By filmmaker James O'Connor, of James Patrick Photography
Coal Creek is a new documentary about Australia’s oldest working coal mine polluting the pristine waters of the Royal National Park.
Coal Creek is a particularly important story, as not only is it an important waterway in the supposedly protected Royal National Park but it now is home to a colony of platypus.
Platypus used to be common in the park but have not been sighted for 30 years. Then the University of NSW captured and relocated a number of platypus into the Hacking River. So far all platypus are doing well but Camp Gully Creek runs directly into Hacking and this is where pollution from Peabody’s Metropolitan Mine has flowed. There have been a number of significant pollution events where pollutants from Peabody have been washed into the creek, turning the water black and large chunks of black rock and coal can be seen in the water and on the banks.
Concerned citizen scientists have become increasingly alarmed by this situation. Led by former park ranger Bob Crombie and Sutherland Shire Environment Centre (SSEC), they monitored and advocated for the creek. With additional input by water scientist Associate Professor Ian Wright, of Western Sydney University, and Wild magazine editor James McCormack, the issue was eventually covered by the media, in parliament and finally resulted in action by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
Associate Professor Wright has described the Camp Gully Creek problems and the park's platypus as, “An absolutely huge biodiversity drama that the whole world is watching.”
The documentary was filmed in stages during 2023, starting in March when Cooper Riach – Greens candidate for Heathcote in the 2023 NSW state election – drew attention to the issue.
When another pollution event occurred in August, I decided the story was worthy of expanding into a short documentary. I enlisted a number of organisations including SSEC, Protect Our Water Alliance (POWA), Illawarra Greens and UNSW to participate.
The documentary aims to draw attention to these issues, for the mine to be sufficiently penalised and take sufficient action to prevent further spills, rather than calling for the mine to be shut.
Coal Creek is the third short film in a trilogy of documentaries I’ve made focusing on the damage done by mines. In 2021 I produced The People Against Russell Vale Mine. Then, in 2022, Mining The Blue Mountains, which has 25,000 views and led to an EPA investigation at Sunny Corner.
The intention is to draw awareness to these issues that are often hidden from the public and swept under the carpet by politicians.
Coal Creek is set to premiere at The Servo in Port Kembla this Sunday, January 28 before being released on YouTube in February. Find event details here.