RAINFOREST WARRIORS

This is a story of extraordinary cultural change in the Byron hinterland in the 1970s and how that led to Australia’s first ever fight against environmental destruction – a fight that resulted in undreamt of success – the creation of national parks down the spine of the state.

It set the scene for environmental action for decades thereafter: at the Franklin in Tasmania, in the Daintree, coal seam gas blockades and internationally.

The story starts with the rich subtropical rainforests of Northern NSW – a place of spiritual significance and sustenance for the Bundjalung people. It explains the history of these ancient forests, their complexity and importance. Then it tells the tale of destruction.

Logging from the 1830s and then clearing for farming left just one per cent of the rainforests in the region. It was devastating. The Bundjalung had no say. Their country was destroyed.

But in the 1970s destruction gave way to renewal.

The hippies arrived. The counter culture surged. The Aquarius Festival in Nimbin was held in 1973. Many Festival goers were changed forever, many stayed. At the same time, the “back- to-the-earthers” settled in the area, communes were created. There were 94 at one stage. Sixty still exist.

Suddenly there was a critical mass of people who wanted to live with nature, not witness its destruction.

The War to stop logging was seeded. And war actually broke out in 1979 at Terania Creek, inland from Byron Bay. Never before had activists confronted loggers, bulldozers and police.

Everyone was confused.

It was all new. A camp was built, hundreds gathered. Blockading tactics had to be invented.

Then came the next war at Mt Nardi near Nimbin.

This finally triggered Government action to not just halt the logging of rainforests forever but to create a vast number of National Parks. It turned the Labor Government green.

Bob Carr said Terania and Mount Nardi blockades “... provided a political model. It was an alliance of the Labor Party and nature conservationists” (interview Wyatt).

The book also looks at a new relationship between these new arrivals and the local Bundjalung people.

At the Aquarius Festival, the first ever Welcome to Country was offered by indigenous Australians to the new white Australians.

The town of rainbow-painted Nimbin has forever changed and the legacies of the blockades are ongoing – continued activism.

The book includes a series of interviews with the activists.

Introduction

The Big Scrub and Gondwana

Aquarius

The War

The Second War and the Politicians (Carr is interviewed)

The Victory

The PLAYERS (all interviews)

• The Saviours - Hugh and Nan

• The Festival Radical - Graeme Dunstan

• The Psychiatrist – Dr Harry Freeman

• The Community Creator - Carol Perry

• The Visionary - Dudley Leggett

• An early community - Dharmananda

Community and Leigh

• The Internationalist – John Seed

• The Mullum GP – Dr David Miller

• Scary Grannies – The Knittng Nannas

• Ganges to The Channon - Bodhi Farm and Gai

• Bundjalung Country - dispossession then some respect.