Nannas rock Gong with protest songs
The Illawarra Knitting Nannas Against Greed took a creative approach to asking the government to stop coal mining in drinking water catchments across the Sydney basin
The Illawarra Knitting Nannas Against Greed (IKNAG) swapped their needles for song sheets to deliver an anthemic protest outside the office of Wollongong MP Paul Scully on Crown Street on Saturday.
“We don’t need no longwall mining,” lead singer and guitarist Margi Curtis sang, in a parody of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall.
Along with a dozen backing singers and supporting activists, Nanna Margi belted out her coal protest lyrics, calling on NSW Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos to “leave our creeks alone”.
The Nannas also performed Bye Bye Coal, a parody by Jenny Fitzgibbon, and No Mine, to the tune of Darling Clementine.
We don't need no longwall mining with IKNAG
About 50 people attended Saturday morning's rally to demand the government protect the state's drinking water. Protestors want to stop any extensions to NSW coal mines, including at Peabody’s Metropolitan Mine in Helensburgh, where an application to expand under the Woronora catchment is being assessed.
Uncle Mark Bloxsome, an Aboriginal elder of the Dharawal and Yuin nations, gave the Welcome to Country.
“I would like to acknowledge the organisers of this event, the Illawarra Knitting Nannas Against Greed,” he said, “for their ongoing guardianship and their care for Country here in the Illawarra, where they have been fighting to protect our environment, both the land and the sea, from fossil fuels and other destructive processes.”
Bye Bye Coal with IKNAG
Speakers included Deidre Stuart, the Greens’ Wollongong city councillor for Ward 3, Nic Clyde from Lock the Gate, Cooper Riach from the Sutherland Shire Environment Centre, and Steph Lentz from the Gardens of Stone Alliance, which covers the area north of Lithgow.
Steph told the crowd that Mr Scully should protect "essential public resources" from the "powerful industries" that expect access to them, saying: "Water is more important than coal.
"Healthy catchments are more valuable than short-term extraction profits, and future generations deserve more than governments managing environmental collapse one quick reactive response at a time."
No Mine with IKNAG
The rally follows the release of the “NSW Coal Industry 2026–50” policy, which the government says will “support mining, jobs, and net zero” but activists fear will put mining, investors and trading partners above the environment and water security.
IKNAG organiser Anne Kelly, a retired scientist who joined the Nannas about five years ago, told the Flame: “Our aim is to protect the environment for future generations, so when I saw the new policy document that was released by Minister Houssos’ office in late March, I just felt like I had to get our voices out there and say something about moving the emphasis away from our trade contacts in our industry and towards the environment, because our drinking water has to be preserved in perpetuity.”
A resident of Bundeena, 25-year-old Cooper Riach met the Nannas through his advocacy work for the Sutherland Shire Environment Centre, and was one of the youngest people at the rally.
“The Nannas are a beautiful and steady presence at any rally, and so many of them are veterans in the fight against greed and for the protection of their own environment,” Cooper said.
“As a young person, I see them as wonderful role models, and so it's so easy to rally behind them and with them. The work that they do is for our future and so I have an immense respect and love for them.”
Cooper was inspired to join the environmental movement after coal from Peabody’s Helensburgh mine polluted a local creek in 2022.
He went on to do a Bachelor of Science and, in 2023, stood for the Greens in the state election. “I've just completed my honours looking at diatoms [algae] as an indicator of pollution in the freshwater portions of the Hacking River in the Royal National Park,” he said.
Cooper believes more people of his generation will be involved once they discover the risks that longwall mining poses to drinking water.
"It's unfortunately out of the public eye this issue, but when young people learn about it, they're horrified … Sydney is the only place in the world which allows for longwall mining underneath water catchments. It's insane.
“This is a campaign that's going to grow. At the next events I expect to see a lot more young people.
“We care about our water, we care about the fact that we can drink clean and safe drinking water.”
The Member for Wollongong and Peabody have been contacted for comment.
