Thirty Years of Creative Resistance - Friends of the Earth Australia

‘At the Barricades’ - F19 (Eastern Freeway)
campaign
established, to better co-ordinate the
activities of the many local groups across
that state. An executive committee
(ECOM) was set up to help co-ordinate
activities, maintain links with the rest of the
Australian FoE groups, and support new
groups (general meetings of the combined
local groups had ultimate decision-making
power). Peter Veljens, Max Smart, John
Andrews, Mark Carter and Linnell Secomb
were appointed to the first ECOM. Neil
Barrett, Alison Parks and Emma Young
were also key people in the organisation at
this time and contributed strongly in terms
of organisational development during
the first few years of FoE’s operations in
Victoria.
FoE was also growing beyond inner
urban areas with groups forming across
the country. As a blue collar mining town,
Port Pirie hardly fits the bill as a traditional
enclave of environmental activism. Yet
a group of concerned people in the area
got together to campaign on the radiation
risks from the tailings dams and set up a
FoE group in 1977. There had been very
limited remediation of radioactive sites by
the State Government and FoE felt that
community pressure was required to force
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the government to take responsible action.
Among those who established the group
were Ian Hall, Ally Fricker, Judith Sherry,
Harm Folkers and Tinky Folkers and the
respected FoE veteran Bert King. In 1981,
exceptionally high tides breached the wall
of the tailings dam and some materials
were flushed out to sea. As a result of
FoE’s lobbying of the Minister of Mines
and Energy, the dams were eventually
stabilised in 1982 by being covered with a
metre of slag from nearby mines. FoE then
turned its attention to lead, as the smelter
was too close to the town and posed a
considerable health risk.
According to long term FoE activist Bert
King, “much controversy led to tighter
controls over lead burning materials
passing from the smelter into the town
environs”, which had been leading to “lead
absorption and especially, possible harmful
effects on children”. Bert summed up the
approach of the group, which reflects a
broader FoE perspective on campaigning
by noting that ‘the lessons were that
citizens must join together at grassroots
level on local issues [and] put pressure on
politicians. FoE proved to be the medium
for this.
During this period, mining companies
Long term FoE activist Bert King
FoE 30 Years 16