Two ways to enjoy a warm Saturday on the beach

As I wrote the other day that I would do, I went to the Middle Head Protests (1980) reunion. Someone had an old postcard from the days of the "stop the sandmining" campaign, which I reproduce here. It's the pic we used on the cover of 'Maggie's Farm' magazine at the time and brings back a lot of memories. The sadness on the face of the two activists is genuine, as the bulldozing of the rare frontal dune forest had already begun.

This photo at left shows all that remains of the MHAG (Middle Head Action Group) camp. There for weeks (or was it months), hundreds of protesters did what they could to save a precious littoral ecosystem, which, not seen in this photo, has clearly been ravaged. These old stumps were from the communal kitchen; there was also a school, operations and media liaison centre, and so on.
One of the local Koori (Aboriginal) men, Neville Buchanan, spoke at the outdoor microphone about how his late father, Harry Buchanan, had been very involved with the campaign, and also how he had taught him some of the lore associated with Middle Head, which is a beach near Macksville on the mid-north coast of NSW, about an hour's drive south of Sandy Beach. (I recall being told in 1980 that the Kumbainggeri people traditionally believe Middle Head to be the place of creation.)

Neville mentioned that when he goes to the beach, sometimes the spirit of his father comes to him as an eagle. When Neville left the Mike, Ian Cohen, who was very active at Middle Head and now sits in State Parliament, addressed our small group and said that when he first arrived at the beach in 1980 he had been undecided whether to remain with the action, but each morning an old eagle came to him. That's Ian in the pic.

On a promise, I had to leave the reunion half way to attend a Spring Equinox circle on a beach between Middle Head and Sandy. That was as much fun and as moving and thought-provoking for me as the runion, and I leave you now with a picture from that beautiful and windswept event, which had an excellent ritual. I'll be back soon to talk about Sandy Beach again, but just thought I'd share what I did on that sunny and warm Saturday. As they mostly do here, the thumbnails open in a new window.



Tagged: beach, activism, australia, littoral, environment