We Are Country, Country Is Us

We assert the First Nations traditional concept of Law in Country and that We Are Law Keepers of Country. Or more direct: We Are Country, Country Is Us.

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Jim Everett puralia meenamatta and Ruth Langford Tipruthanna outside Hobart Magistrates Court, Nipaluna/Hobart, 8 April 2025.

Interview & filming Jillian Mundy

Carleeta Rose Helen Thomas and Cody Gangell-Smith, Kunanyi/Mt Wellington range Lutruwita/Tasmania, 3 April 2025.

Footage Bob Brown Foundation

3 April 2025: Ruth Langford Tipruthanna arrested again protecting Country.

Police evicted forest defenders and arrested Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung woman Ruth Langford during a protest condemning native forest logging in Tasmania’s ancient yellow gum stands on the western side of Kunanyi / Mt Wellington range.

I am acting to uphold my cultural obligation to protect Country. Country that encompasses the natural systems and cycles that provide for us all. I am choosing to not simply stand by and watch the destruction of one of the few intact native forests left in south east Lutruwita.
It’s imperative that we change the archaic logging practices to ensure that we protect our water catchments and that we choose a way that makes better economic sense.
Law in Country continues to exist across this continent. It has never been extinguished and never ceded. If you live on this Country you are obligated, under this pre-existing Law, to protect nature. No colonial law can alter this truth and responsibility.
We are all obligated to uphold this Law and protect Country. I am simply honouring my responsibility.

Image Bob Brown Foundation

Cody Gangell-Smith, Carleeta Thomas and Ruth Langford Tipruthanna in Kunanyi/Mt Wellington range Lutruwita/Tasmania, 3 April 2025.

Footage Bob Brown Foundation

Uncle Jim Everett in a hat, scarf and t-shirt that reads Lutruwita Tasmania has a Black history standing beside old growth logs protesting native forest logging | Tell the Truth

Jim Everett puralia meenamatta

I am a Plangermairreenner from Meenamatta Country in the north-east Midlands of Lutruwita/Tasmania.

Law in Country is what governs me, and I do what I do because it’s the truth. I stand firm on our Law in Country.

I do not recognise any colonial authority over me because I am not an Australian citizen. I am a Palawa First Nation citizen and the Australian-British colonial laws that I challenge have no jurisdiction to arrest me for defending my Law in Country from ongoing destruction of our natural world.

portrait Jillian Mundy; mangana Eric Woehler; #StandWithUncJim #TellTheTruth

Mangana or yellow-tailed black cockatoo in flight, which is Uncle Jim Everett's totem | Tell the Truth

Why we care

That which gives us life must be protected.

As Palawa and mob raised here, our obligations to protect living cultural landscapes mean we have always cared for Country here in Lutruwita. Colonial practices, such as native forest logging, have a devastating effect on us but also negatively impact everyone now living here. We envision a future where mainstream Tasmanian society also values and partakes in Community-led sustainable environmental stewardship.

41,095ha of native forest in Lutruwita/Tasmania is slated for logging in 2024 to 2027. This amounts to an area larger than Lunawuni/Bruny Island gone in four years. Cool temperate rainforests, for example, take over 1,500 years to regenerate.

Our forests are home to thousands of species, and a 2024 report by The Tree Projects reveals that over 300,000 animals are killed or displaced every year due to native forest logging and subsequent coupe burning, culling and roadkill. Logging diminishes the quality of our air and waterways and decreases biodiversity.

The negative consequences of native forest logging are countless. And, after all that destruction, 77% of the whole biomass is either left on the forest floor or trucked to woodchip mills for overseas export.

‘Tasmania’ has abundant plantations to meet its commercial timber needs and provide ample employment. We care about a healthy economy and if state and federal governments truly cared about the environment and the welfare of all workers in the logging industry, they’d have already implemented transition plans to secure long-term sustainable plantation-based employment.

Statistics Bob Brown Foundation & Tasmanian Wilderness Society

We Are Country, Country Is Us

Jim Everett puralia meenamatta

Why we care

This is not just an Aboriginal issue, this is everybody’s issue. We’ve got to protect these forests, we’re going to protect our waters and our seas.

Tell The Truth

Tell the Truth