About Us

The Barmah-Millewa Campaign is about Justice for Land and People.

We are an activist collective which was set up at the end of 2000, in response to a request from the Yorta Yorta Indigenous Nation. We work with the Yorta Yorta Traditional Owners to campaign for better eco-cultural outcomes for the Country.

We meet once a fortnight at Friends of the Earth in Melbourne and regularly go up to the Barmah Millewa forest to do field work such as monitoring forest logging. Up on Country we also meet with local community members our current campaign activities.

In 2007...

The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC) Investigation is still underway. We are awaiting their latest report produced in response to public submissions received in December 2006. Check out our VEAC campaign.

Our campaign has expanded to work across the River Red Gum Country and with Traditional Owners along the Murray and it's Tributaries. We have recently signed a Cooperative Agreement with other environmental NGOs and the Traditional Owner groups belonging to the Murray and Lower Darling Indigneous Nations (MLDRIN).

This year we will be organising a range of community events in the Goulburn Valley, developing greater cooperation between Environment, Indigenous and Social Justice Organisations, and talking up the Yorta Yorta struggle here in Melbourne through various media. It looks like it will be a big year, shaped by:

* the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council Investigation into red gum forests
* growing strength and clarity of Indigenous solidarity activism
* strengthened cooperation between Environment Groups and Traditional Owners
* more concerted anti-national park and anti-Indigenous campaigns by industry groups
* the beginning of the Yorta Yorta Joint Body in Victoria
* looming state elections in NSW an Victoria
* Implementation of the Living Murray (a multi-governmental program to restore environmental flows to Dhungalla, the Murray River)

We will be bringing an environmental justice perspective to the public discussion of these issues, hoping to get people to appreciate the historical rights of the Yorta Yorta people to enjoy a healthy Barmah - Millewa.

To do this we would love your assistance, and we would love you to consider joining the campaign collective. This involves attending meetings and taking on a shared responsibility for campaign tasks. It needn't be onerous as we encourage everyone to set themselves sustainable limits to their participation.

If you are interested in joining the campaign, please contact us on barmah[a]foe.org.au to discuss it with us.

last updated 13 March 2007