Gympie Pyramid protest broken up by police, TMR

Up to 100 police and main roads officials have clashed with protesters at the site known as the ‘Gympie Pyramid’, which activists have been fighting to protect from work on the $1 billion Gympie Bypass claiming it is a ‘significant’ Aboriginal site

Six people have been charged after police and Transport and Main Roads officials swooped in and broke up protesters at “Gympie Pyramid” site in an early morning operation one nearby resident called “disgraceful”.

Police escorted several people off the site just after 8am, with their arrival captured on video, livestreamed on Facebook amid reports up to 100 officers were on hand.

Officers moved in shortly before a large storm rolled across the Gympie region, and the area was placed under police guard shortly after.

Four men and two women have been charged by police following Friday morning’s events.

Gary Tomlinson (known as Wit-boooka), Dawn Tomlinson, and Colin McKenzie have each been charged with trespass.

Dianne Redden-King (known as Djaki Widjung) has been charged with one count of contravening a direction.

Marcus Fahey was charged with obstruction, and Trevor Edwards faces three charges for being unlicensed, being unregistered, and being uninsured.

Police said all are aged between 55 and 71 years old.

Officers descended on the site while protesters were engaged in a ceremony, according to one protester who livestreamed the events.

Towing crews have arrived to help TMR remove vehicles and equipment, believed to belong to the protesters, from the area.

Protesters have been fighting for years to save the site at Rocky Ridge, which they call “Djuki Kundu”, from being impacted by the $1 billion Gympie Bypass.

TMR and the protesters were awaiting the outcome of a Section 10 application to Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.

A request for an emergency protection declaration under Section 9 was rejected by Ms Ley earlier in the year as she was not satisfied it was a “a significant Aboriginal area” under the Act.

A TMR spokesman said the removal of the trespassers followed Ms Ley’s final decision on the Section 10 report.

“An application to protect the Rocky Ridge site was declined with the area not deemed a significant Aboriginal area after investigations by an independent First Nations specialist,” he said.

“Transport and Main Roads is fully committed to preserving and promoting First Nations’ cultural heritage, land rights, native title and reconciliation.”

Mr Fahey said he was standing in front of a sacred fire on his Facebook livestream video.

He said the department had worked with the Kabi Kabi First Nation Owner group since 2014 and treated the claims of cultural heritage “seriously and respectfully”.

“These claims have been thoroughly investigated by multiple cultural heritage experts and the Kabi Kabi First Nation Traditional Owner group as the registered Aboriginal party and native title holders,” he said.

“Investigations found no tangible evidence of Aboriginal cultural heritage at the Rocky Ridge. Discussions with the Traditional Owners has confirmed there is no evidence of intangible cultural heritage.

“Unfortunately, there have been misleading claims made on social media designed to ignore this important and long-term work with Traditional Owners and promote misinformation.

The land has been placed under police guard following the removal of the protesters.

“For safety it was important to remove all people illegally accessing this land.”

A spokesman for Ms Ley’s office said an independent report asked to review the Section 10 application “concluded based on the available evidence that significance could not be attributed to the specified area”.

“In connection with the stone-terracing of the ‘pyramid’ the reporter noted it is unlikely that it was of Aboriginal origin and that the walls were likely to have been used for agricultural purposes,” he said.

He said the Queensland Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Partnerships confirmed with Ms Ley “no Aboriginal heritage sites within the specified area are recorded on the Qld database, TMR has in place a cultural management heritage plan for the project, (and) the project has been designed to avoid any sensitive areas”.

A statement outlining the reasons for the decision will be released to the public “in the coming weeks”, he said.

Resident Donna Leigh called this morning’s events “disgraceful” and “a really sad day for Gympie”.

“They only had to move the bypass (up the road),” Ms Leigh said.

“They’re not protesting the about the road, they just want to protect that site.

Police and Ms Ley’s office have been contacted for comment.

In a live video streamed to Facebook by protester Marcus Fahey, several officers were seen closing in around him, while he stood before a “sacred fire” burning nearby.

Rocky Ridge Rd has been blocked to traffic following the arrests, which happened shortly before a large stormed rolled through the Gympie region.

“Here (the police) come, they’re going to drag me off, I’m not going to say nothing,” he said.

Mr Fahey said police had already taken away two other protesters by the time he started recording.

Police asked Mr Fahey, who appeared alone in the video, to come with them to the front of the site, but he refused and said he was performing a ceremony.

He was restrained by police before the video abruptly stopped.

In Mr Fahey’s live video, he said the site is on Kabi country.