MOVING MOUNTAINS portrait stories

Image: Andrew Peacock, Footloose Photography

It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves  
Sir Edmund Hillary

Sometimes, when life calls you to step up, you find you are capable of things you never dreamed were possible. Our peaceful stand to protect the Scenic Rim was, for many of us, one of the most demanding and rewarding things we have ever done.

People from all walks of life, including farmers, landowners, mums, dads and grandparents, stepped out of their comfort zone. We dug deep to overcome fear and uncertainty, and we had a lot of fun.

What we achieved is a shining example of what a well-informed passionate community, powered by love and science, is capable of.

Here are the personal stories of some of the key KTSRS characters.

Innes Larkin
Spokesperson for Keep the Scenic Rim Scenic

Moving to the Scenic Rim and living at Mt Barney Lodge changed me and my awareness of our natural world. I become more aware that nature was not just out there but that we were an integral part of it, and if we poisoned the water, or the soil, we were poisoning ourselves. Read more ...

Heidi Ross
I just went to war … to make it impossible for them.

There was a time when stopping coal and coal seam gas in the Scenic Rim dominated my life. For close to two years I put everything aside and just worked to make sure it didn’t happen. Read more ...

Paul Coyne
I’m a great believer in Sun Tzu’s strategy of Win first, then go to war. My goal was to find a fatal flaw in the ambition of Allegiance Coal. Read more ...

Daniel Robins
one swift decision changes teacher to activist

On the first day I visited the Kerry Blockade I met a local man who was standing beside me leaning on the fence in shock after the arrest of a few local people, and told me his name was Rod Anderson. We both stared straight ahead at the drill rig maybe ten metres away. I had an impulse to climb the drill rig, so I turned to Rod and said “Can you hold these?” I handed him my hat and glasses and before he could reply I jumped over the gate and hit the ground running, until I got to the drill rig unchallenged. Read more ...

Cassie McMahon
Supporting communities from the Goliath

My concern about the coal industry started at a young age. I grew up in a coal mining town. We lived across the road from a coal-fired generator, and I watched my mother suffer severe asthma attacks. Read more ...

Tracey Larkin
communications for KTSRS and events coordinator

I was happily operating Mt Barney Lodge and raising a young family when plans for a dirty brown open-cut coal mine just up the road caught my full attention. Read more ...

Rod Andersen
I knew I might get arrested but I was pissed off. I wanted them to hear me out.

The first I knew of gas drilling in Kerry Valley was when Michael Undery said he was worried. I trusted him and he wasn’t a radical person. Read more ...

Michael Undery
Driving down the road wondering what is this going to do, what is actually happening and how will all this end up? This is how I remember the first day of the Kerry Blockade. Read more ...

Sally Undery
The Kerry Blockade was a life changing event. I am ever grateful for Heidi Ross and the role she played encouraging people like me who knew the dangers but were just too busy to act until it was too late! Read more ...

Linda Weston

Reclusive and insular - the words that best described my lifestyle up until 2011

The first I knew of the proposed Mintovale open-cut coal mine at Croftby was a front-page newspaper headline. Subsequent searches provided me with information that left me horrified. A boundary for the Mintovale MDL was a mere 280 metres from our back deck and I also found that our property was covered by a CSG exploration permit. Read more ...