Remember Bentley, near Lismore, in 2014? Do you know what happened at Terania Creek, again near Lismore, or the Franklin River in Tasmania?
These are just a few protests that were successful . They prevented disaster, changed public opinion and persuaded those who make the rules.
The ongoing humanity project on planet Earth seems to involve oppression, ‘progress’ and protests that are sparked generally by civil rights and environmental issues.
And all protest movements, especially civil rights ones, are led by those fearless in the face of jail or death. Imagine if there was no fight for women’s suffrage?
Or if segregation in the US was still law, as it was in South Africa?
Wave Hill
In 1966, 200 Gurindji stockmen and their families walked off the Wave Hill pastoral station in the Northern Territory, protesting poor working conditions and low wages.
This sparked a seven-year land rights movement that led to the Labor Whitlam government returning over 3,000 square kilometres of land to the Gurindji people in 1976.
Tent Embassy
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established in 1972 to protest the lack of Indigenous land rights.
This protest outside federal Parliament House attracted widespread support and helped shift the Labor party towards greater action on Indigenous rights.
Mardi Gras
The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1978 began as a protest march that was violently suppressed by police. While the march ended in arrests, it was a pivotal moment that galvanised the LGBTQ+ rights movement in Australia.
It’s reasonable to assume that those who were part of these protest movements were given friendly advice.
‘It’s best to negotiate’, a politician may have said. ‘It’s better to have something than nothing’.
Byron has a strong and long history of resisting inappropriate developments.
There is a reason you can’t get a Big Mac in Byron: McDonald’s wasn’t made welcome.
Paterson Hill
Paterson Hill in Byron Bay is another example of successful protest. The result saw an important space for the community retained.
The protests culminated in mass arrests in 1999 when over 60 people were detained for protesting a proposed housing development.
The developer, Detala eventually sold the land to the NSW government in 2004 and it was incorporated into the Arakwal National Park.
There is power in protest, and it works.
But in the case of Paterson Hill, Council was part of that protest and held strong with the community.
It’s a fair question to ask what local government support there is now for environmental protest.
Is claiming to being ‘pragmatic’ appropriate, and reflective of this community’s wishes in times of diminishing ecosystems?
Hans Lovejoy, editor
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
