Updated
The gate that separates the protesters from their
staunchly pro-coal surrounds is covered in signs, secured only by a
bicycle lock.
At first glance, their camp doesn't look like much:
caravans are peppered amongst the ironbark trees, but just around the
corner is a large shed, an outdoor kitchen, a vegetable garden and
marquees. A gong rings out — an empty gas cylinder hanging from a tree — signalling lunchtime, and people start to appear, carrying guitars and talking.
This small bush block has become home to a transient group of anti-coal activists who live together, cook together and have team meetings, while occasionally leaving their safe haven to tie themselves to rail lines, disrupt coal transportation and get in trouble with the law.
It is far from unorganised — from rosters that coordinate who cooks and cleans to training regimes that prepare them for their protests.
Some have jobs they've left to be here, others are taking an extended break from their own businesses.
Who moves to a camp in the middle of the bush?
Gold Coast man Shane Primrose gave up his role as a teacher to move to the camp, where he has lived full-time for the past seven months."My job as a school teacher is to look after my students and give them the best opportunities at life," Mr Primrose said.
"If there's a whole new coal basin that's to open up and is going to be stealing hundreds of billions of litres of water while we're already in drought, top priority becomes looking after community, looking after country and protecting water for our young people."
Former IT worker and beekeeper Paul* doesn't look like he would fit in an environmental protester camp, but he said he couldn't sit by and watch young people take up the challenge alone.
"This is about everyone on the planet, this is not about some hippy tree hugging movement, this is about humanity," Paul said.The 60-year-old said the stereotype of people in protester camps being naive and overly idealistic was not true.
"These are smart kids [staying at the camp], these are well educated people, they've got degrees, they're doing PhDs," he said.
"These are people who understand the way the world's working a lot better than the people who often are arguing against us."
Civil disobedience or law-breakers?
The Adani Carmichael coal mine is 300 kilometres south west of Bowen in the Galilee basin, but activists have chosen to camp close to the Abbot Point coal terminal, where most of Adani's coal will be exported.The port already receives coal from other mines, and over the past few years protesters have chained themselves to rail lines, suspended themselves over the tracks in tripods and locked their arms inside cement filled drums, in a bid to bring rail services to a halt.
Many of the protesters had been involved in campaigning before, but decided to take the next step into civil disobedience and non violent action.
Paul said it was about sending a stronger message to the government.
"[Politicians] are just sitting around playing a different game. So I think it's time to stop being nice," he said."I understand it's inconvenient for people, but this is serious and we have been pushed to this point, because being nice is no longer working."
Twenty-four-year-old Amy* has travelled from Yarrawonga in Victoria to stay with the camp, and works as part of their media team, distributing releases to tell news outlets about their protests.
Most of her releases tell of the arrests made, and most recently how French documentary makers were arrested while filming their actions.
But the threat of jailtime, fines or a criminal conviction are not enough to dissuade her from taking part.
"In my opinion having those fines and being arrested is the price you're paying for trying to protect what's going to affect us in the long run," she said.
But it's a tactic most locals disagree with. Local publican and chair of the Bowen Chamber of Commerce Bruce Hedditch is fed up with the actions of the activists.
"I get very angry about it because it's taking a lot of police resources, far greater than what is actually stationed in Bowen to provide protection," Mr Hedditch said.
"Not only for the properties owned by Adani and other people but protection for those protesters who are putting their lives at risk."
Adani Australia said in a statement:
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We encourage people to base their opinion on the facts, and to conduct any protest activity legally and safely, without putting themselves or our employees, contractors or other community members at risk."
Welcome to Coal Country
The mining industry comes second only to vegetable growing as the main employer in Bowen, and Mr Hedditch said the attitudes of the activists did not reflect that of the public.
"We've had a federal election that has clearly displayed that the silent majority of Australian voters are supportive of Adani, of coal mining," he said.
"I just think these protesters should just wake up and go home and start to be proactive in their own communities."
The disparity between the protesters' views and local public opinion is not lost on Shane Primrose.
"If we had politicians who have some foresight and were forward thinking we could provide opportunities to people in many different areas, and we could do it in a way that isn't going to ruin our water table," he said."I really want people to understand what's happening here isn't an attack on jobs, it isn't an attack on communities and people in regional Queensland."
Adani was approved, so what now?
Despite the efforts of the protesters, the Carmichael coal mine passed its final regulatory hurdles in mid-June, and has since started construction.Protesters like Mr Primrose are disheartened, but have no plans to move on.
"As far as creating change goes, we can't look at this in a way of feeling responsibility that we must create the change that we want to see," he said.
"Anyone who's trying to create change has to understand that that's a lifelong battle and also understand that maybe your goals are never going to be attained."But we have a moral responsibility to do what we believe is right."
*Editor's note 27/07/2019: Only the first names of some of the people in this article have been provided at their request.
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