It was an early start today – the frost was still formed on the cooking pans as we started to fuel the fire. Our camping fire hasn’t gone out since we arrived here last Sunday, and neither has our drive.

A bunch of us headed down to Gunnedah to meet Kamilaroi elder Mick Horne, of the Baanbaa clan. Mining companies don’t just like to play divide and conquer with farmers, as we mentioned yesterday, but they also do the same with Aboriginal people who are put between a rock and a hard place – either knock back funding for keeping culture and projects alive or consent to the destructive impacts of mining on sacred and ceremonial sites, tool sites and country.

Uncle Mick didn’t hold back his feelings about the mine. He’s stayed around these mountains which form part of his ancestral lands, and told us that the mining companies were blowing up country, sites and killing animals. He suggested we should put Aboriginal flags around the entire forest to show that Kamilaroi people are ready to oppose the mines. After loading us up with fruit and camping equipment, he said goodbye, until next week (we’ll keep you posted).

Back at camp, we ran into one of the locals who has been supporting us the most, who had brought us a letterbox! Mail can be addressed to Front Line Action on Coal Camp, Leard Forest Road, Boggabri NSW 2382. We also ran into our newest campers, Bill and Colin Ryan, from the Sutherland Shire.

Bill is a 90-year-old Kokoda war veteran, and Colin is his son. They are totally opposed to further expansion of the coal industry.

“We’re here to support you, and it’s wrong what the mines are doing,” Bill told us. “If the government won’t take action, then people will. We need to phase out coal and bring in renewable energies.”

Having met up with locals, Colin was appalled at the way that they were treated by the mines and was spurred to offer support. It’s a good thing too – so many communities are now affected by the rapid expansion of extractive industries that it has become much easier for target communities like Maules Creek to receive support from elsewhere.

I’m running out of charge so I’ll leave you with this galling footage of the Tarrawonga mine (currently this would only be considered a small mine, but its extension is pending). The mine is less than a kilometre from camp.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epBIJHQOWMg&feature=player_embedded]

The moon hasn’t risen yet over the mine-pit – for a while we thought it was mine-lights but when it rises, the waning moon provides good light out here at Leard State Forest. The mines themselves let out an eery glow, obscuring some of the stars, although it is still more starry here than in any city.

About midday today we got a visit from the mine manager and another manager of Idemitsu’s Boggabri mine, the closest mine to our camp, brandishing a letter warning us that although the mine respected our right to protest, they believed that if we crossed into the fenced public land that surrounds the mine, we would be committing trespass. The mine itself is not allowed to buy the land where their mine sits, because it is still part of the State Forest – nevertheless, they have erected a fence. They were very eager to talk about how impressive their post-mine regeneration is – they told us they had built a plantation of three tree species over a mix of topsoil and overburden, and that after four years of regeneration in an area they have already mined, they even found an echidna recently – proof positive that the critters are returning to the forest! It was a little difficult not to scoff, but we kept the conversation friendly.

Idemitsu claims no responsibility for the management of the Tarrawonga mine, of which they own 30% – in the mine manager’s words, “they just send us a cheque every year”. They mustn’t know much about the mine’s future plans either. Last year, the Nature Conservation Council exposed Idemitsu for claiming that the land where the Tarrawonga mine sits would act as a rehabilitation zone for the Boggabri mine, despite the fact that Tarrawonga wants to keep mining for another 23 years. If Idemitsu genuinely believe that they are not responsible for the management of Tarrawonga mine, they are dead wrong – under tort law, all owners of a development, including major and minor shareholders, are liable for impacts and breaches.

Today’s Sydney Morning Herald’s expose on ICAC’s investigation on politicians’ back-handed deals with the coal industry should serve as a warning for the owner of the proposed new mine in Leard Forest, Nathan Tinkler, who has made former Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile the head of Whitehaven Coal, and used BKK resources, who number former Treasurer Peter Costello among their six-member directorship, to offer investment advice on the Maules Creek coal project. But Tinkler is probably more pre-occupied with his embarrassing loss in the Supreme Court yesterday, which forced him to complete a $20 million purchase of land he no longer needs for his failed coal terminal project. Little wonder he begged for more time to pay for purchasing a Queensland coal company five days ago. Tinkler used to be into horse-gambling – I’d be betting on a Front Line Action on Coal victory!

The mine manager left us to get lunch ready with a few parting words. He told us that they’d worked harder than any of the other mines at working with the local community and looking after the forest, “but we’re the ones getting the protestors!”. Sorry, Idemitsu, but that’s just what happens when you’re the first big new coal mine in the Gunnedah basin, the biggest mine project with a lease covering most of the forest.

The freelance journalist who writes for the Namoi Valley Independent returned today – he told us to expect a page 1 and 2 article on the camp. Not all of their articles are posted online though, so you’re much better off coming out to camp!

Pancakes were on the menu for breakfast this morning – still a few left over when Channel 7 turned up to do an interview and take some shots of camp. The media interest in these mines has been huge (not that the coal companies want too much attention on their mines at the moment because they are such a commercial risk).

More community members dropped in over the day to say hi. When a coal company comes into a new area, it’s a divide and conquer game and the community impact can be massive. Phil Laird from the Maules Creek Community Council told the Sydney Morning Herald in May, “They’ve bought all the land from Leard’s Forest through to Gunnedah and now they’re coming this way. We’re just running out of people.”

A quarter of the Maules Creek community have been bought out – their two options are to sell or to put up with the mines. The entire process can cause tensions in the local community, but at Maules Creek, the overwhelming majority of the local community are opposed to further open-pit mining in the area. In their submission about the Boggabri expansion, MCCC said that “the main impact of the offset plan appears to permanently remove farmers from the landscape, decreasing the agricultural viability of the district and destroying the fabric of the local community.”

Another landholder has sold their farm a few days a go, for 1% of the value of the coal that is under the property. Under the law, farmers only own about 20cm of topsoil, and it can be compulsorily acquired under radical title by the Crown at any time.

The flip side of the tension that the coal industry creates in a community is visible at Maules Creek. The mine has brought people together who never would have worked together normally – farmers, environmentalists and Kamilaroi people (as well as a few people who work in the mines!). Even those farmers who do sell don’t support the mine but feel as if they have little other option.

Waves, car-honking and visits by local community members bring a sense of hope. By working together and taking action together, these mines can be stopped. The coal industry is in trouble – the boom is over and costly mines such as these are marginal at the best of times. When the scale of impact attracts a blockade camp, the investment starts to look downright silly.

Rice and veggie stir-fry for dinner – we’ve got plenty of work to do yet!

Front Line Action on Coal (FLAC) camp has officially started! Today’s set-up followed a 150-strong meeting in Gunnedah yesterday on the impacts of coal and gas extraction on health. The meeting heard a huge number of concerns from residents about the effects of coal and gas-related air and water pollution on health, and resolved not to accept any negative health impacts from extractive industries, as well as undertake a health impact assessment in conjunction with the University of New South Wales. These broad concerns rammed home one of the reasons why taking action on the mines and mine expansions in Leard State Forest is such a fantastic idea!

Watching the sun rise over the mountains in Maules Creek over coffee put us in the mood to move the camp into the forest, where we intend to stay until the mines are stopped. Perhaps not a tall ask after all, since investors are starting to doubt Whitehaven Coal (part-owned by Nathan Tinkler and chaired by Mark Vaile) has the capacity to go ahead with their risky and highly-indebted Maules Creek mine project. Whitehaven’s shares have almost halved since their merger with Tinkler’s Aston Resources, and our blockade may be enough to knock this fanciful and insanely destructive mine project right on the head.

Driving up Leard Forest Road, the rich green cropping lands of Maules Creek transformed into stunning Whitebox Woodland, over 7,000ha of prime koala habitat, also home to threatened feather-tail gliders, diamond firetails, spotted-tailed quolls and wallaroos. To the left of us opened up the massive Boggabri mine pit, with piles of ground-up forest dumped along clear-fell to the north of the mine and failing regen to the south. The company had fenced off a possible camping area directly next to the mine, so we headed a couple of minutes down the road and set up Murray’s eye-catching teepee and marquee before setting up a fire-pit and dug a hole for the toilet donated by a community member. The community has stocked us up with enough food, tea and coffee and materials to last a while.

Two officers from the Boggabri police station arrived a while later for a cuppa and a chat. They didn’t have a problem with the camp and, as local community members, were well aware of the impacts that the mine would have. Of course the main reason they were there was to find out if we were planning any further action and to find out how many people would be arriving. Once we told them we were camping and they were our first visitors they headed off – the local police spend most of their time dealing with unregistered firearms, pig-chasers, thefts and drugs, so environmentalists are a bit of a new thing!

More visits from local mine opponents, a quick visit from a journalist from the Namoi Valley Independent – we were happy to pause set-up work for our visitors. As the sun set over the forest with nothing but bird-noises and the constant hum of mine-trucks, we were waiting for our roo leg to roast when another van-load of dedicated campers turned up and set in for the night.

The coal industry used to ignore opposition, but over the past five years a wave of opposition has grown and the west-ward expansion of this increasingly irrelevant industry from the Hunter Valley into the Gunnedah Basin and Liverpool Plains is being met with a new form of resistance. History is being made here in Leard State Forest – come out and join the movement!

Tomorrow is the start of the FLAC Boggabri Blockade Skillshare, and we will be moving into the forest near the mine. Come for the week, part of it, or stay for longer. We’ll be sharing campaign and tactic skills, doing mine tours, and taking action. More details are on the Facebook event page, or you can call Murray on 0418754869, or Jonathan on 0431289766 (the second number won’t work out in the bush).

The site will be visible from Leard Forest Road – here are the directions to get there:

Turn off the New England Highway just past Willow Tree and turn left down the Kamilaroi highway. Go through Gunnedah and Boggabri (last shops and fuel at Boggabri). 2.5km past Boggabri you’ll see the Manila road on your right – take that. You’ll go over an iron bridge over the Namoi River and come to a T-intersection 2.5km after the turn-off. Turn right towards Dripping rock and drive for 5.3km. Take a left (sign-posted towards Maules Creek) on the Leard Forest Road. After 5.7km you’ll pass the main entrance to the Boggabri mine. Keep going straight ahead, after 700m you’ll come to the haul road (watch carefully for coal trucks – they come every seven minutes or so). Go another 1.1km and you’ll find the camp on the corner of a left turn. Say hi to everybody and then treat yourself to a cuppa before setting up a tent (if you don’t have a tent we have a few spares).

Welcome to the Liverpool Plains, the frontier of the expansion of the coal industry in New South Wales feeding the world’s largest coal export port.
FLAC was established as a blockade camp in June 2012 after years of local action by farmers and environmentalists to protect the land, water, prime agricultural farms and the global ecosystem from massive open-pit coal mines.
We are based in Leard State Forest, a Boxy Gum Woodland with hundreds of native species and dozens of endangered species. Currently 3% of the forest has been cleared for open-pit mining but 3 open-pit coal mines are pending approval which would destroy over 70% of the forest (5,500ha), as well as poison aquifers, decimate a beautiful rural community, destroy biodiversity and accelerate climate change.
We are not going to let that happen!
We are taking direct action to protect the land, the community and the earth and all we are missing is you! Everybody is welcome at FLAC, between Narrabri and Gunnedah and accessible by rail. Give us a call on our contacts page and come out for however long you want with a spirit of hope and care.