South West Life

For years we've been writing about why it's really special living in the South West. Research for this story started in a very different direction from where we've eventually been taken. Where we eventually wound up was looking at an incident that we'd assumed was one of the nastiest in our history.

It's still true that at South West Life, we believe that it should always be possible to resolve our differences without resorting to gelignite. We look at flying planes into skyscrapers in New York, or at flattening a country in response to a terrorist attack and it's easy to just say, "thank goodness that doesn't happen here". In 1976, it might have looked like our own South West was going down that path, but a day in the library checking out reports from the day shows that things were done a little differently in Bunbury back then.

In 1976 many of the issues of the day looked a lot like we have today. That year, the wood chip mill situated at the inner harbour in Bunbury had started business. The industry of the day noted that it was good for the economy, and that the woodchippers were taking materials that were unsuitable for higher value logging.

Environmentalists at the time saw this as a way to take more of our forests than had been the case until now, and resented taking West Australian hardwood to Japanese paper factories.

The matter had generated quite some heat, and though the mill had started operation, there were plenty of environmentalists who were saying that this wasn't the end of things. On the 19th of July, the new harbour had seen two shipments of chips go out. Something was about to happen though, and the security guard rostered on must feel that it was his lucky evening to get sick. A second guard had been hurriedly arranged, and had been making rounds when at about 4am, he saw two masked men coming toward him. They were armed, and quickly took him captive.

The two had clearly decided that they wanted to make a statement about the chipping, and had organised about 1000 sticks of gelignite to speak more loudly than they could by chaining themselves to a tree. The explosive was arranged into three timed bombs. All were set to explode at 5:30 am.

The bombers, two men in their late 20s who we've decided not to name, then gave away their basic limitations as saboteurs. In that game it seems likely that you're going to hurt other people, and our bombers were quite selective about who should feel the pain of their protest. They told the guard not to worry, that they really didn't want to hurt "the little guy", that it was "the big bloke" they wanted to damage.

To ensure that the guard wasn't hurt, he was bound and a plan was clearly in place to take him miles away, to Paris Road in Australind. In the days before mobile phones it must have seemed that from there, he'd never find a way to raise the alarm and stop the explosions. When it became clear to the guard that the place was going to go boom, he lamented that his car would be destroyed. The bombers told him that insurance would take care of it, but on hearing that the vehicle was uninsured, they agreed to drive it away for him, so that when he was dumped he was covered with a blanket to keep warm in the back of his own car.

As they left the mill, the bomber driving their own car stopped and erected warning signs about the imminent explosion. Our research didn't tell us the wording.

Another of the limitations was soon to surface. Each bomb was made of the gelignite connected to a cheap alarm clock and a car battery. At 5:30, one bomb in a tunnel at the base of the woodchips stacker tower exploded. A significant piece of wreckage struck a home 400 metres away in Austral Parade, causing some impressive damage. Probably more amazing, another home to suffer damage was in Haig Cres, opposite the High School, some 3km away as the rock flies.

At exactly the same time, another two explosive devices failed. These two were at the base of the loading gantry and but for the lack of skill involved, would have probably toppled the gantry into the harbour, holding the shipping process up for a very extended time. The reason for the failure appears to be that the bombers used a gauge of wire to do the detonating that was not capable of carrying the current required, leading to a quiet sizzle rather than a large bang.

It's not immediately clear what the major mistake was that led to such a rapid detection of their identities, but ten days later, two Manjimup men appeared in Bunbury court, charged with offenses relating to the bombing. Conservation organisations in the South West denied any support for the two, and they faced the court alone except for their families. At the time one of the men had become involved with the Ananda Marga sect, and incense and chants were offered outside the court. Both were eventually sentenced to 8 years jail, and by the time they saw the outside of the prison system, many more loads of the South West forest had been chipped and sent to Japan.

It's heartening to note that this level of direct action remains out of place in the South West. Even selecting the right gauge of wire for the detonators would very probably have led to more property damage and more tragically, injuries and loss of life. We've got to say that even with the best of intentions public bombings are dumb, and there's no place for it in this society. Meanwhile, we're grateful that when the bombers come out of the woodwork in our region, they're the kind of human being that makes a significant effort to ensure that they only blow up what they're after.

PS, we haven't named you, but to either of the two bombers, we'd love an email to tell us your side of the story.