Keep the Fire Burning

The most controversial mine in Australian history

Most people considered this battle lost long ago. The Adani-owned Carmichael Coal Mine, probably the most controversial mine in Australian history, was approved in 2019 and has been operational since 2022.

After years of rabid national debate over the project’s economic, environmental, cultural and climate impacts, the excavators rolled in and most of the country moved on. Adani had won.

But one family of Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners kept fighting. And now, after over 10 years of struggle, there are signs the tide might finally be turning in their favour.

Adrian Burragubba (right), Meisha McAvoy (centre), Coedie McAvoy/Gurridyula (left)

Goliath

The Adani Group is one of the biggest and most powerful multinational conglomerates in the world, valued at over $200 billion USD.

Gautam Adani, the CEO, is worth an estimated $63 billion USD and remains the 25th richest person in the world, despite a U.S. arrest warrant over fraud and bribery charges.

Yet, despite Adani’s power, reinforced by their supporters in government and the media, one working-class Aboriginal family has continued to stand against them.

Waddananggu

I first met Coedie McAvoy, as he was known back then, in May 2021, as he was about to lead 100 friends, family and supporters on a 5-day bike ride to the Carmichael Mine site, which he dubbed the ‘Tour de Carmichael’.

Coedie headed back out to the mine in August that year, to set up camp on a small hilltop directly opposite the mining pit and begin a ceremony he called “Waddananggu”, a reclamation of a section of his traditional Wangan and Jagalingou homelands.

Waddananggu, the Wangan and Jagalingou ‘reoccupation’ camp located directly opposite the Carmichael Mine pit.

There, he issued a rallying cry:

“We’re gonna stay here until I get 100% confirmation that the Doongmabulla Springs are not going to be affected.” Coedie McAvoy/Gurridyula

The Doongmabulla Springs are a rare source of inland freshwater, bubbling up from the ground about 10 kilometres from the edge of Adani’s mining lease. They are a sacred site for the Wangan and Jagalingou People, home to the Mundagarra, the Rainbow Serpent.

Meisha McAvoy and her nephew Charlie in the Doongmabulla Springs,
sacred to the Wangan and Jagalingou People, located about 10 kilometres from Adani’s mining lease.

The reality was, Coedie didn’t know how long he’d be able to stay. Since 2019, he and his family had been upping the ante, occupying sections of the mining lease and blocking the mine access road. Each time Adani accused them of trespassing and demanded their removal, the Queensland police had acquiesced.

Coedie lit a ceremonial fire atop the hill and settled in, awaiting the police response. But this time no removal attempt came.

Human Rights

In 2019, Queensland passed a Human Rights Act, affirming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights to “their identity and cultural heritage”, “their distinctive spiritual, material and economic relationship with the land, territories, waters… and other resources with which they have a connection under Aboriginal tradition…”

As such, although Adani’s Australian subsidiary Bravus accused them of endangering miners’ safety, the police declined to intervene, and Coedie and the Waddananggu reoccupation continued to block part of Adani’s planned mine expansion.

Come the 26th of August this year, despite the constant logistical, financial and psychological pressures, Coedie (now known as Gurridyula) will have kept the fire burning uninterrupted for four years.

Coedie McAvoy, now known as Gurridyula, has been living next to the Carmichael Mine pit for almost 4 years.

Adrian Burragubba

Gurridyula’s father, Adrian Burragubba, became the face of indigenous resistance to the mine in the mid-2010s. For five years, he led legal challenges to the mine’s approval, regularly speaking out in public as the mine gained national then international notoriety.

But Adani batted away each case, and in 2019 Adrian was ordered to pay over $600,000 dollars in Adani’s legal bills, leaving him bankrupt. With his health deteriorating, mine construction underway, and the sudden, tragic death of his youngest son, Adrian stepped back as Gurridyula stepped forward.

“We had no hope. I was about to give up altogether. And then this thing came along.” Adrian Burragubba

Adrian Burragubba, his son and nephews conduct a smoking ceremony at the Doongmabulla Springs, remote central Queensland, 10 kilometres from the Carmichael Coal Mine. (photo by Kim Paul Nguyen)

The landscape changes

In November 2022, Queensland’s Land Court made a landmark ruling: Clive Palmer’s proposed Waratah Coal Project (even larger than Adani’s and also located in the Galilee Basin) would breach the human rights of local Traditional Owners and should be refused. It was the first time the Queensland Human Rights Act had been used this way.

Soon after, the same legal team approached Adrian Burragubba to explore a similar case against Adani – backed by analysis from hydrogeologist Professor Matthew Currell, showing that groundwater removal at the Carmichael Mine could eventually drain the Doongmabulla Springs.

If that happens, Adrian’s lawyers would argue, the Wangan and Jagalingou community’s ability to practise their culture in connection with the springs would be irrevocably lost.

Another chance

In February last year, Adrian and his lawyers brought this new evidence to the Queensland Supreme Court and now, after over a year of legal deliberations, the judge has allowed the case to proceed to trial.

Adrian’s case was dramatically strengthened by a confidential CSIRO report that was made public, finding Adani’s groundwater data and modelling were ‘not fit for purpose’ and in breach of the conditions of their mining approval.

A date for the hearing will soon be set. After almost 15 years of struggle and what appeared to the whole country, even to himself, a lost cause, Adrian has a better chance than ever to finally stop the mine.

The fire still burns

“Coedie and I, at Waddananggu, when we sat down with the fire, you know, that’s where all this really stemmed from.” Adrian Burragubba

If it wasn’t for Adrian, Gurridyula would never have become the person he is now, reoccupying their homelands, protecting their sacred waters, and exerting their right to exist. And if it wasn’t for Gurridyula, perhaps Adrian would have walked away from the fight, broken by the combined weight of Adani and the state and federal government.

About 100 years ago, Adrian’s parents and grandparents were forcibly removed from their traditional lands by the State of Queensland. Their language and culture were banned, and they were locked in reserves thousands of kilometres away. Ever since, maintaining their cultural identity and their connection to their homelands has been an existential struggle.

“Everything we do is based on our human right not to be forcefully assimilated and to have our culture destroyed. They can’t forcibly assimilate us anymore.” Adrian Burragubba

As Gurridyula lays wood on the fire overlooking the mine each day, and his father returns to the court to fight the government and one of the world’s largest corporations, their actions are demonstrations of their culture – re-emerging, strengthening, surviving.