Gomeroi Traditional Custodians were joined on February 15 by concerned locals and supporters near the gates of Whitehaven's Maules Creek coalmine in the Leard State Forest for a traditional ceremony.
The Emu Ceremony should have been held at the Gomeroi sacred site, Lawlers Well, the last remaining of 11 sites in the forest, but Whitehaven refused access.
The site is part of an estimated 500 hectares of koala habitat in Leard Forest earmarked for clearing this summer by Whitehaven and Japanese miner Idemitsu which operates the Boggabri Coalmine.