(X)Zeno - Oestrogen Molecule is ..... an artistic sculptural statement about plastic after it has broken down to its molecular non biological/artificial mimic of organic oestrogen. The consequent trojan entry into animal tissue, endocrine systems and hormone receptor activity is a topic little understood by the public but the centre of cutting-edge research and controversy... especially in light of massive plastic pollution in global oceans and waterways
Ply wood; saved domestic soft plastic bags and hard plastic bottle lids; wire n wood screws
DUGONG SPEAKS OUT, 1 July 2006
An unusual interview by Jason Makeig
I received an email from a dugong wanting to meet me. Believing it to be a hoax, of course, I made my way down to the jetty at Hervey Bay on the designated morning and found a dugong perched on a rock looking anxious.
This interview is what unfolded:
Jason: Who are you and what do you want? Please excuse my surprise.
Dugong: My name is Gilbo. I’m a dugong. I live here in Hervey Bay and there are some urgent issues for discussion. I heard that you might be interested in a chat regarding preservation of us and the Great Sandy Strait.
Jason: Well you’re right about that so go ahead and let’s have it. It’s not often we get a chance to interact personally with your lot.
Dugong: I’ve been hearing a lot about the imminent dam on the Mary River and I’m concerned that not many people know about our plight.
Jason: Tell me more...
Dugong: Well, 14 years ago in 1992 we faced extinction here in the Bay because of the run-off from the Mary River’s up-stream siltation during the cyclonic floods of that year. About 1 000 of us died due to loss of our food source which is in fact the seagrass. That’s all we eat and when a suspended siltation occurs, sunlight can’t penetrate to the ocean floor and provide the necessary chlorophyll to sustain the seagrass nutrient balance. It then dies off and we are without food. As you would expect we are extremely sensitive about threats that might be a repeat of the past. There are about 2 000 of us living here in the Bay. Seagrass is also a very important part of the local ecology and without it, all sorts of other marine species suffer as well. www.worldseagrass.org. Hervey Bay is supposed to be protected under at least 2 International Law Covenants and several national Rare and endangered-Species and Bio-diversity Acts and (Gilbo chuckles) the new Marine Park at Hervey Bay .. www.fido.org.au- (see Moonbi- 109 page 3)
Jason: Why will the Dam be a threat to the seagrass?
Dugong: With the damming of this river, there are a number of identifiable problems with the down-stream part of the river not the least of which will be a 20% reduction rate in water flow and total drying in sections for at least 6 months a year. The nutrient and freshwater flow to the seagrass will be impacted. There are vital issues with sediment dislodgement, bank alteration, loss of shallow water rapids and habitat pools, and the drying of dissolved oxygen pools for you-know-who....
Jason: Yeah who?
Dugong: My mates Wheezer, the Lung Fish and Coddy, the Mary River Cod, of course. Not only that but their food source will be compromised as well. You see I’m not only thinking of myself here. Also there’s our other mate Tess, the Mary turtle will find loss-of-sandy-banks as a major problem for laying eggs if you get my ‘drift’. The impact on the riparian zones will be immense as will the loss of downstream habitat woody debris - the list just goes on and on - what about the Cascade Tree Frog and the Giant Barred Frog? ; ... all endangered!
So you see, as it stands, with the fresh water emptying into the Bay, there is a delicate balance in oceanic saline solutions and lots of additional subtle ecological processes that ensure the survival of seagrass, bank/silt stabilisation and hence other fresh water and marine microbiology. When you look at it more deeply seagrass is like a keystone - you take out the keystone in a stone arch and ‘bang’ – see what happens?!
Jason: Do you think the Dam will go ahead?
Dugong: That will depend on the groundswell of public education and motivation properly placed where it can be most effective. It’s a necessary process for people to be exchanging info in the local rags, but governments are notorious for politicising environmental issues and riding roughshod over legislation that protects the likes of us. Per capita, Australia is the worst country in the world for volume of habitat destruction.
So in order to be effective and stop this dam, new and creative approaches are necessary to drive the message home so that the will of the people can be responsibly enforced. Look what happened at the Franklin River 25 years ago. People power was the bottom-line-requirement. The Night Cap Rainforest Action in the northern rivers of NSW was another success story of ‘people power’ saving a rainforest. From the Nightcap’s successful action, Rainforest Action Groups or ‘RAGS’ as they were called, spread like wildfire across the Earth focusing on the rainforest protection issues. There is a lot happening to be positive about. On a local level The Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee has won many awards for its initiatives in protecting the Mary. By the way did you know that the Paradise dam has been touted as one of the five worst dams by the United Nations yet it’s our government’s model of success. (Gilbo’s eyes show their whites as his eyes roll) I rest my case!
Jason: What do you mean ‘People power is the ‘bottom line requirement’?
Dugong: I mean this is only a beginning. Interestingly, that recent protest in Brisbane about the dam and the meeting with Bob Brown at Kandanga, took the fight a little further establishing unprecedented unity for this area but there’s still an enormous amount of work to do. There needs to be a turn around of what amounts to a shift in the SE QLD’s ‘paradigm of water-decadence’. Reduce, reduce reduce ... ! Why should 900 properties be paying for others’ lack of conservation? This is arrogance in its highest degree.
Jason: Could you explain what you mean by’ paradigm’ ?
Dugong: A paradigm is a set way of thinking around which people behave or a pattern of behaviour or even communal intelligence. I remember a slogan that came out at least twenty years ago, ‘Subvert the dominant paradigm’ and I thought that sounded overly intellectual but what did it really mean? When I found out its real meaning it was just so simple.
Jason: So what ‘simple ideas’ do you have then to make a ‘paradigm shift’ occur?
Dugong: Well for a start, you as a culture have to identify what your inherent values are that sustain you, and how you collectively protect that and conserve resources. Electricity is based on water converted to steam by coal fire so reduce your use of power. Your species has come a long way in understanding this but what you don’t have in place is enough legal clout to stop governments from damaging biodiversity. Or do you? Why, because mostly the dollar rules. The ‘paradigm’ is still locked into outdated economic growth imperatives without consideration of holistic environmental and social awareness. The concept of ‘Thinking Globally and Acting Locally’ is now more important than ever and is thankfully happening already in many areas around the world. (Gilbo was getting animated and assertive at this point)
Look at how global warming is destroying the Great Barrier Reef as we speak. 20 years they say, before it’s dead. You still don’t collectively regard biodiversity as a necessity for survival. Look at the rapid loss of equatorial rainforests, the ‘lungs of the planet’. You have global exploitation of these ancient forests and corruption where big business is in bed with the politicians... sound familiar? So now you humans are over-consuming fossil fuels thereby depleting and overheating the biomass that keeps the world’s atmosphere in balance. See Al Gore’s film...(Gilbo held up a DVD and waved it a bit) On a local level the state government is modelled on ‘old’ paradigms that still allow eco-short-cuts to push through hollow development. It is as a ‘pseudo-sign’ of healthy culture to placate unimpeded population expansion with cart blanche drain on resources.
Jason: Just bringing it back to you guys here, what else would you like to see happen to protect the seagrass and stop the dam?
Dugong: There are a lot of things I can think of at the moment.
Jason: I am all ears.
Dugong:
1. People-power as a united voice has more weight than can be imagined. Get together, get educated about the issues such as water and be creatively united. As I said to you... ask yourself ... What do you want...?
2. Also bring in the International groups that already have major influence such as the UNESCO which oversee WORLD HERITAGE AREAS ... http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/630 and the RAMSAR WETLAND CONVENTION <www.ramsar.org/>, which oversees Hervey Bay. We need collective deputations that can bring the issue to the world stage and embarrass the governments big time. The people need to take control because a lot of the dominant pollies are letting us all down.
3. It’s about time the Mary River was included into the Wild River Project that’s ironically under the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Henry Palaszczuk. Look it up on <www.nrm.qld.gov.au/wildrivers/fraser_island> and you’ll see a blueprint proposal for Fraser Island that could be a model for the MARY RIVER.
4. Embrace the campaign with good humour and a calculated survivalist approach while seriously monitoring and watching the pollies. They don’t know what goes on in their own departments.
5. Stay in close touch with the up-to-date websites: www.savethemaryriver.com
www.scec.com
www.nodams.com
Follow the links and go hard ...
6. Get active and NEVER give up .... 20,000 unified people are not going to take it lying down now are they?
Jason: Well it’s been most informative so what’ll you do now my blue eyed son?
Dugong: Keep an eye on you guys of course but right now it must be time to eat some seagrass. I’ll see you later, we’ll have another update very soon. I’ll call you...
Jason: But wait... he’s gone – slipped away without a splash!!
Off into his enchanted marine wonderland of sparkling clear water. But there is a dark, warning cloud on the horizon and I felt I had just been goaded by an extra-ordinary fish...
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
An unusual interview by Jason Makeig
I received an email from a dugong wanting to meet me. Believing it to be a hoax, of course, I made my way down to the jetty at Hervey Bay on the designated morning and found a dugong perched on a rock looking anxious.
This interview is what unfolded:
Jason: Who are you and what do you want? Please excuse my surprise.
Dugong: My name is Gilbo. I’m a dugong. I live here in Hervey Bay and there are some urgent issues for discussion. I heard that you might be interested in a chat regarding preservation of us and the Great Sandy Strait.
Jason: Well you’re right about that so go ahead and let’s have it. It’s not often we get a chance to interact personally with your lot.
Dugong: I’ve been hearing a lot about the imminent dam on the Mary River and I’m concerned that not many people know about our plight.
Jason: Tell me more...
Dugong: Well, 14 years ago in 1992 we faced extinction here in the Bay because of the run-off from the Mary River’s up-stream siltation during the cyclonic floods of that year. About 1 000 of us died due to loss of our food source which is in fact the seagrass. That’s all we eat and when a suspended siltation occurs, sunlight can’t penetrate to the ocean floor and provide the necessary chlorophyll to sustain the seagrass nutrient balance. It then dies off and we are without food. As you would expect we are extremely sensitive about threats that might be a repeat of the past. There are about 2 000 of us living here in the Bay. Seagrass is also a very important part of the local ecology and without it, all sorts of other marine species suffer as well. www.worldseagrass.org. Hervey Bay is supposed to be protected under at least 2 International Law Covenants and several national Rare and endangered-Species and Bio-diversity Acts and (Gilbo chuckles) the new Marine Park at Hervey Bay .. www.fido.org.au- (see Moonbi- 109 page 3)
Jason: Why will the Dam be a threat to the seagrass?
Dugong: With the damming of this river, there are a number of identifiable problems with the down-stream part of the river not the least of which will be a 20% reduction rate in water flow and total drying in sections for at least 6 months a year. The nutrient and freshwater flow to the seagrass will be impacted. There are vital issues with sediment dislodgement, bank alteration, loss of shallow water rapids and habitat pools, and the drying of dissolved oxygen pools for you-know-who....
Jason: Yeah who?
Dugong: My mates Wheezer, the Lung Fish and Coddy, the Mary River Cod, of course. Not only that but their food source will be compromised as well. You see I’m not only thinking of myself here. Also there’s our other mate Tess, the Mary turtle will find loss-of-sandy-banks as a major problem for laying eggs if you get my ‘drift’. The impact on the riparian zones will be immense as will the loss of downstream habitat woody debris - the list just goes on and on - what about the Cascade Tree Frog and the Giant Barred Frog? ; ... all endangered!
So you see, as it stands, with the fresh water emptying into the Bay, there is a delicate balance in oceanic saline solutions and lots of additional subtle ecological processes that ensure the survival of seagrass, bank/silt stabilisation and hence other fresh water and marine microbiology. When you look at it more deeply seagrass is like a keystone - you take out the keystone in a stone arch and ‘bang’ – see what happens?!
Jason: Do you think the Dam will go ahead?
Dugong: That will depend on the groundswell of public education and motivation properly placed where it can be most effective. It’s a necessary process for people to be exchanging info in the local rags, but governments are notorious for politicising environmental issues and riding roughshod over legislation that protects the likes of us. Per capita, Australia is the worst country in the world for volume of habitat destruction.
So in order to be effective and stop this dam, new and creative approaches are necessary to drive the message home so that the will of the people can be responsibly enforced. Look what happened at the Franklin River 25 years ago. People power was the bottom-line-requirement. The Night Cap Rainforest Action in the northern rivers of NSW was another success story of ‘people power’ saving a rainforest. From the Nightcap’s successful action, Rainforest Action Groups or ‘RAGS’ as they were called, spread like wildfire across the Earth focusing on the rainforest protection issues. There is a lot happening to be positive about. On a local level The Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee has won many awards for its initiatives in protecting the Mary. By the way did you know that the Paradise dam has been touted as one of the five worst dams by the United Nations yet it’s our government’s model of success. (Gilbo’s eyes show their whites as his eyes roll) I rest my case!
Jason: What do you mean ‘People power is the ‘bottom line requirement’?
Dugong: I mean this is only a beginning. Interestingly, that recent protest in Brisbane about the dam and the meeting with Bob Brown at Kandanga, took the fight a little further establishing unprecedented unity for this area but there’s still an enormous amount of work to do. There needs to be a turn around of what amounts to a shift in the SE QLD’s ‘paradigm of water-decadence’. Reduce, reduce reduce ... ! Why should 900 properties be paying for others’ lack of conservation? This is arrogance in its highest degree.
Jason: Could you explain what you mean by’ paradigm’ ?
Dugong: A paradigm is a set way of thinking around which people behave or a pattern of behaviour or even communal intelligence. I remember a slogan that came out at least twenty years ago, ‘Subvert the dominant paradigm’ and I thought that sounded overly intellectual but what did it really mean? When I found out its real meaning it was just so simple.
Jason: So what ‘simple ideas’ do you have then to make a ‘paradigm shift’ occur?
Dugong: Well for a start, you as a culture have to identify what your inherent values are that sustain you, and how you collectively protect that and conserve resources. Electricity is based on water converted to steam by coal fire so reduce your use of power. Your species has come a long way in understanding this but what you don’t have in place is enough legal clout to stop governments from damaging biodiversity. Or do you? Why, because mostly the dollar rules. The ‘paradigm’ is still locked into outdated economic growth imperatives without consideration of holistic environmental and social awareness. The concept of ‘Thinking Globally and Acting Locally’ is now more important than ever and is thankfully happening already in many areas around the world. (Gilbo was getting animated and assertive at this point)
Look at how global warming is destroying the Great Barrier Reef as we speak. 20 years they say, before it’s dead. You still don’t collectively regard biodiversity as a necessity for survival. Look at the rapid loss of equatorial rainforests, the ‘lungs of the planet’. You have global exploitation of these ancient forests and corruption where big business is in bed with the politicians... sound familiar? So now you humans are over-consuming fossil fuels thereby depleting and overheating the biomass that keeps the world’s atmosphere in balance. See Al Gore’s film...(Gilbo held up a DVD and waved it a bit) On a local level the state government is modelled on ‘old’ paradigms that still allow eco-short-cuts to push through hollow development. It is as a ‘pseudo-sign’ of healthy culture to placate unimpeded population expansion with cart blanche drain on resources.
Jason: Just bringing it back to you guys here, what else would you like to see happen to protect the seagrass and stop the dam?
Dugong: There are a lot of things I can think of at the moment.
Jason: I am all ears.
Dugong:
1. People-power as a united voice has more weight than can be imagined. Get together, get educated about the issues such as water and be creatively united. As I said to you... ask yourself ... What do you want...?
2. Also bring in the International groups that already have major influence such as the UNESCO which oversee WORLD HERITAGE AREAS ... http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/630 and the RAMSAR WETLAND CONVENTION <www.ramsar.org/>, which oversees Hervey Bay. We need collective deputations that can bring the issue to the world stage and embarrass the governments big time. The people need to take control because a lot of the dominant pollies are letting us all down.
3. It’s about time the Mary River was included into the Wild River Project that’s ironically under the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Henry Palaszczuk. Look it up on <www.nrm.qld.gov.au/wildrivers/fraser_island> and you’ll see a blueprint proposal for Fraser Island that could be a model for the MARY RIVER.
4. Embrace the campaign with good humour and a calculated survivalist approach while seriously monitoring and watching the pollies. They don’t know what goes on in their own departments.
5. Stay in close touch with the up-to-date websites: www.savethemaryriver.com
www.scec.com
www.nodams.com
Follow the links and go hard ...
6. Get active and NEVER give up .... 20,000 unified people are not going to take it lying down now are they?
Jason: Well it’s been most informative so what’ll you do now my blue eyed son?
Dugong: Keep an eye on you guys of course but right now it must be time to eat some seagrass. I’ll see you later, we’ll have another update very soon. I’ll call you...
Jason: But wait... he’s gone – slipped away without a splash!!
Off into his enchanted marine wonderland of sparkling clear water. But there is a dark, warning cloud on the horizon and I felt I had just been goaded by an extra-ordinary fish...
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
DUGONG SPEAKS OUT Again, 1 Dec 2017
SUBJECT: THE COLTON COAL MINE
An equally unusual 2nd interview with GILBO the DUGONG,
by JASON MAKEIG
12 years ago I received a message to meet a Dugong regarding the state of the Mary River and the proposed Traveston Dam. There was an urgency regarding the plight of ‘his’ species and that of the Mary River and many of his other animal mates who lived there. At the time, of course, I thought the email was a hoax but to my surprise on meeting up with the said messenger, I did find myself in the presence of an actual dugong - standing on a rock - in the bay opposite Fraser Island.
The interview did go ahead and can be found at Dugong Speaks Out
HYPERLINK "https://www.jasonmakeig.com/conceptsexperimental.html" https://www.jasonmakeig.com/conceptsexperimental.html (copy and paste into internet box)
Gilbo the Dugong caught up with me again in 2017 with new thoughts and concerns regarding a new subject, the New Colton Coal Mine in the ecologically sensitive area of his home, the Great Sandy Strait. We caught up again on that same rock where our first interview was held.
Jason: Hullo Gilbo, I am truly surprised!
Dugong; Hullo Jason
A big hug ensued with a shudder of goodwill between us
Jason:
I knew we would meet again one day. I’m stoked to be talking with you here today on this same rock. Sooo much water under the bridge (bay – LOL)
Dugong: Likewise…
Jason:
As a local resident of the waters of Hervey Bay, you say you have a new important message to tell me extending from the information you gave me from our last interview about the proposed Mary River Dam. WE-the-people won that battle for you so you must be pretty happy about that?!
(Gilbo clenched his flipper/fist and raised it high in the air as a sign of solidarity and collaborative success)
Dugong:
Thanks for that, big-time! You activist humans did an awesome job for us and all the Great Sandy Strait underwater folk … Some Total legend, passionate minister and not-so-ex-eco-rocker in parliament gave it the thumbs down I hear … … so anyway, yeah the possibility of another potential ‘extinction event’ of our species was definitely a major fear then … Phew what a story! … but moving on we have this new threat looming now, I just can’t believe it!!!
(Gilbo was quite forlorn looking all of a sudden and developed a few wrinkles on his forehead)
Jason:
I’m all ears?
Dugong:
Well there’s a coal mine planned for the Great Sandy Strait. (GSS) and simultaneously there is talk of extending the World Heritage area to encapsulate the Great Sandy Strait …at the same time. Can you believe it?!
Human: I am aware of this but, please, tell me more?
Dugong:
Well then as you may know, a company called New Hope has successfully put in a 2nd application to the State Government to dig up coal from the Susan River Catchment area near the town of Aldershot, which flows directly into the Mary River and then into the Great Sandy Strait. The company has claimed that it has made sufficient ecological considerations in its ‘lukewarm’ Environmental Impact Statement. But has it?!
Our problem is in major rain events with the discharging of the mining waste into the planned holding reservoirs and the lack of overall water management. There are a whole lot of other issues to think about as well with the plight of us dugongs and our dolphin, whale, manta-ray, turtle and shark mates and all those guys up the Mary River we discussed all those years ago. A thousand hectares of land to be cleared too – well, its on again!!!
Gilbo became a little theatrical in a body/eye-movement wiggle so as to emphasise his point …
Dugong:
I hear there has been a lot of activism already with many groups on the Sunshine Coast to Bundy. Had you heard?
Jason:
Well yes… we live in Cooran and know a few people in those groups - they are all quite passionate about a lot of mining threats.
GIlbo looked a bit sheepish and puppy-like at the thought of a lot of people being already up-and–at ‘em on his behalf and for all the rest of his mates.
Dugong:
Ok I hear you ‘brud’… There’s going to be a ‘flash-point’ before too long. I can just feel it!!
Gilbo clenched his flipper and bent over in a seemingly forward arched expression of passion with flipper curled and clenched, then continued talking.
By the way, has anybody consulted with the Butchulla Indigenous People on the mine?
Gilbo stared pensively into the great yonder across to Fraser Island then looked back to the mouth of the Mary before speaking.
Ok so we’re both on the same page. Let’s look at where we think this has to go.
Jason: Ok.
Gilbo returned from his deep-thoughts on pending conflict.
Dugong:
The issue of our plight with the seagrass will come up no doubt, with the potential silt clouds from the surface mining runoff, now poisoned and then blocking sunlight to the seagrass. We faced extinction 26 years ago due to siltation alone, so with added poison payload?!… That’s us, gone!!!
Gilbos eyes rolled around in horror … he shuddered at the thought but managed to maintain his composure although I detected a tear in his eyes as he paused at this point in silence for several more awkward seconds. He continued…
So here are some quick surmises, then I’ve gotta go so …
1. There’ll be another government announcement declaring that the mine can go ahead maybe?
2. There’ll be more activism, potential court action and street marches, concerts and rallies.
Gilbo exclaimed in the air with a little mini jig and flipper rhythm. (I felt happy he had recovered from that minor anxiety attack!) More empowered he continued.
3. There’ll be people coming out of the woodwork making a stand as the heat gets turned up.
4. There’ll be stories popping up in your media.
5.There’ll be coverage of the violations against our internationally recognised Ramsar Wetland Area; The Fraser Island World Heritage area and The Great Sandy Marine Park.
6. Your United Nations may even step in and make a statement too especially in light of their new plans for World Heritage listing?! So there you go!
Gilbo shuddered again.
He continued slowly: It’s all a waiting game at this stage and it seems that being active at whatever stage is the way ahead, keeping the spirit alive as the campaigns spread far and wide! I’ll be talking more with my seagoing mates to get each of their personal impacts as they see it.
Jason:
Do you think the mine will go ahead?
Gilbo quoted from our last interview 12 yrs ago. (It seemed he knew exactly what he was talking about regarding assessing things on-the-ground.)
Dugong: As with the DAM, that will depend on the groundswell of your public education and passion, the attention that your science will get in corridors of power and how all your people will be most effective in spreading the word and getting communities together such as letter writing to ALL the Pollies, MP’s and media…
Gilbo paused in introspection thinking of such implications.
And continued:
I hear there’s a great new initiative being played out as we speak i.e. the idea of whole-community declarations against CSG and COAL. Seems like there are human communities far and wide out there doin’ it, and shutting their local areas to the fossil fuel industries, and being successful. How amazing is that?! The governments have no ability to stop people making such declarations. This is very exciting and reassuring from our point of view!!!
Jason:
Well, guess what? That’s what we’re doin’ in Cooran right now as we speak, and it’s all happening and so far, it’s been incredibly positive and successful.
Gilbo’s eyes lit up with a deep joy and visible signs of appreciation … his flipper waved rhythmically at the thought and it seemed to pick up his spirits.
Dugong:
So it’s all on for young and old! ‘May the force be with us’ as I hear them say in their warrior empowerment quote.
Gilbo was getting to the end of his oration. I could see all he wanted was to get back into the water and do Dugong stuff. Anyway I could see the sun was starting to heat and dry up his skin, so I concluded quickly.
Jason:
Ok mate, we can meet again soon for a shared update. Good ‘onyu’ for catching up and sharing your feelings. I’ll let a few people in on our discussion. Cheers! And “keep your spirit alive”, I said in parting.
Dugong: Ok thanks for listening!
Gilbo gave me a big hug with his flippers and then quickly did a dive off the rock and was gone into the depths without much of a splash, just a funny ‘gluoop’ noise and then nothing … the silence was thick with all of Gilbo’s thoughts running full-tilt around my mind and the water continued to gently ‘guloop’ at my feet. I rock-hopped back to the beach and also, was away.
With the Fraser Island waterways presence all around me and in the air, it felt good to catch up with Gilbo. Once again, I felt I had just been goaded by an extra-ordinary fish...
SUBJECT: THE COLTON COAL MINE
An equally unusual 2nd interview with GILBO the DUGONG,
by JASON MAKEIG
12 years ago I received a message to meet a Dugong regarding the state of the Mary River and the proposed Traveston Dam. There was an urgency regarding the plight of ‘his’ species and that of the Mary River and many of his other animal mates who lived there. At the time, of course, I thought the email was a hoax but to my surprise on meeting up with the said messenger, I did find myself in the presence of an actual dugong - standing on a rock - in the bay opposite Fraser Island.
The interview did go ahead and can be found at Dugong Speaks Out
HYPERLINK "https://www.jasonmakeig.com/conceptsexperimental.html" https://www.jasonmakeig.com/conceptsexperimental.html (copy and paste into internet box)
Gilbo the Dugong caught up with me again in 2017 with new thoughts and concerns regarding a new subject, the New Colton Coal Mine in the ecologically sensitive area of his home, the Great Sandy Strait. We caught up again on that same rock where our first interview was held.
Jason: Hullo Gilbo, I am truly surprised!
Dugong; Hullo Jason
A big hug ensued with a shudder of goodwill between us
Jason:
I knew we would meet again one day. I’m stoked to be talking with you here today on this same rock. Sooo much water under the bridge (bay – LOL)
Dugong: Likewise…
Jason:
As a local resident of the waters of Hervey Bay, you say you have a new important message to tell me extending from the information you gave me from our last interview about the proposed Mary River Dam. WE-the-people won that battle for you so you must be pretty happy about that?!
(Gilbo clenched his flipper/fist and raised it high in the air as a sign of solidarity and collaborative success)
Dugong:
Thanks for that, big-time! You activist humans did an awesome job for us and all the Great Sandy Strait underwater folk … Some Total legend, passionate minister and not-so-ex-eco-rocker in parliament gave it the thumbs down I hear … … so anyway, yeah the possibility of another potential ‘extinction event’ of our species was definitely a major fear then … Phew what a story! … but moving on we have this new threat looming now, I just can’t believe it!!!
(Gilbo was quite forlorn looking all of a sudden and developed a few wrinkles on his forehead)
Jason:
I’m all ears?
Dugong:
Well there’s a coal mine planned for the Great Sandy Strait. (GSS) and simultaneously there is talk of extending the World Heritage area to encapsulate the Great Sandy Strait …at the same time. Can you believe it?!
Human: I am aware of this but, please, tell me more?
Dugong:
Well then as you may know, a company called New Hope has successfully put in a 2nd application to the State Government to dig up coal from the Susan River Catchment area near the town of Aldershot, which flows directly into the Mary River and then into the Great Sandy Strait. The company has claimed that it has made sufficient ecological considerations in its ‘lukewarm’ Environmental Impact Statement. But has it?!
Our problem is in major rain events with the discharging of the mining waste into the planned holding reservoirs and the lack of overall water management. There are a whole lot of other issues to think about as well with the plight of us dugongs and our dolphin, whale, manta-ray, turtle and shark mates and all those guys up the Mary River we discussed all those years ago. A thousand hectares of land to be cleared too – well, its on again!!!
Gilbo became a little theatrical in a body/eye-movement wiggle so as to emphasise his point …
Dugong:
I hear there has been a lot of activism already with many groups on the Sunshine Coast to Bundy. Had you heard?
Jason:
Well yes… we live in Cooran and know a few people in those groups - they are all quite passionate about a lot of mining threats.
GIlbo looked a bit sheepish and puppy-like at the thought of a lot of people being already up-and–at ‘em on his behalf and for all the rest of his mates.
Dugong:
Ok I hear you ‘brud’… There’s going to be a ‘flash-point’ before too long. I can just feel it!!
Gilbo clenched his flipper and bent over in a seemingly forward arched expression of passion with flipper curled and clenched, then continued talking.
By the way, has anybody consulted with the Butchulla Indigenous People on the mine?
Gilbo stared pensively into the great yonder across to Fraser Island then looked back to the mouth of the Mary before speaking.
Ok so we’re both on the same page. Let’s look at where we think this has to go.
Jason: Ok.
Gilbo returned from his deep-thoughts on pending conflict.
Dugong:
The issue of our plight with the seagrass will come up no doubt, with the potential silt clouds from the surface mining runoff, now poisoned and then blocking sunlight to the seagrass. We faced extinction 26 years ago due to siltation alone, so with added poison payload?!… That’s us, gone!!!
Gilbos eyes rolled around in horror … he shuddered at the thought but managed to maintain his composure although I detected a tear in his eyes as he paused at this point in silence for several more awkward seconds. He continued…
So here are some quick surmises, then I’ve gotta go so …
1. There’ll be another government announcement declaring that the mine can go ahead maybe?
2. There’ll be more activism, potential court action and street marches, concerts and rallies.
Gilbo exclaimed in the air with a little mini jig and flipper rhythm. (I felt happy he had recovered from that minor anxiety attack!) More empowered he continued.
3. There’ll be people coming out of the woodwork making a stand as the heat gets turned up.
4. There’ll be stories popping up in your media.
5.There’ll be coverage of the violations against our internationally recognised Ramsar Wetland Area; The Fraser Island World Heritage area and The Great Sandy Marine Park.
6. Your United Nations may even step in and make a statement too especially in light of their new plans for World Heritage listing?! So there you go!
Gilbo shuddered again.
He continued slowly: It’s all a waiting game at this stage and it seems that being active at whatever stage is the way ahead, keeping the spirit alive as the campaigns spread far and wide! I’ll be talking more with my seagoing mates to get each of their personal impacts as they see it.
Jason:
Do you think the mine will go ahead?
Gilbo quoted from our last interview 12 yrs ago. (It seemed he knew exactly what he was talking about regarding assessing things on-the-ground.)
Dugong: As with the DAM, that will depend on the groundswell of your public education and passion, the attention that your science will get in corridors of power and how all your people will be most effective in spreading the word and getting communities together such as letter writing to ALL the Pollies, MP’s and media…
Gilbo paused in introspection thinking of such implications.
And continued:
I hear there’s a great new initiative being played out as we speak i.e. the idea of whole-community declarations against CSG and COAL. Seems like there are human communities far and wide out there doin’ it, and shutting their local areas to the fossil fuel industries, and being successful. How amazing is that?! The governments have no ability to stop people making such declarations. This is very exciting and reassuring from our point of view!!!
Jason:
Well, guess what? That’s what we’re doin’ in Cooran right now as we speak, and it’s all happening and so far, it’s been incredibly positive and successful.
Gilbo’s eyes lit up with a deep joy and visible signs of appreciation … his flipper waved rhythmically at the thought and it seemed to pick up his spirits.
Dugong:
So it’s all on for young and old! ‘May the force be with us’ as I hear them say in their warrior empowerment quote.
Gilbo was getting to the end of his oration. I could see all he wanted was to get back into the water and do Dugong stuff. Anyway I could see the sun was starting to heat and dry up his skin, so I concluded quickly.
Jason:
Ok mate, we can meet again soon for a shared update. Good ‘onyu’ for catching up and sharing your feelings. I’ll let a few people in on our discussion. Cheers! And “keep your spirit alive”, I said in parting.
Dugong: Ok thanks for listening!
Gilbo gave me a big hug with his flippers and then quickly did a dive off the rock and was gone into the depths without much of a splash, just a funny ‘gluoop’ noise and then nothing … the silence was thick with all of Gilbo’s thoughts running full-tilt around my mind and the water continued to gently ‘guloop’ at my feet. I rock-hopped back to the beach and also, was away.
With the Fraser Island waterways presence all around me and in the air, it felt good to catch up with Gilbo. Once again, I felt I had just been goaded by an extra-ordinary fish...
