Last year the Anti-Nuclear movement of Western Australia joined with global peace group Footprints for Peace in an exciting campaign to re-instate the ban on Uranium Mining in Western Australia and re-invigorate Australian activists to get involved. On the 20th August 2011 over 100 people including traditional custodians, senators, state members of Parliament, journalists, lawyers, …
View photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/footprintsforpeace/6298036626/ At our rest day at Mundaring Sharing, we all headed down to the park and celebrated one of the kid’s 11th birthday with games, music and lots of cake. On Monday the families left us, which was a sad moment. It has been so good to have them here. The atmosphere …
The “Walk away from Uranium Mining, Towards Aboriginal Sovereignty” is only a couple of weeks away from arriving in Perth. Join us to celebrate these first steps to create a Nuclear Free Future. After 10 weeks of walking through the desert, through wind, rain, dust storms and heat the walkers are arriving in Perth. Come …
Merredin to Northam October 9th – October 18th View photo’s here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/footprintsforpeace/sets/72157627927006564/ The walk continues to go well. It was nice to camp under a full moon last week. Luckily no werewolves surfaced, though there was some odd behavior among the walkers. Probably a result of the number of weeks on the road. The weather …
WALK UPDATE – SOUTHERN CROSS TO MERREDIN October 2nd – October 8th View more photo’s here http://www.flickr.com/photos/footprintsforpeace/sets/72157627742394107/ Welcome to Southern Cross – a town in which all the streets are named after constellations! The community offered to give us a guided telescopic viewing of the stars, however the weather wasn’t on our side and heavy …
Last year the Anti-Nuclear movement of Western Australia joined with global peace group Footprints for Peace in an exciting campaign to re-instate the ban on Uranium Mining in Western Australia and re-invigorate Australian activists to get involved. On the 20th August 2011 over 100 people including traditional custodians, senators, state members of Parliament, journalists, lawyers, families with young children and people from North America, New Zealand, France, and throughout Australia gathered just outside remote Wiluna to begin a ten-week walk to Perth.
This year 2012 Footprints for Peace will be working closely with the Walkatjurra Rangers to walk from Yeelirrie (site of BHP’s proposed uranium mine) to Leonora.
Walking for country is to reconnect people with land and culture. The Walkatjurra Walkaboutis a pilgrimage across Wangkatja country in the spirit of our ancestors so together, we as present custodians, can protect our land and our culture for future generations.
My people have resisted destructive mining on our land and our sacred sites for generations. For over forty years we have fought to stop uranium mining at Yeelirrie, we stopped the removal of sacred stones from Weebo and for the last twenty years we have stopped destruction of 200 sites at Yakabindie. We are not opposed to responsible development, but cannot stand wanton destruction of our land, our culture, and our environment.
We invite all people, from all places, to come together to walk with us, to send a clear message that we want the environment here, and our sacred places left alone.
Kado Muir, Traditional Owner, Yeelirrie
Join us for a month walk from Yeelirrie to Leonora from August 20th – 14th September. This walk will be lead by the Walkatjurra Rangers, in partnership with Footprints for Peace, Western Australian Nuclear Free Alliance (WANFA), the Anti Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia (ANAWA) and the Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA).
At our rest day at Mundaring Sharing, we all headed down to the park and celebrated one of the kid’s 11th birthday with games, music and lots of cake.
On Monday the families left us, which was a sad moment. It has been so good to have them here. The atmosphere of the walk would have been very different if it had been only adults. The kids really lightened up the mood and brought a sense of community to the group.
We set camp in a beautiful quarry, but once the walkers had arrived from their 12 km walk, the ranger came by and told us to leave. So we packed up camp again and set off to an alternative camp a few km down the road. That night it poured continuously and everyone got totally soaked.
The community we stayed at on Tuesday was called The Peace Tree, an inspiring group of young people living according to the catholic worker principle. That evening they cooked us a beautiful dinner and we had a great night.
Wednesday morning we stayed at the Peace Tree and had several circles/ meetings. In the first circle we did an exercise speaking & listening in pairs to each other one to one attentively about the highlights, disappointments of our experience of the walk as well as what we take with us from this experience.
In the second circle we each could say something as a reflection on the walk to the whole group. The most profound and impressive comment came from the 9 year old girl that walked every step of the 1250 km. She said “the walk would not have been the same if any one of you had not been there”. It went straight to the heart and didn’t leave many eyes dry.
In the afternoon we lit the flame that had been first lit by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, had been part of a round the world peace march in 2009/2010 and taken to the NPT meeting in New York in May of that year. We set off on our 5 km walk in the late afternoon, in the rain. This was the first walk into real suburbia and luckily it cleared up pretty soon so we had a nice walk. The Quakers gave us another warm welcome with beautiful food and support provided within the comfort of the old Victorian Quaker house.
Thursday started with another circle. We notice we are getting close to the end of the walk as a lot of time is focused on evaluation and preparation of or arrival into Perth and the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting), a very anticipated event with a lot of security and police attention. Today we were joined by traditional owner of the Lake Eyre Region Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, an indigenous elder who has been fighting against the Olympic Uranium Dam at Roxby Downs in South Australia for years and by Dave Sweeney of the Australian Conservation Foundation, and Mia Pepper of the Conservation Council of western Australia and Nat Wasley of the Beyond Nuclear Initiative. They talked about the nuclear chain, from mining to waste and the stages of nuclear power plants and atomic weapons, and the damage it does on the way. We also discussed what we can do from here on to stay active for a nuclear free WA and world.
We did a little ‘practice’ walk for channel 9 news and then set off for our 4 km walk to City Farm, an eco farm in the middle of Perth. In the evening we had our welcoming event to which a good 100 people showed up. As part of the event a young aboriginal dancing group performed traditional dance, music and talks. The night was a great success. It had been a long day and after cleaning up most of us were exhausted.
Friday was the big day. We would be walking into Perth city centre, to join in the CHOGM protest. Lots of people joined us for the glory walk. All together we must have been close to 250 people, under which a fair representation of local indigenous activists.
We were all quite excited because of the anticipated harsh police laws and possible police violence. We knew we were not allowed to take flags and banners on sticks higher than 1 metre and carry flammable liquids. Yet we left City Farm with all our banners on high poles and with a burning torch. We had agreed to just give it a go and negotiate with security forces if we were stopped.
Many of us were dressed up in frocks, because of the tradition that emerged from the forest movement for Frocks on Friday to defuse police violence. As well of the theme of the queen being in town and the contested nature of her role as a monarch in the former colonies, everybody was dressed rather elegantly. It seemed like especially the male participants were enjoying this dress up party.
We set off with helicopters zooming above the city and were very soon joined by a couple of police cars, who in stead of resisting our presence taking over an entire lane of traffic, decided to give us an escort to the main protest area.
Upon arrival to Forest Place we took the stage as the speakers were about to start. There seemed to be a technical problem with the sound system which allowed for us to stay on the stage for an extra 10 minutes to state our presence, chanting slogans such as “Always was, always will be…aboriginal land” and “Wanti, uranium, leave it in the ground” giving s a lot of attention from media and the nukes issue a very central point of the idea.
After all speakers had had their say, we made our way through the main shopping area, together with all the other groups present in a long slow moving procession. Some groups shouting, some chanting and us just rocking out to some music.
We sat down on an intersection close to where the CHOGM meeting was taking place. We were surrounded by police and behind the fences a very strong presence of riot police.
All went smoothly and we returned to Forest Place. It was great to see that all the activist groups involved seemed to pride themselves on the fact that the protest has been peacefully.
A group of us walked on to Earthwise, another Perth based eco-centre, where we were to spend the last night all together. It had been a great day and a very good completion of our walk.
The days after some left home or to a next adventure, but quite a big group of us didn’t really want to let go and say goodbye to this great community, and we had this benefit gig on November 1st to stick around for. The gig at Mojo’s was amazing with a great line up and lots of good people and vibes.
A few of us even stayed on afterwards to stay together at The Origins Centre in Balingup, in a very nurturing natural surrounding to each recharge, thinking about life after the walk and all ready making plans for future peace walks. Because this is not the end, it is just the beginning…
The “Walk away from Uranium Mining, Towards Aboriginal Sovereignty” is only a couple of weeks away from arriving in Perth.
Join us to celebrate these first steps to create a Nuclear Free Future.
After 10 weeks of walking through the desert, through wind, rain, dust storms and heat the walkers are arriving in Perth.
Come and celebrate with the walkers at City Farm,
1 City Farm Place, East Perth, Australia
6pm – 8.30pm
Come and hear the stories from the road, see the images of the walk, and talk more about how we can walk away from the nuclear industry once and for all.
· Welcome to Country
· Dance’s
· Film
· Photo’s
· Music
· And short talks
Bring your sleeping gear and spend the night.
Friday the 28th of October
We will walk in to the CHOGM rally at Forest Place.
The walk continues to go well. It was nice to camp under a full moon last week. Luckily no werewolves surfaced, though there was some odd behavior among the walkers. Probably a result of the number of weeks on the road. The weather is beginning to warm up as the Western Australia spring progresses, so we’ve been getting up by 5:00 AM in order to be on the road by 7:00 to avoid the hottest part of the day. The evenings still cool off pleasantly, though now the mosquitoes have begun to compete with the flies as the most annoying pests.
The walk is continuing to grow in numbers and diversity as we approach Perth. We have had walkers from Australia, New Zealand, Chile, U.S., Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Kenya, and Iran on this leg of the walk. Our ages range from babies still breastfeeding to 78, so one of the recurring issues in circles and on the road is our walking pace. It is often hard to not get too spread out as we walk. The six kids that are walking have made a proposal in circle that we walk at kids’ pace on one of our shorter days. Though we haven’t done so yet and there are details to work out, it is an example of the dynamic community we have assembled. Everyone feels empowered to speak up about their concerns and problems are worked out collectively.
The growing worldwide movement to occupy public spaces in solidarity with the occupation of Wall Street has heartened us all. Many of us are glad to hear that people from our homes around the world have engaged in such actions. Our walk ends in Perth in time for CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) where Queen Elizabeth II will meet with all the other heads of the Commonwealth. Actions in solidarity with the occupations are among those planned for her visit.
We got the maddening news the other day that the South Australian state government and the Australian federal government have approved the expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium/copper mine. It is already the largest uranium mine in the world, and once it has been enlarged to roughly two km by three km and one km deep it will be the largest open pit mine of any kind in the world. One of the many reasons we are walking against uranium mining is the unsustainable water consumption and the pollution and degradation of water resources. Olympic Dam mine already consumes about 37 million litres of water from the Great Artesian Basin, adversely affecting a number of precious Mound Springs – unique habitats which support rare and delicate micro flora and fauna, some of which are unique to a particular Mound Spring. BHP Billiton, which operates Olympic Dam, pays nothing for this massive use of precious water despite recording a $13 billion net profit in 2009-10.
On a lighter note, one of our veteran walkers celebrated his forty-third birthday by walking 43 km in one day. As he dragged his tired body into camp he was greeted with applause, presents, and even a special poem composed just for him. And so we continue to walk to Perth with a range of emotions as we contemplate the end of this amazing walk.
Welcome to Southern Cross – a town in which all the streets are named after constellations! The community offered to give us a guided telescopic viewing of the stars, however the weather wasn’t on our side and heavy storm clouds blocked the stars and gave us quite the soaking! Our spirits were lifted again however, with the Country Women’s Association (CWA) hosting us that night for a community meeting to share information and our experiences. We were greeted with songs, and in true traditional CWA style, had smorgasbord of cakes and tea and dessert offered to us! (We haven’t quite managed to bake cakes that light and fluffy on the camp fire yet…. delicious!) Needless to say we graciously swarmed to the cake table like the flies that have been swarming to our eyes for the last weeks!
Then it was back to the road again, and our senses were treated with tall eucalypts, and brand new assortments of wildflowers (no kidding – they keep coming – weird colourful and stunning tiny flowers!). The weather heated up for us again after the rain, which was great but a bit of a shock to the system.
More people joined the walk this week, another Canberra, a young girl from Germany, a man from Greece and three more people from France. Had a presentation from our German walker about what’s going on in Germany with the nuclear chain and there are incredible annual protests there that should be recognised and celebrated. The nuclear chain really is global in all respects. One thing that is becoming increasingly apparent is that we are never alone in our efforts to say no to nuclear. There are people all across the world who are standing up to this industry and it is important to remember this unity, and to celebrate our efforts and draw strength from each other.
On the note of celebrations, we celebrated the 10th birthday of one of our young walkers, having a treasure hunt, apple bobbing, good ‘ol pass the parcel and party feasting! He got wished happy birthday in at least 10 languages from our now very diverse walking crew!!
We had a guided tour of the Collgar Wind Farm today where we learnt some hard and fast facts about the wind turbine’s production and maintenance, energy generating capacity, the community consultation process. The Merredin community was very welcoming, we scored free coffee from some cafes, and the Merredin IGA wrote us a letter of support and donated food for our community BBQ.
We have gotten a bit more used to civilisation again now, (and the perks like showers that accompany towns) and will continue to come into urban areas in the lead up to Perth. Only a few more bush camps left now, so enjoying our camp fires and the sleeping under the stars.
Collgar Wind Farm Update
A breath of fresh air….
On this walk we have been joined by people from all around the globe who have experienced the cultural and environmental devastation of the nuclear industry – the industry that begins in Australia’s backyard with uranium mining. Being conscious of the potential ramifications of nuclear waste can be pretty overwhelming at times, so it is great to look to the present and to a future using the real alternative energy – renewable energy.
As we walk away from uranium mining we are collectively aware of the need to transition to safe and real renewable energy sources. This morning we took a tour of the Collgar Wind Farm on our rest day in Merredin. It was a breath of fresh air (pardon the pun) to see real renewable energy in action.
Collgar Wind Farm is a $750 million renewable energy project. The farm consists of 111 wind turbines and is the largest single stage wind farm in the southern hemisphere. Walkers stood directly under one of the 85m tall turbines and we were all surprised by the near silence of the turbine’s operation. No exaggerating here, all we could hear was a very faint ‘whoosh’ on their rotation. Enough energy is produced here to power approximately 125,000 households per year. In the 3-year construction phase the wind farm employed 150 people, and it will provide ongoing employment for a team of 10-15 locally based staff. The energy that is generated goes back into the south western power grid.
It was interesting to draw a mental comparison of the consultation and landholder remuneration process of the wind farm compared to coal and coal seam gas in other areas. The Collgar Wind Farm spans across 11 private landholdings, and the consultation process was conducted in 12 months. A wind turbine cannot be built within 1.5km of a house, whereas coal mines can be built within 600m of a home. For these wind turbines, landholders are earning approximately $10,000 per year for each turbine on their property. This is a stark difference to the coal seam gas wells on farming properties where landholders are receiving between $500 and $1500 per year for each well sunk, and having to face potential serious long-term land degradation.
One of our young walkers, aged twelve, summed up what he thought about the wind farm he saw today in comparison to nuclear reactors. “The wind farm is way better. They make enough energy and it’s just big windmills. Nuclear is bad ‘coz if there’s an accident then we loose farm lands for thousands or millions of years.”
Pretty simple to see what’s better. And more people are seeing it. There is a lot of hope for the future right here in Western Australia. Denmark has plans for a wind turbine, and Mt Barker already has several wind turbines owned by the community.
While we face the current battle of ensuring that no uranium mines are opened in Western Australia, our group has been invigorated by the very real and existing renewable energy technology used here. These wind turbines are not going to cause a legacy of unknown radioactive toxicity for tens of thousands of years! As today we celebrated the 10th birthday of another of our young walkers, we also got to celebrate communities embracing safe and real renewable energy. Bring on the real forces of nature in wind and sun.
Over the last week the walk has travelled from Bondi Rock to Southern Cross. We have left the remote desert area and have entered the wheat Belt.
Reflecting on the last 6 weeks it has been an amazing walk in which we have learnt much from the Traditional Custodians and each other. We have strengthened our commitment to keeping this land nuclear free and in the process have formed a strong community.
It is painful to see how much the land has changed as we enter the wheat Belt and there is the constant reminder of so-called civilization with all its rubbish along the road.
The nuclear industry represents the ultimate rubbish that will contaminate and threaten society for hundreds of generations to come. This whole process of destruction and contamination begins with uranium mining.
We cannot allow the Western Australia government to permit the contamination of this beautiful land so as this uranium mining companies can profit from sending such a toxic and radioactive substance to Countries through out the world. Fukushima, Chernobyl and the other accidents that have happened need to stop.
It is for the future generations and all life that we must act to stop this in Western Australia before it begins.
As many of us from around Australia and the world walk towards Perth over the next 4 weeks we hope that you will be able to join us in this journey to keep W.A nuclear free.
If you can’t join us then please take a minute to sign the submission against Toro Energy’s proposed uranium mine at Wiluna.
We will be having a celebration at city farm on the 27th of October with speakers, dancers, music and photos from the walk. Join us at City farm at 5.30pm.
Stay the night and walk with us to Forrest Place for the CHOGM rally
Or come to City farm at 8.30am on October 28th with you banners for our last 3 km walk in to Perth.
and for those of you who missed it here is the link to Greens Senator Scott Ludlams speech in Parliament
and one last youtube clip which you must see…
Traditional Custodians Uncle Glen speaks out on Uranium and the walk
KALGOORLIE TO BONDI ROCK
September 19th – 25th, 2011
Hi I’m June from Brisbane and I have just joined the Walk in Kalgoorlie after attending the ANFA meeting in Alice Springs. I had 2 days to get to know people before walking out of Kalgoorlie on Monday morning. It felt wonderful to claim the road through Kalgoorlie with 50 walkers, flags flying and chanting ” Wanti uranium leave it in the ground,”
One hour out, the Perth bus met us and we had to say farewell to 20 people as they returned home, some who had come for 4 days to support us and have a short experience and others who sadly had to return after walking many kilometres.
As the day grew warmer and clothes were shed, I gradually got into the rhythm and began enjoying the wonderful landscape that was continually changing. It was so great to have so many children walking, running, siting in bike trailers and riding bikes. Interacting with each other and with any adult that was nearby.
As we were now on the main highway there were lots of semi trailers, cars, truck and caravans to contend with. Some very friendly slowing down, waving and sounding horns, and others staring stony faced ahead and others speeding past as though we weren’t there.
Monday night we bush camped, the night was clear the stars so bright, food warm and satisfying, then the sunset and the cold night set in. I was one of the first to climb into my nice warm sleeping bag.
Tuesday started out very early, (6am wake up call) the morning was cold but it soon warmed up as we strode out along the road. I was amazed at how fast the group walked; up to 7Klms between breaks, this with many children and one mother carry a small baby.
Today we are walking into Coolgardie (21klms) and people were excited to hear we would be staying in the Recreation Centre where we would have use of the kitchen AND hot showers, what a treat. Some people went to the swimming centre in Kalgoorlie and were privileged to have a warm shower, but for others I believe it had been camp showers since Wiluna.
Malcolm the Shire President came to welcome us saying it was so good to see the new centre being used. He stayed and talked with people about Coolgardie and shared a meal with us.
Next morning we learned that a number of walkers had an unexpected “shower” the automatic watering system came on at 3am, sending sleepy people scattering for cover.
We had a very long walk today, 26 klms, but the scenery was out of this world, the wild flowers were in abundance, I had always wanted to be in WA in spring for the wild flowers and here I was. Grevilleas stood out because they were taller, pink, yellow orange red. Everyone had their cameras out, stopping continually to take photos. We agreed that there would have been more than 50 varieties, so many different shades of blue, purple, yellow white cream pink, ones that seemed the same until closer inspection showed a different coloured stem or a softer leaf, a larger petal or prickly stem.
That evening just as we were finishing a once again delicious meal a wild windstorm blew up having everyone rushing to secure their belongings and put fly’s on their tents. It also turned really cold so it was early to bed again (for me anyway)
Today, after an early (again) start we said goodbye to Karen as she headed back to Perth. It was a small group for this 21klms walk, 9 adults, 5 children and a baby. Some people have been unlucky enough to not feel well, nothing serious, just enough to need to rest.
The wind was very strong (from the west) and cold and made the mornings walk hard going, but we still made good time, walking into camp just after 2.30pm.
As some of the days run into each other, I forget sometimes what happened when (I allow myself this little habit) but the cooks have outdone themselves when it comes to camp cooking, we have had apple crumble, sweet damper with apple sauce, delicious innovative cakes using left over porridge and cooked in the coals.
Last night at our bush camp we were rudely awoken at 9.30pm by very loud and very bad drumming. Some of us thought it might have been a walker, but others realised it was coming from a van parked on the road not far away. After 30 minutes the drummer must have got bored as no one confronted him, so he drove away.
Today’s (Saturday) walk was another long stretch 26klms with a wind from the west again, but nonetheless very peaceful and beautiful, children running along the pipeline (water from Perth) having a wonderful time. Arriving at camp after 5pm a superb place with two dams and shade trees, I was so happy it was a rest day the next day, as after 6 days straight I was exhausted. Not too exhausted to welcome Jon from US, it was so good to see him, we had walked together in 2008 and 09.
We have come to our half way point in many ways, arriving in Kalgoorlie. We have been walking with Wongutha elder Geoffrey Stokes this week, through his country, listening to his stories and jokes, learning more as he points out bush tucker and important places on the way. I will always remember Uncle Geoffrey’s wide smile, sense of humour and story-telling around the fire after a long day walking. He has incredible presence, and is so clearly suited to his calling as a pastor.
Since Menzies, the landscapes have changed as the Mulga trees that have dominated the landscape has been replaced by Eucalypts, and we have been walking over more rolling hills. This week will also be remembered as the week of impressive feats with the camp oven – beautiful bread, a carrot cake and even a soufflé.
We were worried as we headed into this section of the walk that this would be the most difficult part – after the excitement of beginning, and as we have fare welled more walkers. But we have come together as a group, in an amazing and beautiful way. Co-operation, tolerance and a shared sense of purpose are powerful glue to bind us as a community – even though most of us were complete strangers a few short weeks ago!
We have had two days of rest from walking, staying at Wongutha Birni, a community centre which is on the verge of being opened to the public in Kalgoorlie. The walls are covered with amazing pieces of art by local aboriginal artists, and there are information panels on the walls that tell the story of the centre and the community it supports.
Today, we prepared for a celebratory get-together and barbecue with some invited guests and Pastor Geoffrey and friends. We walked the 3 kms to Centennial Park for the coming together and to advertise the event to any Kalgoorlie residents that cared to participate. We had food to share catering for vegans, just vegos and meat-eaters. The walk, with many banners flying in a jubilant procession, started out with a buffeting wind in front and then behind and all over the show. Many walkers nearly took off wind sailing with the power of their banners acting like sails. Bravely Marcus let the way with red flag persuading oncoming traffic to slow down.
The waves from passersby in cars were many which more than made up for the occasional curse of ‘the bird’. The red of the road gave way to an expansive green park with a raised concrete stage and walkers ran onto the green grass “to frolic” and play a game of touch footy. Mothers and kids alike enjoyed the GREEN grass and some of the “oldies” lay down in the sun. Jo and June did the honours cooking the veggie burgers and Mia organised the sausages virtually single-handed. Geoffrey Stokes and Christine Jeffries-Stokes arrived with their mob of kids and we did the meet and greet and getting to know you again.
An hour later, we were hungrily tucking into the sausages and veggie burgers when a guy arrived to tell us there was a severe sandstorm warning and we were directly in the line of fire. We’d been having so much fun we’d forgotten to look up. There was a red billowing haze in the south and it was moving fast. Some of the more astute set off on foot at a rate of knots while others gathered up small babies and headed for the nearest shelter; which serendipitously turned out to be Geoffrey’s school bus. We all piled in as much as that little school bus could fit after rescuing the sausages! Jo and June were also squashed in and we proceeded to wind our way back to the Wangutha Birni, where it was a group effort to pull in all the tents, swags and clothing, which were being blown all over the backyard. It was chaotic, but we all made it inside with most of our gear, to wait out the storm with a cup of tea.
As I write, the wind and dust has died down and the later rain stopped, but we can see another storm building in the distance. May be a quite a night ahead of us before we start walking again tomorrow for another week. What a way to celebrate out half way mark – wish us luck!
We had a fantastic farewell procession through Leonora, with our hosts coming to walk with us to the town limits early in the morning.
We have appreciated a Rest Day on the full moon, 3km North of Menzies in a(nother) bush camp with magnificent weather on this Sunday 11 September. Good time for catching up on sleep, washing, feet/blister care, massage and walk updates/ media outreach!
Since leaving the hospitality of our Leonora friends, the last five days saw us walk along the Goldfields Highway alongside roadtrains and heavy haulage vehicles. This creates a challenge in itself, but is rewarded with much encouragement from passing drivers.
Some of our walkers including International delegates have temporarily departed the walk to attend ANFA: Australian Nuclear Free Alliance gathering in Alice Springs at present. They have taken with them media presentations that has been put together by our expert team from Leonora
View video here: http://youtu.be/U5JIi61kFQk
We bade farewell to some of our walkers before leaving Leonora, and again we said goodbye to two at our Menzies camp, and our resident photographer has disappeared to seek camera repairs.
We’ve had the luxury of a food stockup provided from Kalgoorlie, as well as the arrival of a support person today who has brought with her more Organic provisions from our favourite foodies, The Organic Collective! The similar consistency of lentils, rice and porridge was wearing, so it’s been nice to “crunch” into some perishables again!
From Menzies tomorrow morning, we anticipate that we can circumnavigate the vehicular traffic on the Goldfields Highway by taking advantage of the parallel trainline into Kalgoorlie. Our current protocol of yelling “truck” or “car” up and down the walking group to advise each time one approaches will be simpler…”train”..!
In the forthcoming weeks’ walk to Kalgoorlie, we are looking forward to have more people join us to walk into Kalgoorlie for events and presentations there before we leave the goldfields, and are gearing up for a re-welcome of many return participants (repeat from the first week of the walk from Wiluna to Yeelirrie), coming out on the second bus trip to meet us at Kalgoorlie, as well as many new faces from Perth.
INFORMATION TO COME AND JOIN US ON THE WALK…
There are currently 40 people walking from Wiluna to Perth including special guests from France, the US and New Zealand and Traditional Owners. Please join them as they walk into Kalgoorlie in a few weeks. This is a great opportunity to meet Traditional Owners who are battling to save their country from a nuclear future, as well as amazing activists from around the globe with news about the nuclear industry globally. The weekend events will also include talks from Labor and Greens MPs who have been supporting the “Walk Away From Uranium Mining- Towards Aboriginal Sovereignty”
ANOTHER UPDATE BY KRISTI
Here are three photos that attempt, (the first 3 photo’s in the top link) in some way to sum up this life changing experience we are all sharing.
Firstly my name is Kristi and I have brought my four children on this trip while my husband works away. I am motivated by a deep knowing that we need to make way for social change and provide our children with community experiences. These days our children experience a wealth of choice and a poverty of family and connectedness with other people. Out here the community experience has been incredible for all of us.
The baby in the bucket tells that story and more. The children look out for each other and they want to help with the younger ones. They see the need to be careful with water and supplies. Apple cores get eaten out here. The baby has changed the most, extending his field of vision from his nuclear family to this every increasing group around him. He is thriving on this new found love everyone he sees has for him. Being in a community activates something deep inside us all. Living in a community that has a common goal has, for me, illuminated the failings of the nuclear family; that try as we do just can’ t meet all the needs of our children or ourselves.
The photo of the children by the sign is a symbol of the next generation on track together finding a new path by uniting indigenous intelligence with our modern mind.
The third photo is Nanna Gay and her daughter and grand-daughter and great grandson with a banner that says her grandparents stopped uranium mining forty years ago; leave it in the ground. For me the aunties and the elders represent a body of understanding that we find difficult to grasp because it transends logic. Aboriginal people for millinea have called uranium country, ‘sickness country’ and prohibited their people from going to these places. This photo represents thousands of generations of ancestors standing in the light of the truth.
Thank you to Marcus and K.A. for organising this amazing and throughway powerful trip. It has been incredible to just walk. Such a wonderful experience. I know my children and I are blessed to be here.
If any families out there have the slightest inclination to come then dispense with any doubt because the energy of the movement will carry you through.
The last week has been amazing and we have
come out of the dirt road walking being led through country by Kado Muir and
many visits on the walk from other local Traditional Custodians from the area.
We are now in Leanora and have been
welcomed by many here and treated to an Amazing BBQ at Richard & Sandra
Evans. The country here has been some of the most beautiful country that I have
ever seen in my life. It is hard to belive that BHP, Toro and other companies
want to destroy this country for uranium mining. The impact of other mining in
this area is very evedent around us and it is easy to see the mines that have
just been abandoned. Uranium is such at different substance with its long life
of radiactive materials that will poison the land for a thiusand generations to
come..
We have already witnessed the tactics of
these companies and have heard from the Traitional elders how their perants and
uncles & Aunties stopped them from mining uranium here decades ago and how
much passion and strength there is in the communities here to stop it from
happening again..
We need o understand that this country is
something very special that the people here have been fighting for and will
continue to fight for. We must all come together and stand with the people from
this area to not allow the Government and uranium mining companies to come in
and push their weight around. At the end of the day they will destroy this land
to send the poision over to another country for use in Nuclear power and
weapons..
WE CAN STOP IT…..
PLEASE JOIN US ON THE WALK….
There
are currently 40
people walking from Wiluna to Perth including special guests from France,
the US and New Zealand and Traditional Owners. Please join them as they walk
into Kalgoorlie in a few weeks. This is a great opportunity to meet Traditional
Owners who are battling to save their country from a nuclear future, as well as
amazing activists from around the globe with news about the nuclear industry
globally. The weekend events will also include talks from Labor and Greens MPs
who have been supporting the “Walk
Away From Uranium Mining- Towards Aboriginal Sovereignty”
We have confirmed the bus to Kalgoorlie
leaving Perth on the 15th September and returning on the 19th.
See below the schedule for the Kalgoorlie
weekend
Thursday 15th September
9am Leave East Perth Station
6pm Arrive at Camp with Walkers (20km north
of Kalgoorlie)
JUMP
on the Bus from Perth and back to be part of the “Walk
Away From Uranium Mining- Towards Aboriginal Sovereignty” as they head in
to Kalgoorlie We have confirmed the bus to
Kalgoorlie leaving Perth on the 15th September and returning on the
19th. Great opportunity to be part of the walk meet activists from
France, USA and New Zealand as well as inspiring Traditional Owners who need
your support in this fight to keep WA nuclear free.
