Essay by Eric Worrall
“…so many of our people are lost because they don’t have that connection to country…they don’t have a sense of belonging” – Jirrbal woman Georgina Wieden slamming the Chalumbin Wind Farm project.
A 57s clip of the video:
Watch the full ADH TV video here.
I visited Ravenshoe a year ago. Ravenshoe sits on top of a tropical highland plateau in Australia’s far North. It is a place of breathtaking beauty, full of unique species and natural wonders.
The thought of ruining such a place with mechanical monstrosities to satisfy the green energy fantasies of distant city based politicians is unthinkable.
Georgina has been fighting the green monstrosities for a while.
Proposed wind farm on Jirrbal Country a concern for some
Aleisha Orr – January 7, 2022
A proposal for a wind farm in North Queensland has raised concerns for some Jirrbal people who say the project does not respect the land and threatens native species.
The Chalumbin Wind Farm project would see wind farm developer Epuron construct 94 wind turbines and clear 1,132 ha of land near the town of Ravenshoe.
A number of online petitions to the project have been created which list concerns about the impact of a wind farm on vulnerable and endangered species including the northern greater glider, red goshawk and the magnificent brood frog.
Jirrbal woman Georgina Wieden told a community meeting in December the Country needs to be protected.
“My daughter she is a sugar glider, that is her totem, my son is a goanna, how do I explain that their animals don’t have homes anymore because we needed electricity.”
…
Read more: https://nit.com.au/07-01-2022/2656/proposed-wind-farm-on-jirrbal-country-a-concern-for-some
My heart goes out to you Georgina. I hope you win your battle against those who would trample your people’s ancient traditions, I hope you defeat the green energy despoilers of nature.
Update (EW): There is growing awareness of the devastation wind turbine projects inflict on nature.
Environmentalists on the Atherton Tableland (including Ravenshoe) in Queensland’s far North are waking up to the devastation :- https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/12/11/aussie-eco-warrior-fury-over-wind-farm-wilderness-devastation/
Queensland farmers objecting to power lines :- https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/19/widgee-say-no-to-the-lines-rally-meet-the-aussie-battlers-standing-up-to-big-green/
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Who will be responsible for decommissioning, waste, and recycling for wind and solar?An educational and entertaining 30-minute Podcast Event by Armando Cavanha in Brazil.
https://www.linkedin.com/events/decommissioning-waste-andrecycl7087184044043452416/theater/
Responsible? Don’t be silly. We’re doing it to Save the Planet.
Soooo much land for such LITTLE ENERGY.
A complete waste of space for a subsidy mine
There may be a good reason to use the forest that would be a genuine benefit.
A bunch of pinwheels is not it.
Thanks Eric.
I couldn’t see in the links any info about where the necessary transmission lines to a grid connection were planned for, and how much land clearing and disruption (+ cost?) these activities would inflict.
?
I’m sure there will be plenty, if it goes ahead, which is hopefully still a big if.
Environmentalists in the far North are waking up to the devastation :- https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/12/11/aussie-eco-warrior-fury-over-wind-farm-wilderness-devastation/
Farmers objecting to power lines :- https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/19/widgee-say-no-to-the-lines-rally-meet-the-aussie-battlers-standing-up-to-big-green/
“necessary transmission lines “
There are some hefty powerlines already running through Ravenshoe through to the mine at Mt Garnet
No sympathy for the Aboriginals whose homeland, traditions and way of life is being torn apart, eh Nick?
Coal mining (with trains etc) has been far more disruptive than wind towers will ever be.
Go to Google Street View and have a look at the area surrounding Palm Springs, CA. Disruptive?
Can’t find that. But here is the Mount Emerald wind farm that Eric linked to complaints about
You can see the sparsely distributed towers. And here, on a smaller scale, is the Collinsville coal mine, also in N Qld in similar country
From the interstate:
Wow! must’ve used a very fast shutter speed to get no blurring on the windmill blades.
G’Day Shark,
“..a very fast shutter speed…”
Well said. Scouted around for a more representative photo this morning. In the 1970’s this was all ‘pure’ desert, except for I-10 and the railroad.
Darn, the photo didn’t ‘take’. Try again:
According to the ABC the Collinsville mine and power plant have closed and plans are to replace it with a ‘multi-billion-dollar’ renewable energy project that will cover 190,000 hectares (734 sq. miles).
And the Collinsville old mine site will be rehabilitated. To be available for normal, further use. Geoff S
But any damage from mines in the region is long past. This is a new proposal to inflict devastation.
Utter BS from Nick , as usual..
Coal mines are tiny in area compared to w the area used by wind turbines.. especially when you consider the vast amounts more electricity/area produced by coal fired power stations.
Coal actually PROVIDES something for society.
Wind turbines TAKE…
They provide nothing to society
They destroy grid supply systems.
They also cause massive environmental damage where-ever they are installed.
Austrian Biochemical Engineer: “No Energy Production Method Is More Damaging Than Wind Turbines” (notrickszone.com)
16 MILLION trees removed for wind industrial estate in Scotland
Disgusting, wouldn’t you agree, Nick !!
Waiting for Nick to beg/pled/lobby for them to install a big wind turbine industrial estate in his area close to his house or property…
And of course he desperately wants those big electricity towers running next to his house.
You can BET he would do a Bob Brown and fight the installation.
Hypocritical NIMBY !
This is what Nick wants in his area.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSLgC_X4ZtqaYdToNX7KR6VZs9Hc3Lrgt6V02n439QQ2Rs6682w2msfW2RvpSb42ehm_RU&usqp=CAU
And of course.. end of their short life, we can bury them on his property. !
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTPL-U_v752ffJQAoVIuqkYbHMAb_l7xjFSig&usqp=CAU
I’m tempted to say that that would improve the views around Moyhu where Nick lives, but I’d be bullshitting.
Moyhu is a wonderfully scenic part of the world, and I’m sure Nick appreciates his sacramental natural views to not want to despoil them with (mostly-stationary) windmills atop all the numerous surrounding hilltops.
But Nick LOVES wind turbines.
Shirley he wants them on his local hills !
Right Nick ?
Nah – Old mate does not want to look at indescribably idiotic & ugly windmills, whilst sipping King Valley prosecco and nibbling his Milawa cheeses….
wow gross on a massive scale
Again, so many people must have high speed cameras these days. Not 1 pixel of blurring.
Yes Nick but the climate changers are scrapping the large hub and spoke electricity grid for spaghetti and meatballs everywhere and on top of that needing to do all that Mark Mills digging everywhere to replace the ICE. Problem is you’ve groomed a generation on ‘Just stop everything’ and now you want to replace everything. How dumb is that?
Nick,
Source needed on respective areas affected by mines versus electricity supply.
Here are 7 reasonably big mines that our Company found on green fields. The 4 images can each be depicted as within an area of 30 square kilometres. Some images show more than one mine.
Each one will be returned, after mining, to a state quite close to that before mining. Once was wheat paddock, will return to wheat paddock after being borrowed for 30 years or so. Geoff S
https://www.geoffstuff.com/fourmines.com
Sorry, typo.
while being created sure then the land settles and they are forced to repair n repat the lot, dont see that happening with birdshredder sites do we?
Coal mining (with trains etc) has been far more disruptive than wind towers will ever be.
So … your argument is that since some areas have have been disrupted we should disrupt the rest?
give it a rest Eric very few of them live on or ever did on lands they claim as special. my descendant line is scot/ irish/ poms , do I have any right to claim jackschitt of what they lived on or owned as “special”? nope, either in aus or in the uk.
claims of longest evah culture are made but just cos one spot over in WA was dated to 60k yrs that sure doesnt mean the entire lot were around then, or all over Aus. personally I am well n truly OVER all the aknowledgement to first nation(hello USA imported terms) on local council and all other govvy paperwork, signs stating XYZ welcome to whoevers land , NO its NOT it WAS maybe but it sure is NOT NOW. buy it paytaxes and you can call it yours others wise stfu.
my great granny had a nice pet rock…so bloody what!
So is the plan to run no new connection lines from the wind turbines pads to connect to the existing HT lines?
Or maybe send the generated wind power to the HT lines by Bluetooth?
It’s actually 4 km from the pre-existing Chalumbin sub-station
So a further 4km X [numerous windmill pads] of pristine bushland clearance to connect the (intermittent / unreliable) wind electricity?
What a great deal for the @ur momisugly Last Generation activists!
(they’ll no doubt adopt you as one of their heroes, Nick)
be interesting if one of them catches fire in that area
The mine at Mt Garnet was there, operating, decades before those electric line towers were constructed. Geoff S
The virtue signalers do not care about anyone but themselves and the false images they wish to project.
The same thing has been and is still happening in Canada. Has the financial offer been enough of an incentive to over ride their connection to the land and their protection of habitat? Were they desperate for money like the leaseholder farmers?
https://www.fnlngalliance.com/2023/02/08/blog-first-nations-behind-wind-power/
they get mega millions in compensation for areas where the mines are, maybe theyve not been offered enough?
The Far North Queensland ‘GREENS’ and conservationist actions closed down the local sustainable timber industry destroying business and livelihoods. Now only a handful of locals are fighting too stop the Wind Farm and its bull dozing of the forest. Seems to be karma for those who were determined to remove industrious humans from the forest.
I think the wind turbine devastation actually represents the victory of unscrupulous developers over gullible greens. Once the forest is cleared for wind turbines, might as well build houses there after the wind turbines die. It’s not like its pristine forest any more, and alpine tropical places like Ravenshoe (permanent warm Springtime weather) would be an amazingly valuable housing development or retirement town, if the right facilities were installed.
yeah for the wealthy greentards like atlassian
This brings up a cultural divide of two parts.
First, some of us have no serious attachment to “place” as she expresses it. Sure, I have fond feelings about where I grew up, and then left at age 21. Why 21? I went to college locally. Many others left at 17 or 18. However, there are no origin stories attached to the land. The stories are about how the family came to be in that place. Where I lived that meant ancestors coming, mostly, from northern European countries, Germany, Sweden, Ireland. I think there is a “forest” to “forest” migration stream involved.
Second, if I have to name an origin story, it would be Adam and Eve in the garden – Gan Eden – as much a concept as a location. Where that location is/was remains debatable. Family has had no connection to that place since initial migrations into Europe.
Georgina Wieden’s history is distinctly different. (As are origin stories of the early Americans – where I now live.)
Here is a link to some of the Aboriginal creation story.
https://www.worldfootprints.com/singing-the-country-understanding-the-aboriginal-creation-story/
May she and her people prevail.
Most (not all, but most) farm families have a similar connection to place, and desire for stewardship of the land.
Apparently, that’s just ignorant, reactionary parochialism though.
Yes, many farmers literally (and tragically) give their lives in commitments of preservation of the health, productivity & legacy of their lands.
I have family historical & contemporary connections as victims of this level of dedication.
Story Tip
The Nora Head community in NSW had a small win and got the wind zone off the Hunter region redefined:
https://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/news/national/central-coast-town-no-longer-included-in-zone-for-offshore-wind-farm/video/93cfa3930c1b6c85f09c051bdc4696c9
I believe there is a serious risk with offshore wind farms “stilling” air flow over coastlines. They will reduce the advection of ocean moisture to land. They will cause local temperature rise well above the current level simply by reducing land moisture and the growth of biomass supported by the moisture. Australia is set to create coastal heat zones associated with these wind parks.
Good point – fewer and weaker sea breezes. This could have a devastating impact on water supply to Australia’s inhabited coastal regions.
Austrian Biochemical Engineer: “No Energy Production Method Is More Damaging Than Wind Turbines” (notrickszone.com)
dan andrOOZE wants the east coast(all the scenic spots) peppered with offshore turbines , be funny if the prime land along there went dry.
luck may be with us and he may get canned after the comm games debacle he shoulda been binned for covid terrorism, but the cityloons and teals kept the mongrel in
I wonder what the impact of wind turbines are compared to mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining on wildlife and indigenous people?
I wonder why we never see any criticism of fossil fuel mining negatives here at WUWT.
Far less than the mountaintop removal of tree for huge areas of wind turbines. !
Why are you still using fossil fuels for basically everything, bent nail ?
I remember not that long ago, some greenie showing 3 or 4 pictures of picturesque lakes etc in Qld…
… complaining that they would be destroyed by coal mining.
Thing was, at least two of the lakes were of rejuvenated coal mines.
Much mirth was had ! 🙂
Given the vast amounts of coal, minerals and other fossil fuels required to manufacture wind turbines and solar panels, I don’t see renewables leading to a drop in mining.
Basically all studies done have shown that “renewables” will need a MASSIVE INCREASE in mining.
Replacing the energy output from a single 100MW gas fired turbine, the size of a large house, requires at least 20 wind turbines, each about 500ft tall, spread over 10 square miles.
Moreover the gas turbine would require about 300 tons of iron ore and 2000 tons of concrete while the wind turbines would require c. 30,000 tonnes of iron ore and 50,000 tons of concrete as well as 900 tons of plastic for the blades.
The wind turbines also require 1000 tons of specialty metals and minerals compared to 100 tons for the gas turbine.
‘The Hard Math of Minerals’, Mark Mills, Jan 22nd 2022
https://issues.org/environmental-economic-costs-minerals-solar-wind-batteries-mills/
Here is the problem. It is all a moot point. The debate about the destruction of her ancestral home or the entire AGW debate it self. The group cabal of corrupt policy makers, hypocritical global elites and the entire maniacal tyrannical bunch @&!? don’t care to debate- they have made up their mind and to hell with anybody else.
They are going forward with their plans for a “ benevolent “ dictatorship ship and it’s happening faster than practically any body realizes. It is coming to a head I believe within the next two years. This is getting very serious now because they have shown they are willing to break all the rules and laws and constitutional procedures so how do you counter that while you follow the law and they don’t?
Everyone see things through their own viewpoint but it isn’t just ‘special’ groups whose way of life is being destroyed by this religious crusade. Virtually everyone not plugged into the special monetary benefits is having their life turned inside out and smashed down..
I sense a level of anger is building against the religious fanatics.
Windfarms another Australian disaster . .
What is this claimed “Australian First Nations Connection to Country”?
First, there is no known Australian First Nation, because there never was a Nation. There were scattered camps with a couple of hundred dialects, with mixing mainly for raiding other camps for fertile women. There was never a Nation in the sense of a body with a common purpose with which an agreement or treaty could be made. Further, there is some evidence that the present people had forebears that might not have been First to settle here.
Now, to the “Connection”. Any person living at a place for a while is plausibly going to make some sort of connection, plausibly of different importance to different people. But, there is not a unified or national record of a connection that was original to, or recorded in any durable way about, the people who were here before European settlement in 1788. There are various soft suggestions that a connection existed and that it has value. There does not seem to be any recorded, credible existence of legends or beliefs that can be traced to pre-1788 history or people. The vast bulk of historical record was and is second hand, by settlers, missionaries, the occasional person who lived with a tribe. It is logical to believe that histories known today were tainted by non-original authors. The extent of that taint tends to be concealed by modern historians and anthros, because a confession that there is next to nothing solid might leave them jobless. Geoff S
I’m not sure if you’re being a bit harsh, or if it’s a matter of semantics. Depending on the area, there certainly reasonably loose ties from the level of the individual “band” (more a family or extended family group, up a couple of levels, with get-togethers of various sizes at more or less regular intervals, depending on droughts or floods.
Something like the north American “Indians”, or Bronze Age Italian or Greek city states, but without the cities.
Like Europe, there certainly wasn’t a single Nation, but certainly what could be called nations, for want of a better term.
Raiding between “nations” certainly occurred, often over quite long distances, probably less so within “nations”. See “The Red Chief” (which Ion Idriess almost certainly puffed up, though he tended to be reasonably accurate)
There wouldn’t be – there were lots of “nations”, each of which lived in their own areas with their own conditions.
That always happens. It happens even more so when snippets of oral history are documented by somebody from a completely different background. Unfortunately, none of the Aboriginal “nations” had a Homer to commit their Iliad or Odyssey to parchment.
whats funnier is when 2mobs try to claim the same place;-)
as evidenced by a row over who was going to do welcome/smoking at an opening last week..the fact theyre PAID 400 or so for it might also affect that?
Echoes of Canada. Indigenous people tend to oppose and obstruct all development, whether a wind farm, a mine, a pipeline, a housing subdivision, or even the city’s efforts to fix a broken sanitary sewer, on made-up “sacred connection to the land” mumbo-jumbo. They don’t believe it and they know we know they don’t believe it, but they know we daren’t call bullshit on it. The purpose of the charade is to increase the economic rents well-placed cronies can extract from the developer in return for their sometimes temporary undertakings not to disrupt the project once work starts. Remember that if their opposition causes the developer to walk away, they aren’t out anything because the national welfare flows to the reserves as before. The modern history of Canada is a long struggle with Dane-geld.
It is not wise to believe that aboriginal resistance to a wind farm is sincerely founded. If you take them as allies, next time they will turn around and oppose something you actually want. You might observe that aboriginal opposition will vastly increase the cost of wind power but best to not say too much about it out loud.
Geoff, I posted a similar comment to yours yesterday with an excerpt from a paper at
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Australian-Aboriginal/Traditional-sociocultural-patterns
Basically saying it’s a huge stretch to depict ancient immigrant / /settler aboriginal bands / tribes as “nations”
My comment didn’t appear, maybe more than 3 links altogether?
That seems to be mostly about the northern third of the country, with very little reference to the more southerly areas.
funny how bob brown got the tassie one halted cos it upset his views etc
aboriginals aside the area theyre proposing to trash for turbines is pretty special plants n wildlife wise, thought the greenies would be on it faster n louder than they have been. Blushwood is fairly rare and precious for proven anti tumour abilities and Atherton is its only natural spot to grow I gather
Watch this construction of a wind “farm” in western Woke-achusetts back in 2011. The had to blast/level the top of the mountain to install these wind machines. It’s a time lapse video- and though I hate wind “farms” I like the video as it’s well done. Really, yuh gotta watch it. It’s mind blowing.
Well, they’re absolutely right about the blight from “the city based politicians.” But the appeal to the vanity of the politicians and their political correctness – invoking an aboriginal specialness of being – is a bit of a reach and can never be applied to enough land in any significant way..
But it sounds about as close as one can get to requiring windfarms in all the U.S. national parks in order to expose their hypocritical green fantasies. Surprised that Australia went for … Oh, never mind. It’s Australia.
I was wandering the back roads of Montana a few days ago when I came across a windfarm. Probably a small one as it had only a few dozen blenders. I stopped my truck and turned off the engine. I was flabbergasted at all of the noise those things make.
There was nothing in site for miles and, if not for the turbines, you could hear your own heartbeat. Instead, there was a loud howl and swishing noise as the air passed over the blades. The wind velocity was quite low. I would guess at the low end of the turbine’s operational speed. And still, the noise was overwhelming.
I was expecting some very low frequency rumbling and was surprised at how high in frequency some of the noise was. I doubt any livestock could tolerate that noise. Nor could any wildlife and certainly people could not live with it.
Of all of the things we have done to the earth’s environment, this, along with solar panels, has to be the most destructive, the most unforgivable. And it Is being done intentionally.
Pretty sure many people are finding these things impossible to live with.
How dare they?!
In northern Canada (Nunavut), the Indigenous Inuit have successfully stopped uranium mining as it interferes with the traditional use and sense if land (by 47 hunter-gatherers out of local settlements). While I agree local people have a right to object to how the Nation uses/abuses their “traditional” areas, I wonder how long those who are not economically self sufficient BUT wish the 21st century lifestyle (technology, health care, education, travel, housing etc), will retain the power to deny the others who keep them alive.
I think we are in a transition. How many will want the Hunter gatherer lifestyle in 2 generations? Consider blue-collar White communities: how many sons of bricklayer are adamant that the bricklayer life is for them?