30 years protecting the Kimberley

A land of raw, cinematic beauty, the Kimberley remains one of the world's last great natural and cultural strongholds. From its healthy, free-flowing rivers to its coastline the region is ranked globally in the top 4% most intact. The Kimberley stands as a testament to what an unindustrialised world looks like.

For generations, Traditional Owners, custodians, and the community have worked tirelessly to protect the Kimberley. We owe them a debt of immense gratitude. In 1996 concerns were mounting in the Kimberley about a plan for dams on the Martuwarra Fitzroy River and a 600 km canal to irrigate 225,000 hectares of cotton on land south and east of Broome. Concerned residents mobilised and set-up a new organisation. They called it Environs Kimberley (EK).

EK gathered momentum quickly and the campaign to protect the river forged our relationships with Traditional Owners, the Kimberley Land Council (KLC), state and national environmental organisations. EK was invited to join the Bandaralngarri group made up of representatives of Aboriginal language groups from the headwaters of the river to Bidyadanga. We also took part in the La Grange Groundwater Consultative meetings with the Karajarri people, KLC, government and industry. After 8 years and a mountain of work by so many, the cotton proposal was abandoned. We won.

We’ve come a long way in the Kimberley since ’96. Back then there was no Native Title, no ranger groups, no marine parks and no Commonwealth act to protect the environment. Now, thanks to the efforts of Traditional Owners and the KLC, most of the Kimberley is under Native Title and ranger groups are leading the nation in their work protecting country.

We’ve had many wins along the way. Stopping a kaolin mine at Thangoo on the southern part of Roebuck Plains which Yawuru people and the pastoral leaseholders were extremely concerned about. Protecting special places like Reddell beach from a marina. Listing monsoon vine thickets and other ecological communities as ‘endangered’. Bush and beach clean-ups. Awareness raising about sustainable living, climate change and nature.

For over five years we worked in the Great Sandy Desert with ranger groups and researchers surveying, monitoring and managing species and habitats. Place-based, traditional ecological knowledge was key to our success. From the desert, through freshwater country to the saltwater our partnership programmes continue. It has been a privilege to work with ranger groups on managing weeds, fire, feral animals, documenting traditional knowledge and surveying country.

The ‘Appropriate Economies Roundtable’ held at Fitzroy Crossing in 2005 with the KLC and Australian Conservation Foundation was a statement on how locals wanted to see development being done in a sustainable way with the free, prior and informed consent of Traditional Owners. Recently, our work on wattle seed connects traditional ecological knowledge and native food systems to real economic pathways. Collectors harvest, roast, grind and package wattle seed. A sustainable opportunity to live and earn on Country.

The mid-2000s saw a dramatic play by the oil and gas industry supported by the state and federal governments of the day to set up an oil and gas processing province on the Kimberley coast for Browse basin gas. Fortunately, the community realised the enormous damage this would bring. An epic 8-year campaign was mounted until Woodside and its joint venture partners pulled out.

Our team continued to grow. Together with Traditional Owners we were successful in stopping a coal mine on the Martuwarra Fitzroy River and a copper mine at Horizontal Falls. Working alongside Traditional Owner groups, more than 70% of the Kimberley coast has been designated as marine parks and 19 million hectares has been national heritage listed. We’ve held back fracking and conventional onshore gas for 14 years and continue to defend Scott Reef from Woodside. Protecting the Martuwarra from billionaires has been a major achievement.

We have run volunteer led, citizen science projects like the long-standing Seagrass Monitoring Program and more recently a backyard biodiversity survey. Community members are engaged, building skills and connection to nature and its future. One monitoring event can attract up to 90 participants.

Over the past three decades EK has confronted a huge array of threats to the Kimberley and been proactive in caring for country. None of this would have been successful without partnerships and alliances with Traditional Owners, custodians, the community, conservation and environment organisations, volunteers, members, philanthropists and grant makers. We thank you all and look forward to continuing our work to protect the Kimberley.