sue coleman-haseldine
Standing up for Sea Country
Kokatha elder Sue Coleman-Haseldine from Ceduna in South Australia (known locally as Aunty Sue) was a prominent early voice to stop companies like BP, Chevron and Equinor to stop drilling in the Great Australian Bight.
In the early days of the campaigning, Aunty Sue got together with friends to form the Clean Bight Alliance.
“The group formed because we couldn’t think up a reason why we didn’t fight for our children’s future. The kids have a right to live off the ocean, live off the seafood, enjoy what we have all these years.”
“We have been fighting for our cultural rights to the ocean and we know we can’t do it on our own. By protecting these waters we get what we want which is to continue being able to live off the ocean for many generations to come,”
“We knew we couldn’t do this on our own and needed everybody to help. We really stood up and said No, we’re going to fight. Then others came to join the Wilderness Society, Sea Shepherd and more.”
In February of last year Equinor because the third major oil company to abandon plans to drill in the bight, following BP and Chevron. The immense support behind the campaign has been a uniquely successful piece of activism.
Summer Seafood
Some of Sue’s earliest memories were coming into the coast from Koonibba mission. Summer months were always spent be down the beach.
“We used to come in on a cart pulled by horses. We used to live off the ocean mostly then when the tide was out. My grandmother used to say go out there grab a feed. There was lots of food out on those rocky reefs at low tide. We’d go out on the beach and come back with whatever we got - cockles, razorfish, scallops, oysters. Fish caught in the little pools that was left behind. Everything was there when the tide was out.”
“We would cook the fish, abalone and blue swimmer crabs on the coals. We were pretty self sufficient in the way of gathering, collecting and eating. We had a pretty good lifestyle back then. ”
“You took just what you would need to feed your family. You would never abuse it. You would never abuse anything. We would never take more than we needed and never take too many from one area. That was really important. “
"The storytelling is important because the kids will learn what they can and can’t do, safety, sustainability. I’ve got little kids that know how to collect razorfish safely, gather their own food and to survive.”
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