Sydney Nanna Bron locked onto a machine and was arrested in the Bulga State Forest. She was to 15th protester to be arrested in this forest, the home of endangered koalas and greater gliders.
Locking onto machines is a last resort. In January 2023 Labor promised to create a Great Koala National Park if elected to lead the NSW government. Since then logging has increased within the proposed park.
NSW Forestry Corporation has a long record of convictions for environmental offences. The Guardian reported a court found it had “a pattern” of illegally damaging the environment and had refused to accept the “true extent of the harm that it has caused”.
The Australia Institute’s eleven minute video revealed Premier Minns’ plans to keep logging until they’ve established a carbon offset scheme. Carbon offsets barely remove any greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and they are being used to justify increases in emissions in Australia.
Nannas have protested logging in native forests outside parliament, they have signed petitions, written letters to the relevant Ministers, visited our MPs and given them a briefing paper. We have participated in citizen science activities in the forests, and recently lodged a submission to the Forest Industry Action Plan. What more can we do?
Nanna Bron’s story
The experience of being arrested in Bulga Forest was exciting and positive, if you exclude the reason for being there, which is distressing beyond measure, and the ride in the paddy-wagon afterwards.
It was an amazing experience to be right inside a threatened forest so soon after the process of writing a submission to the Independent Forestry Panel, and reading other peoples’, especially Nanna Tracey’s on behalf of the Sydney Knitting Nannas. All her powerful words about the inestimable value of native forests were flooding my mind. I had not a doubt in the world that I was doing the right thing, and that this forest must be saved. Bulga forest was saved from burning during the 2019-20 fires, so is particularly precious as a wildlife haven. When logging was mooted, Forestry did some cursory surveys for wildlife and came up with a few greater gliders. Local citizen scientists added 14 koalas and 100 greater gliders!
The community team in Elands is well organised, and I felt very safe. I was picked up from my billet in the village before dawn, and travelled deep into the forest along bumpy gravel roads. I was accompanied into the forest. We bush-bashed for most of it. The team were all incredibly supportive of this short-legged and unfit Nanna, and carried my chair, cushion and blankets.
Once we got to the log dump I sat in the chair and locked on to one of the monstrous machines with a bike lock around my neck. That was not nearly as confronting as I had thought, because I’d practiced the night before. The photographer did some shots and videos, and then my helpers melted into the bush, back the way we’d come.
Up on the road beyond the exclusion zone was a group of hardy supporters, including Nanna Chris from Coffs Harbour, who had settled in about 5.30 a.m. to make sure that the loggers arriving for work knew there was someone locked on. It was reassuring to know they were there, and that the loggers wouldn’t start up the machine with me locked on!
About 6.30 am the loggers arrived, one of them strolling past my position, and glancing briefly in my direction, muttered “Oh, groundhog day”. He called the police rescue squad to cut me off, and he let me know that they had to come from Newcastle that day – about three hours away. I settled down to enjoy the forest. However, some time later the loggers started up one of the machines. They’re not supposed to, but we think they do it to thumb their noses at the activists. It was horrific to watch the huge claws of the machine lift the felled trees like matchsticks and strip off the bark. After about 20 minutes, they stopped, thank goodness.
The police from Taree and the police rescue arrived about the same time, and the rescue squad used an angle grinder to cut me off. That was a little bit scary, but I hung onto the thought that they were professionals and probably knew how to avoid my jugular. Then the police put me under arrest and into the paddy-wagon.
This was the nasty part of the experience. If you’re not yet familiar with the inside of a paddy-wagon, it’s a bit like a big Esky – a plastic box with nothing at all to hang onto. There was a Perspex window into the driver’s compartment (they don’t all have this). There are two seats facing each other which are just raised sections about four inches high. There are no seatbelts. The only way that you can stop yourself from flying around this box at every bump or corner is to brace yourself with your feet against the seat in front of you. For this short-legged Nanna, that’s quite a stretch. You also have to keep one hand on the ceiling and another one on the wall.
Anyhow, the two regular police drove me to Taree police station, an hour’s drive away. They set off down the mountain on the gravel road at a crazy pace, flinging me all over the place as they bumped over ruts and roared around corners. I almost hit the ceiling at one point when they struck a very deep pothole as I was giving my arm a rest from pressing upwards. That scared me badly, as a blow to the top of your head can break your neck, as I know from my son-in-law’s surfing accident a few months ago.
This mode of transporting arrestees must be stopped. I intend to put in a complaint or add my voice to a campaign if one is underway. The thought of vulnerable people being subjected to this treatment is appalling. I am sure it has resulted in many serious injuries over the years. I feel that in this case, the police are using it as a form of intimidation against activists.
At Taree police station I was processed and placed in one of the small holding box things near the front desk with a blanket and a cup of tea. Not very comfortable, but I promptly went to sleep. They had told me I could be there for six hours, but I was released after 2 hours, just 12 hours after setting off. Nanna Helen, who lives in nearby Wingham, picked me up from the station, gave me afternoon tea and got me back to the operations base in Elands.
I was charged with six offences. Some of them look like duplicates of each other to me.
The inevitable court case is the part of the process that I really don’t enjoy! I have to attend court in Taree on November 26th. But I’m still looking forward to being at Rising Tide Blockade.
Nanna Bron.
For more information go to https://savebulgaforest.org
Follow the protests on https://www.facebook.com/savebulgaforest