The Oakey Coal Action Alliance (OCAA) are farmers, townsfolk, professionals and nature defenders who came together in 2012 to protect the fertile soils, precious water and farming families of the Northern Darling Downs who rely on them. We fight for a healthy ecology as a legacy for future generations.

We act to create public awareness, assist landholders to resist inappropriate fossil mining, and challenge the right of mining companies to destroy soils and ecosystems.

We have defended Acland in the Courts, and won protection for Acland in the Land Court in 2017. New Hope Coal challenged our win in the Court of Appeal but we successfully defended our win in the High Court of Australia in 2021. However, the Queensland Government changed the law and New Hope were given a mining licence for Stage 3 in 2022.

Our battle is not over. New Hope needs a licence to drain billions of litres of water from our underground aquifers, and we are currently challenging that licence. If we lose, millions of litres of fresh milk will be lost because farmers cannot raise stock or grow crops without water.

Learn more about OCAA's legal battles - and discover the Oakey Coal Action Alliance's community roots via videos and our photo gallery.

Although most of the Town was demolished or removed in 2012, and its residents made mining refugees by New Hope, each year Acland comes back to life on ANZAC Day.

Please donate to OCAA! Your help is the only way we can defend the ecology and human rights of the farmers and remaining Acland resident, Glenn Beutel.