The Oakey Coal Action Alliance is an Incorporated Not-for-Profit registered charity formed in 2012 to protect our soils, water and the farming families who rely on them. 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 raise money in this cause, and also actively lobby Government for increased protection of landholders and the environment. We also take legal action where needed and currently are trying to protect billions of litres of precious groundwater from being consumed by the Acland Coal Mine.
We are guided by our our Constitution to:
OCAA is made up of farmers, townsfolk and professionals on the Northern Darling Downs and beyond. Our founding President, Reg Pascoe, and Secretary, Nikki Laws were both Veterinarians who were concerned with the health of animals and people who would be affected by New Hope’s Acland Coal Mine. Doctors for the Environment physicians and lawyers are also part of our ranks.
Our current President, David Vonhoff, farms dairy at Brymaroo, near Acland.
Aileen Harrison, or Vice President runs 300 + head of Alpaca with her family at Yallangur between Kingsthorpe and Goombungee.
We also have members who are citizens who are concerned with leaving a better future for their children and generations ahead.
Born at Blackall, Aileen Harrison spent her early years on the black soil Sheep Station her Mother and Father owned.
She remembers bringing her pet sheep to be shorn, but only with special permission by the shearers, because she was a girl! With Aileen’s Husband Ken, who sadly has passed away, she farmed around Northern New South Wales and the Darling Downs before settling at Highland Plains to spend hers and Ken’s ‘Golden Years’ together with her daughter, Son in Law, and their two young girls. They built their dream home, with an eye to future needs as they aged, apart from their daughter’s home.
Aileen bred award winning Alpaca’s there, and in addition to the farm income, ran a craft and tourist business, selling her hand knitted products and running demonstrations on spinning and weaving their fine wool. But then a new neighbour moved in, New Acland Mine. It was not long before the noise of blasting, trucks and jackhammers 24 hours a day and floodlights shining on the farm all night took their toll.
The tourists left, the animals miscarried and became sick, and the dust caused all the family, especially the young girls terrible asthma and breathing difficulties. Their water bores were going dry. They had to leave. But who would buy? There was only one buyer. And Aileen’s family had to take what they gave. The mine made the price subject to confidentiality. It is enough to say that Aileen lives, and Ken saw his last days in, a demountable, with no features to make ageing easier, and her precious items and history locked away in a container.
There is nothing that will change that now, but Aileen is committed to see that coal mining, in closely settled farming districts, is not allowed any more to destroy our best land and the families that have lived on it for generations. She is absolutely determined to see our water protected, because nothing can live without water, and that is why she is involved with OCAA.
OCAA President David Vonhoff's family have been farming the Darling Downs since the 19th Century.
David’s Farm at Brymaroo is a model of ecological sustainability. He’s planted 20,000 trees that he calculates add an extra $60,000 dollars of productivity per annum to his multi million litre Dairy. David recently completed a succession plan passing the farm onto his son, and now spends a lot of his time improving the farm or with his toddler grandson who already knows his way round the bails.
David’s family farm is currently under threat. If Stage 3 of the Acland mine goes ahead it will interfere with the very aquifers he currently uses to produce milk. With two generations lined up to keep on dairying, this is a worry.
But David is also worried about what he terms ‘climate destruction’. He knows first hand how sowing and harvest times have changed, and how extreme weather and heat are impacting animal welfare and productivity. David believes that to save the planet we have to move away from coal power and into renewables as fast as we can, or the consequences will be grave.
As President of OCAA David has hosted tours of his farm to educate city and other folk about land management and the productivity of the beautiful land threatened to be dug up or deprived of water by any mine expansion. He gave evidence in OCAA’s successful first Land Court case on the impact the mine would have on intergenerational equity, and is giving Human Rights evidence in our case against the mine’s water licence.
Paul King came to OCAA by after becoming the organiser for the Darling Downs Environment Council in 2015. He took over as Secretary from OCAA co founder, Veterinarian Nikki Laws. Nikki was an incredible person who foresaw the danger to the community of inappropriate mining and that a community group like OCAA would be the only way to stop it.
Paul has a history of representation. He’s worked for Trades Union, as a Disability and Tenancy advocate, and is a lawyer. He represented the Darling Downs Environment Council in New Acland v Ashman (1) and believes that it is worth fighting for a future where we can all enjoy a prosperous, just society, but we cannot have any of that if we do not stop poisoning our air, preserve our farmland and natural ecosystems, and the water upon which they rely.
“I have become friends with the community of Acland and the people that support them. I believe in what they stand for, that the Darling Downs is for farming, and must be protected from inappropriate mining. I believe we must save our best soil and water for future generations”
Paul also has an interest in music, having worked as a promoter and co founder of the Blues Association of South East Queensland. He has an interest in urban environment and community, and since moving from Toowoomba to West End has become active as Secretary of the West End Community Association.
