Often described as one of the world’s last truly wild places, takayna sweeps across 447,000 hectares of rugged coastal heathland, wild rivers and button-grass plains. It is home to Australia’s largest patch of temperate rainforest and one of the last undisturbed tracts of Gondwanan rainforest in the world.

An ancient pocket of this rainforest will be demolished if mining company MMG proceed with their plan to create a toxic waste dump from a nearby mine. At the site of MMG’s proposal, a blockade has been established to halt the plan.

Susie Aulich, February 2022

“It’s illegal for us to be here, but it’s legal for them to trash it. Pouring toxic chemicals into an ancient rainforest? That’s legal. But just standing here in the forest? That’s illegal. But we have to be here because if we weren’t, this would now be a toxic waste dump. Once you see what’s at risk and you get what it is, then you have an obligation”.

Jenny Weber, February 2022

“Imagine having one of the last temperate rainforests in the world and not wanting to protect it. This is a legacy of the colonial way of putting food on the table: Cut it down. Dig it up. What we are trying do is show that we can have jobs, security and we can protect these wild places. We actually all benefit from protecting them”.

Scott Jordan, February 2022

“In the 21st century, we shouldn’t be knocking down rainforests to mine for what are pretty commonplace materials. I’m not advocating for the closing of any of those existing mines; the damage is done. They support existing communities. But I strongly believe that we shouldn’t be plundering new areas. In the case of the proposed tailings dam here; it’s not even for a mine, it’s for a cheap place to dump waste”.

Bob Brown, February 2022

“We have 500 square km of magnificent forests, Aboriginal heritage and wildlife, yet 90 per cent is covered by mining leases. It doesn’t matter whether it’s capitalist, communist or whatever; it’s materialist and that’s the problem. It wants to convert the material of the living and geological planet into profit and so-called advancement for us. And there’s no limit to it”.

takayna is core habitat for endangered species such as the Grey Goshawk, Masked Owl, Wedge-tailed Eagle and Tasmanian Devil. Under MMG’s plan, it will all become a dumping ground for 25 million cubic metres of acid-producing mine tailings.

The Australian Heritage Council assessed takayna to have “outstanding national heritage significance” for both its ecological values and cultural history.

90% of takayna remains unprotected and vulnerable to exploitation. Laws currently being tabled in state parliament will mean standing in front of a tree to protect wildlife will risk a lengthy jail term.

Left untouched, in 500 years the forest will have continued as a hub of biological productivity— creating life, protecting life and cooling the planet. Alternatively, the tailings dam will have served its purpose and been made redundant, as will a significant stretch of Australia’s largest temperate rainforest.