In its 40th year, The Echo is revisiting the pivotal moments that have impacted and shaped the Northern Rivers region.
The fight against CSG was a defining moment for many people in the Northern Rivers. The Echo was there to keep the community up-to-date – at that time The Echo online editor Chris Dobney was directing traffic and making sure the world knew what was happening, because many other news outlets were refusing to cover the story. At that time, Echo journalist and political commentator, David Lowe was working as a content creator for Lock The Gate and I was working for the online edition and the hardcopy Echo.
There had been a battle at Glenugie which saw the Lismore courthouse full of protesters, but it was when Chris sent me to Casino in a tincy wincy plane the size of a Mini Cooper that my time in the CSG field began, literally, on the Doubtful Creek campaign. The hard slog of Bentley was just beginning.
With David reporting directly to Chris, and me getting out to take photos when I could, we covered almost every aspect of the fight at the south-eastern end of Bentley on the Kyogle Road.
There were concerts with rock stars, confrontations with police, and a lot of fun to be had in between digging in, climbing up, and locking on, with the Knitting Nanas and the ‘Godlike’ voice of Drew Hutton urging us on and on – I even managed to convince that year’s Nimbin Kombi Konvoy to make a detour past the blockade to lift the spirits of those hunkering down – I am pretty sure Oka were playing at Gate A at that moment in time.
It was when the police threatened to send in 800 officers that things got scary – I’d interviewed an elderly farmer who had previously put his body on the line by locking-on to Gate A. He said NSW Police had approached him to make a camp in his paddock. In a brave move he refused to let them on his property. Tensions grew – I decided that I was no good to The Echo trapped in the expected lockdown, so David and I made sure the lines of communication were open and he began to feed me stories and photos in the lead up to the morning of Monday, 12 May, when the police were expected to storm the camp to let the machinery in – then, it didn’t happen… A few days later the battle was won and it was won by people power.
The CSG issue saw friendships made and others broken, families were torn apart, other families finally made peace. Farmers stood side-by-side with ‘ferals’ and we did what we do best lifting community spirit as we sent Metgasco packing – and The Echo was there to help the community read all about it.
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. 
