7 protesters on a road block a police vehicle during the 1982 Nightcap forest blockade in NSW, Australia.
Protesters road block a police vehicle during the 1982 Nightcap forest blockade in NSW, Australia. © John Seed

Om gaia dudes: The North East Forest Alliance’s old-growth forest campaign

This book chapter by Aidan Ricketts is about the key moments and positive sides of the old forest growth campaign in northern NSW in the 1990s. The chapter explores the Northeast Forest Alliance, blockades (Chaelundi, Mt Killiekrankie, Mummel Gulf, Carrai, Wild Cattle Creek, Toonumbah, Dingo State Forest) and the wider social and cultural impacts of the forest campaign.

Contents

  • Formation and structure of the alliance
  • The Old Growth Forest Campaign
  • 1992 ‘Direct Action all the Way’
  • NEFA and the Bundjalung Nation get down to Business
  • Forestry Siege
  • The Industry Sets a Trap for NEFA
  • Negotiating a Political Solution
  • Social and Cultural Aspects of the NEFA Experience
  • Direct Action: The Path of the Non Violent Guerilla
  • From ‘Punk’ to ‘Feral’
  • Music for the Revolution
  • Integration of Subcultures
  • Conclusion
  • Postscript

Read Book Chapter

Ricketts, A. (2003). “Om gaia dudes”: the North East Forest Alliance’s old-growth forest campaign. In Belonging in the Rainbow region: cultural perspectives on the NSW North Coast (pp. 121–148). Southern Cross Unversity Press. https://researchportal.scu.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991012821560402368/61SCU_INST:ResearchRepository