|
Events: What's been happening? Opening of the Quirindi Office, 160 George Street, opposite the Post Office. November 8th - ‘Taste of the Liverpool Plains’ was a fabulous day – details in the stories on main page.
AUGUST AG-QUIP
Many thanks to those that dropped by the CCAG table and helped out at Ag-Quip and especially the NSW Farmers who supplied us with tables, cloths and boards and good company. We had hundreds of visitors - and quite a number of them sought us out to catch up on our successes of the last twelve months. We handed out free balloons, sold stickers and numerous raffle tickets for a basket of goodies. Jim Bowman from Coolah was the lucky winner. We attracted a huge amount of sympathy from the Hunter Valley who strengthened our resolve and said do whatever you have to to keep out the miners. They told tragic sad stories of what has been done to the river systems in the Hunter and their continuous battle with coal dust and contaminated water. One lovely woman said that having grown up in the Hunter as the daughter of a dairy farmer (her husband was a miner) she felt sorry for her children who could not swim in the river as she had as a child and told us of the huge increase in asthma amongst their contemporaries, the appalling lack of schooling and infrastructure and the mining companies' general lack of community concern - all themes repeated over the three days. Some Gloucester residents also called in and it was great to catch up with them after the rally at Parliament House. We felt that we provided a great place for people to come and chat and have a rest from Ag-quip. We met some interesting people and the support we received was quite overwhelming and humbling.
JULY July 18th Blockade Anniversary
Take a beautiful day in a tranquil setting, add 200 enthusiastic people, a few caring clergy and a delightful lunch and you’ve got the perfect mix for a Thanksgiving celebration. Well done everyone!
‘Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name;”
MAY
Fantastic Community Support for SOS Liverpool Plains
The SOS Liverpool Plains group had wonderful support for their cake stall held in Quirindi on Saturday 2nd May. With perfect weather and a good crowd gathered for the annual Rally and Swap meet, the cake stall proved to be popular with locals and visitors alike. The stall was not just a fund raising opportunity, but a chance to talk to some of the locals and visitors about the threats posed to the continued productivity of our farming community by coal and gas exploration. Raising awareness about the pollution and destruction coal and gas mining causes to aquifers and soils is a very high priority for the SOS group. With the very generous support shown by the community, we will continue lobbying governments and businesses about the inappropriateness of mining such highly productive agricultural country.
Many thanks to all the people who contributed to the day.
March 
Sue Wilmott and Sue Cudmore went to Parkes to attend the NSW Womens in Agriculture conference on Agriculture and Mining.
Pauline Roberts and Carol Mackerras went to Canberra for two days of meetings with Federal MP's and Senators.
The letter writing campaign continues in earnest with many volunteers contributing to the effort of getting our voices heard. Our booklets are being sent to every federal MP and senator and every New South Wales politician.
February
Work commenced on a booklet about the agricultural value of the Liverpool Plains.
Robbie Sefton came to Caroona Hall and gave a ½ day workshop on community engagement, media and public relations. It was a great session and gave us some very helpful suggestions.
January
The SOS girls had a bit of a break with their families but we did submit an application and briefing paper to be part of the Australian Women in Agriculture delegation to Canberra in March.
December -
Christmas Party held at the Blockade site, on Monday evening 22nd December. Christmas Raffle-The SOS women ran a raffle with 5 great prizes - Framed photo of Emperor penguins donated by Jim Bumak and framed by FrameSmart Tamworth
- A tablecloth from Camilla Cropper’s White Clover range,
- Stationery from Ange Lavender’s Present Cupboard
- A Shaw’s fruit tray donated by Verna Dugan
- A Christmas fruit cake made and donated by Hillary Gunning.
Liverpool Plains Cards – Blank note cards with 12 different designs are available in packs of 5 for $10. Contact Carol Mackerras 67474748 or Sue Wilmott 6747 4057
November
 Walk Against Warming – On the 15th November, tens of thousands of people all over Australia participated in the rally to urge governments to take action on climate change. Once again our Sydney members did us proud by turning out in force with our distinctive yellow triangular signs. It was heart warming to see them there, drawing attention to the plight of the Liverpool Plains .
October The Gunnedah film and forum night was a great success with over 100 people attending the Services Club to see Rivers of Shame 2 and hear from a variety of speakers. We acknowledge that Gunnedah has a long history of mining and it has been important to the local economy. With unprecedented mining expansion, people need to understand the potential downsides and environmental cost of mining, as well as the economic benefits, to be able to make informed decisions. {gallery}SOSGunQdi{/gallery} RAID Rally – (Residents Against Inappropriate Development) A huge rally in Hyde  Park brought together about 1000 people from various parts of the state all protesting the NSW state planning laws. It was great to see our Sydney members out in force with our yellow triangular signs.
 September
It continues to be busy, busy for the SOSLP girls attending community meetings with BHP and Santos and now two days at the Quirindi show continuing the awareness raising, petition signing and selling of signs, stickers and balloons! We are thrilled at the passion against mining on the Liverpool Plains being shown by the younger generation, including those already from mining communities. "No Mine" sign inspired entries to the Quirindi Show were also evident, ranging from cakes, to embroidery, to statues, to pictures, floral arrangements and lemon curd!
We'd like to thank everyone for their contribution.
August
Agquip proved to be a great success with many people visiting us to sign the partitions, buy post cards and signs or just have a chat about the issues.
Our thanks to Darren Greentree of NSW Farmers, Joe Hallman of Agracom for letting us share their sites, and Gordon Heath of Tamarang Engineering for donating the helium for our very popular balloon s.
Agquip 2008 
Girls Night Out 7.30pm at Little Kickerbell - film and discussion night on toxic effects of coal
July
 The Annalisa Kerrigan concert in Tamworth on Saturday 26th July with left to right, Sue Wilmott, Annalisa, Carol Mackerras, Bill Gleeson and Marcus Holden. Annalisa generously supported our cause, and invited us to speak at this concert. The audience were very receptive and enthusiastically signed our petition.
|
