Thirty Years of Creative Resistance - Friends of the Earth Australia

Living at the Jabiluka
Blockade Camp
Sarojini Krishnapillai is a FoE member who
lived at the Jabiluka camp for four months
“Colourful, creative, chaotic…camp life
was anything but boring.”
Over 5,000 people made the trek to
Australia’s Top End to put their bodies on
the line to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine.
Located inside Kakadu National Park,
about 20 km from the mining township of
Jabiru, the blockade kicked off in March
1998 and for the next eight months, the
camp was home to people from all over
Australia. Over 500 people were arrested
– including the region’s senior traditional
owner, Yvonne Margarula – as people
stood up to protect environmental and
indigenous rights.
Although the blockade was indeed
exciting, there was much grunt work to be
done behind the scenes, as Kirsten Blair
points out:
“The first and most important
task was getting the water
supply organised. The site had
a bore and tank leftover from its
cattle grazing days. The bore
cost $5,000 to redrill and as the
tank hadn’t been used for years,
it needed some serious cleaning
out. Katie Vallentine [from
WA] and I spent two hot days
(between downpours) chucking
shovels full of rotten leaves and
dirt over the 10 foot high sides.
A messy but crucial job!”
As the camp got underway, arrests rolled
on at the blockade site and the campaign
to stop Jabiluka unfolded around Australia
in legal, political, financial, community
and international forums. Fundraising on
an incredible scale – art auctions, raffles,
benefit gigs, T-shirts, donations – ensured
that the enormous costs of running the
remote protest camp were covered.
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Friends of the Earth in Melbourne played a
pivotal role in mobilising and organising for
the blockade. FoE’s ‘Direct Action Pledge’
garnered early support by asking people
to pledge their physical or financial support
for the blockade well before any action
took place on the ground in Kakadu.
When the blockade began, FoE took on
the mammoth task of organising buses
to ferry over 1,000 people over 4,000km
from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and
Adelaide to Kakadu.
The camp was a major logistical feat from
start to finish – and every day in between.
Keeping up to 500 people fed, watered
and well, in the hot and humid conditions
was a challenge, especially during ‘buildup’
- the sweltering lead up to monsoon
season where humid temperatures
topped 40°C. While conditions could be
trying at times, most people immersed
themselves in camp life with enthusiasm,
resourcefulness and most importantly,
humour.
In the lead up to the 1998 Federal
Election, blockaders organised the “Strong
Country Celebration”, and over 300 people
arrived at camp for a week of actions.
More than 100 people were arrested at
the Jabiluka lease wearing John Howard
masks. Down at the police station, police
were frustrated as the arrestees all gave
their names and addresses as “John
Howard, Government House, Canberra”.
Not so funny was election night, listening
by radio to the results in the camp kitchen.
Communications were always a challenge
– made easier (most of the time) by
the CB radio set-up in the trusty “Radio
Shack”. Radio ‘handles’ (names given
to protect the operator’s identity) and
encoded messages were at times more
confusing to us than to the police listening
into these conversations: ”Kakadu 444
this is Milk Crate to Bossy Boots, we are
located at two-thirty, do you copy, over”
Our suspicions were confirmed when the
Jabiru police pulled over a car load of
campers to do a ‘random’ roadworthy
check and greeted each of them by their
secret radio ‘handle’!
FoE 30 Years 75