The southeastern corner of the "land down under" supports one of the largest tracts of temperate forest remaining on mainland Australia. Most of the rest of the continent has been mined, grazed, burnt, logged and generally degraded. There's diddly squat that remains intact that's as ancient as the earth it grows in.
One of these lush forests is known by its aboriginal name, Goolengook. It covers over 20,000 acres. Until the state "conservation" department sent in the loggers on World Environment Day in June 1997, Goolengook's powerful owls and tiger quolls (the largest mainland carnivorous marsupial) had never heard a chainsaw or bulldozer.
The Goolengook blockade is the longest-running continuous forest blockade in Australia's history. Over 200 arrests have been made during the past 24 months. Blockaders have used tree sits, tripods and "hot rocks" (a fire in the middle of the road that is difficult to move once its put out). Cables anchored under dozers and log loaders have been used to suspend tree sits. Blockaders have locked onto the top and underside of bridges, locked down to cement-filled bathtubs in the road, locked arms through a bulldozer's tracks, set up cantilevers, locked onto log loaders and cranes used to pluck tree sitters from their platforms, and constructed a giant 25-meter monopole on the Goolengook bridge.
Along with the gung-ho blockaders, Green Party Senator Bob Brown has been arrested at Goolengook. His ensuing court battle proved that the government has illegally logged in protected Heritage River zones for the past six years. Totally unembarrassed, the government simply changed the legislation to make this destruction legal!
All of this has cost the government more than it received in royalties for the wood. Of the total volume of logs cut, 85 percent was woodchip grade (old-growth forests are regarded as producing crap timber and woodchips, but the site can be "reforested" with commercially desirable species planted three-meters apartïa la plantation).
Over this time, blockaders have been chased by a logger revving his chainsaw, had petrol thrown in their faces, been dropped off cantilevers, and dragged and dropped off the top of tripods. They've been ambushed and assaulted by loggers on lonely roads, been assaulted by police while being processed, had trees felled near them and had a logger throw his shit at them. A crowd of people was rammed by a government grader driver. There's been a constant campaign of false accusations of sabotage by the Conservation Department. Activists have been punched out by loggers, had bullets fired through the windows of a safe house in the nearby town and so on.
All of this culminated in the attempted burning of blockaders in spring 1998. As part of its logging operations, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) puts an intensely hot burn through a logged area, destroying all logging debris and surviving vegetation to prepare the site for planting preferred tree species.
When the police and government foresters organized the burning of the Goolengook logging coupes (timber sale) in September, they knew protesters were still inside the area. When the burning began, five people were unaccounted for. Fire bombs fell just meters away from people who were in the thick of the burns and disoriented by the smoke.
About five years ago, an employee of the department was burned to death in one of these burns. Since then, NRE has used helicopters for the higher-elevation forest burns to ensure the safety of workers. A helicopter circles the coupe dropping incendiary devices so fire completely surrounds the area and burns in on itself. The napalm released from a chute under the chopper is a mixture of aluminum sterate, petrol and methanol. It is dropped in burning blobs of gel that are intended to keep burning even in water. It sticks to anything it lands on.
Protesters were camped in the area to prepare for the start of the logging season. NRE officers warned two or three of the protesters that they would be burning the coupe and to stay clear. Even the protesters were unsure how many others were in the area and where they were. Later we found out that when the fires began, approximately eight people were there. Four were at the far end of the coupe maintaining a 30-meter-high tree sit. Another 10 or 11 were camped on the road leading into the three coupes. Worried about the others at the tree sit, three people began to walk in to alert them.
While in the middle of the logged coupes an NRE officer drove past and told them they were trespassing and to get out. He didn't mention anything about beginning the burn. Clearly, when the police did tell protesters to leave, their warning system was less than effective. One woman was told not to go down the road, but the NRE officer would not say why until pressured.
At the tree sit, the police and NRE confiscated all of the campers' gear, including their first aid kit! They were told the chopper would be dropping fire in 15 minutes. One woman stayed up the tree while the other three walked out in different directions to make sure others weren't in the area. But before they got far, the helicopter was dropping napalm, and the dry logging debris was burning intensely.
Fee, a German visitor, was on a tree platform about 30-meters high when the napalm began dropping from the chopper. She was overcome by smoke and became sick and unable to climb down. She was alone and feared for her life.
Colby, a student from Canberra, was on the edge of the coupe and panicked when the nearby bush began burning intensely. He was soon lost in the smoke.
The three who were on their way to alert the tree-sit camp were caught in the fire and had to quickly make their way down to the river buffer. From there they made it to the bridge and found another woman crying, vomiting and very traumatized. She had staggered through the logging debris and buffer zones in choking smoke to reach the bridge.
When Colby had still not returned that night the alarm was raised. The department didn't take this report seriously, telling media inquiries it was a hoax. When Search and Rescue arrived, they sat down and had a cup of tea.
During and after this fire, calls to the NRE were fruitless. Its policy was to say nothing except that the matter was in the hands of the police. Its agents would not answer any questions. After requesting police help, one officer responded with, "What do you expect us to do about it? We're not super human! We're not going into a burning coupe!" The senior sergeant in charge stated that they had done a proper search and found no one. He refused to release information as to the nature of the search. We believe the NRE did not send anyone out to help.
When Colby was eventually found at noon the next day by two friends (who were caught in the fire themselves the day before), he was very traumatized and weak. Later, the police charged him with being inside a forest operation zone without a permit.
Days after this event some people caught in the fire were suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. One woman who tried to write her statement three days later could not due to her shaking hands. For weeks afterwards, people were still nauseous and coughing up phlegm from smoke inhalation.
The department has received a formal complaint and is supposedly investigating. The police are refusing to return calls on this matter. There has also been a meeting with barristers to get the ball rolling on the legal front. We are insisting that the cops charge the government foresters or the Department of Natural Resources and Environment for this act, which will at least give them lots of paperwork. But it will be extremely difficult to get the police to prosecute as they were involved. Private prosecutions are notorious for failing and can drag on for years, costing the prosecuting party heaps.
The government also brought in a sneaky regulation that makes it illegal for anyone to be in a forest operation zone without a permit. The fine for violations is $2,000, on top of the $1,600 fines people have been getting for obstructing roads and logging operations. But so far, it's not stopped people from protesting.
More logging is planned in Goolengook for this summer season. To get involved or for more information contact the campaign through Private Bag 3, Orbost VIC 3888; (03) 5154-0156 or (03) 5154-0145; croeg@bigpond.com.