Camp Nunguu and the North-East Coast fight for forests Zianna Fuad
This is a small story about a motley crew of caring souls that have risen together to reject the destruction of public state forests across Gumbaynggirr homelands. To begin I want to acknowledge, with deep respect and regard, that this is Gumbaynggirr land that holds a multifaceted story of horrific abuses, displacement, and dispossession and a longer lineage of care, connection, resistance and cultural renewal. Newry State Forest is a beautiful, biodiverse public native forest near Bellingen, NSW. It is one of the largest, unburnt pieces of forest in NSW after the black Summer bushfires, home to koalas and many other threatened species on a path towards extinction. The forest borders on Jaaninga Reserve and Bollanolla Mountain and is the sacred homelands of the Gumbaynggirr nation and contains significant cultural sites and song lines. One of the most potent is Nunguu Mirral (Kangaroo Special Place) that Newry State Forest looks towards, marking the range between this forest and the sea. Without consent from Gumbaynggirr people, Forestry Corporation NSW (FCNSW) intends to
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Chain Reaction #140
August 2021
industrially log this forest, putting local waterways, air, health and culture at risk. Rising up with local Elders, Gumbaynggirr Custodians, locals and environment groups have come together in a historic fight for the future of this forest, building a community blockade at the entry of Newry, named by Gumbaynggirr elders as Camp Nunguu, the camp of the Golden Kangaroo. The camp has been growing since April this year, with hundreds of people dropping in over those months to show their support. While Forestry Corporation has suddenly gone quiet after finishing the roading, we have grown into a flourishing community space to upskill, inspire and connect people to country and culture as they ground on Gumbaynggirr land. Uncle Micklo who teaches Gumbaynggirr language classes at camp shares, “The ancestral beings gave us our lore, our culture, and taught us how to live in harmony with the land. Everything was precious – we needed these places to survive. If they keep going like this we won’t have forest left. This forest needs to be a sanctuary for our people and other animals.” Resistance to native forest logging has made a
Senior Gumbaynggirr Elder Uncle Bud stands in front of Camp Nunguu sign that he named after the golden kangaroo.
