Thirty Years of Creative Resistance - Friends of the Earth Australia

The camp’s office was located within
Jabiru Caravan Park, and buzzed with
media releases, food orders, recently
released arrestees and those seeking
refuge in Jabiru. There was also a huge
support base in Darwin, where many
people provided a welcome bed and
shower for those living long-term at
camp, as well as enormous logistical and
legal support. The camp itself became a
tourist attraction to the many thousands
of tourists who visit Kakadu National Park
every year. Visitors included Japanese
tourists whose country would have bought
a large chunk of Jabiluka’s uranium had
the project gone ahead.
The key to the success of the camp (and
ultimately the campaign) was the broad
cross-section of inspired and passionate
people involved - students, families,
doctors, artists. Age was no barrier, a fact
driven home by the arrest of 90-year old
Alvie Booth at the Jabiluka lease in August
1998.
Everyday life at camp included cooking,
painting banners, meetings, liaising with
Mirrar and keeping in contact with groups
around Australia working on Jabiluka.
There were frequent concerts to amuse
ourselves, eating meals together and
listening to hilarious songs making fun of
mining company ERA. Even the police
were affected. After days of being at early
morning actions officers could be heard
humming the ‘Kakadu Is Sacred’ song as
they loaded protesters into the back of
divvie vans.
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Life at the camp impacted upon many who
lived there and created a new awareness
in their ‘everyday’ lives back in the cities as
Leanne Minshull explains:
“For many of us the blockade
crystallised thoughts that had
been lurking in the recesses
of our minds. Living in camp
made you responsible for every
aspect of your day to day life
and the consequences of all your
actions. A return to ‘normality’
and a passive lifestyle was not an
option and a whole generation of
Today, Jabiluka is effectively dead in the
water as the Australian Conservation
Foundation’s Dave Sweeney explains:
“Negotiations between the
mining company and the Mirrar
on an Agreement making any
future development at the site
dependent on explicit Mirrar
consent are well advanced and
expected to be concluded this
year. For the first time since
white settlement the Mirrar’s
right to veto, control and
manage developments on their
land will be legally recognised.
And people power made it
happen”.
.
FoE 30 Years 76