“If they arrest us, well, it's just too bad. It's just one of those things that you've got to put up with. Let's go,” says Bill.
It’s 10:02pm in suburban NSW and Colin Ryan and his father, Bill Ryan, are about to set off on a mission: to chain themselves to the entrance gate of Downer, a construction company.
Downer has been contracted by Adani to build the Carmichael coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
With a bit of luck, Colin and Bill will stall operations when workers arrive in the morning and draw the company’s attention to the environmental impact of the mine.
“Even though I'd like to be laying down watching TV about this time of night, I’m willing to take a few extra pills to get me mobile,” says Bill.
“They can put me in jail.”
Bill is 95 years old. He’s a World War 2 veteran. And he’s legally blind.
Bill is 95 years old. He’s a World War 2 veteran. And he’s legally blind.
Colin’s realisation about a decade ago that climate change threatens everything he loved, motivated him to spend much of his spare time as an environmental activist.
It wasn’t long before Bill was inspired to join his son, who’s also his mate best.
For 73 weeks now, Colin and Bill have been making their way to Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD – the heart of Australia’s finance sector – unfurling a huge yellow sign that reads “Save the Reef” and gathering signatures on a petition to stop a government loan to Adani.
More than 16 of the major financial institutions have agreed not to fund Adani’s mining activities, but the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is yet to make the pledge.
Watch a longer version of this story in the video player at the top of the page.
“On its own, the Galilee Basin would generate emissions 1.3 times Australia's entire emissions from all sources,” says climate change expert Professor Will Steffen of the Australian National University.
Despite belonging to the Australian demographic (men over 65) least likely to believe the science of climate change, Bill says, “I’ve got a lot of respect for the science. […] We must stop Adani.”
“I certainly don't think Bill Ryan's position is extreme at all,” says Professor Steffen. “The Queensland government and the federal government supporting the Adani project, that's extreme. I applaud Bill Ryan and people like him who are saying, ‘We simply can't let this happen.’”
"You stupid old bastard. […] "I don't care if you die."
In 2009 Bill and Colin were part of a protest near Newcastle that effectively shut down the world's biggest coal export facility.
Bill remembers what the police said as they yanked him away from the train tracks he was locked-on to. "You stupid old bastard. […] "I don't care if you die."
That action landed Bill in a police cell for 11 hours. He admits that experience rattled him, but it didn’t shake his resolve.
“We've been through the whole process. We’ve talked to politicians, done petitions, held rallies. […] But the more I became involved, the more I could see that the answer was non-violent direct action.”
“I'm concerned about the future of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
