Daintree Blockade: 30 years on
Thursday November 14th 2013
Writer marks Daintree Blockade's 30th anniversary
Thirty years ago, the then-Douglas Shire Council, with State Government support, spearheaded construction of a coastal road from Cape Tribulation to Bloomfield, sparking what would become a defining event in Australia’s environmental activism and conservation movement: the Daintree Blockade.
Mossman writer Bill Wilkie was working at his local library when he heard stories about the environmental protest, second only to the Franklin River campaign as the largest in Australia’s history.
“I thought it was a great untold story, and I started digging for more information,” Mr Wilkie said.
“It was one of the main events on the road to protect north Queensland’s rainforests with World Heritage status, and shows the importance of the theatre of an event.”
Four years later, Mr Wilkie’s study of the blockade’s legacy will be detailed in ‘North of the River’, likely to be published next year. He’s still researching, combing through personal letters, newspaper articles and media reports, and personal accounts. Former Douglas Shire Mayor Mike Berwick and key protesters are among more than 30 interview sources.
Mr Wilkie is asking anyone with information on the Daintree Blockade, including Cape Tribulation or Bloomfield residents during the early to mid-1980s, road construction workers, and members of the Nomadic Action Group, to contact him at billwilkie2012@gmail.com.
For updates on 'North of the River', head to Mr Wilke's Facebook page, at
https://www.facebook.com/daintreebook.
Meanwhile, the Daintree Marketing Cooperative (DMC) is marking the blockade’s thirty year anniversary with a reunion of those involved.
DMC members Dawn Gray and Lawrence Mason have been tracking down people, with 40 to 50 people so far planning to travel from around Australia to Cape Tribulation for the reunion, on November 30 and December 1.
Activities will include a trip to the blockade site and BBQ dinner in Cape Tribulation. Ms Gray said people from both sides of the argument are attending – those who protested, the police officers who made arrests, the legal counsel who represented the protestors, and even members of the press at the time.
“We were surprised to find that despite the passing of thirty years, there is still a deep bond between them,” she said.
“The dinner will be held on Saturday 30 November 2013 - thirty years to the day the call to arms [to conservationists] went out.”
Those interested booking for the dinner BBQ need to call 40980070 or 40980042.
Daintree Marketing Cooperative is collecting newspaper articles, posters and other printed material from the blockade. They may be uploaded onto http://www.facebook.com/destinationdaintree.
The Daintree Blockade
Douglas Shire Council’s proposed road would traverse one of the last remaining areas of tropical lowland rainforest in the country and the recently declared Cape Tribulation National Park. In opposition, a small group of local residents formed the Wilderness Action Group, calling for conservationists to help stage a protest so the land would be left as a natural environment.
The work crew arrived at the end of the Cape Tribulation road on 30 November 1983, and was met by about 40 protestors. It was a peaceful and non-violent protest, according to Mr Wilkie, but Council, working with National Parks and Wildlife Service staff and frustrated with the delay, instructed the police to take action.
The blockade continued for days. Protestors climbed trees, buried themselves up to their chests in the paths of the bulldozers and chained themselves to trees. Thirty protesters were arrested.
Media attention and daily reports helped develop the protesters cause into one of Australia’s major environmental issues. Even so, construction continued.
The conservationists were pinning their hopes on Bob Hawke’s Labor government intervening as they had done to save the Franklin River in Tasmania, but the new government was still finding its feet and feared a confrontation with Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen who was at the height of his powers. A rough track was pushed through within three weeks. The protesters vowed to keep a vigil at the site and began replanting the road and making preparations for the campaign to follow.
The hasty build meant the arrival of the wet season caused significant damage, both to the new road and surrounding natural environment. Work re-commenced in August, 1984. The protest was on again, but this time, Council and police were more organised and better prepared, with bigger bulldozers and more officers, including the police dog squad. Mr Wilkie said on one occasion a number of protestors trying to resupply one of their friends in a tree became involved in a confrontation with the dog squad, resulting in protesters bitten by the dogs.
The Cape Tribulation to Bloomfield road, now famously known as the Bloomfield Track, opened on October 7, 1984. About 60 people were arrested during construction of the road.
Mr Wilkie said the Daintree Blockade was a pivotal moment in the development of the environment movement in Australia, and played a huge part in the eventual World Heritage listing of Queensland’s wet tropical rainforests.
Sources: Bill Wilkie, Lloyd Nielsen’s ‘Daintree - Jewel of Tropical North Queensland’/Daintree Marketing Cooperative, Dawn Gray
