The three works that make up the Trough Series reference the Galilee Basin, one of the largest known coal reserves in the world which is located in central Queensland. The first in the series, entitled The Galilee, depicts the endangered Black throated finch, whose grassy woodland habitat was situated atop the proposed mine where a specific grass, whose seeds it feeds upon, grows. When the Federal and State Governments granted approval for Adani’s Carmichael coal mine they also opened the way for the destruction of the bird’s habitat, environment as well as local farmlands and the cultural heritage of the region’s traditional owners.
The second trough in the series, Collusion, references the huge political power that big mining companies wield and the lack of integrity to be found in environmental impact studies (and their implementation) with numerous politicians at all levels of government willing to do deals with mining companies. With the go ahead being given to Adani, other companies with leases in the area like Gina Rinehart’s company GVK Hancock and Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal (which will put the Bimblebox Nature Reserve under a huge environmental threat), are more confident of gaining approvals.
Since European settlement in this land of ours we have destroyed so very, very much of what is good and beautiful, so many extinct or endangered, animals, birds, plants…. then the Maralinga nuclear tests which left many Indigenous people cut off from their lands unable to return due to contamination. And still there is more…….Bad water management of what used to be the mighty Murray River, ditto the Darling River at Menindee with hundreds of thousands of fish dying, the leaching of toxic waste from NT mines into waterways, our own carbon emissions and export of coal contributing to global warming which impacts so greatly on our reefs etcetera. The third trough, Nemesis, represents that which will catch us up unless we and our politicians ensure that care of our environment is paramount in every situation.
