustainable future

          Relationships

  • We commit to maintaining and strengthening our partnerships and respectful relationships with all parties in the spirit of reconciliation so that together, we can advance the cultural and environmental protection of the Leard State Forest specifically and the regional and global wellbeing of Gomeroi and all people and the planet.

  • We commit to working together with a positive shared purpose which achieves both our cultural custodial obligation and lore to look after all people who live in Gomeroi Country and our roles within a global community

  • We will collectively look for ways in which we can work together/walk together to address the threats of mining and extractive industry, and its effects on climatic change, food security and the wellbeing of our local, regional and global communities.

          Responsibilities

  • We will share where possible our cultural values of the area in order to avoid unintentional adverse impact to our culture and heritage through peaceful actions

  • We will proactively look for ways in which Gomeroi knowledge and western knowledge can be integrated in any shared advocacy or protection approach.

          Self determination

  • We recognise and respect the rights of all to ‘bear witness’ to environmental destruction in a peaceful, non-violent manner