We saved Toondah Harbour from a destructive development

People power prevailed in the five-year long battle by ACF Bayside and the Toondah Alliance to save the Ramsar protected wetland at Toondah Harbour. From a handful of dedicated nature-lovers to a movement of thousands, this win is a testament to the power of community.

Walker Corporation’s nature-wrecking project at Toondah Harbour should never have got this far. This win provides huge relief to the community of koalas, dugongs, turtles and critically endangered eastern curlews that call Toondah Harbour home.

Aerial view of dugongs in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia.

We stopped Ningaloo Reef from becoming a dumping ground

Through public pressure and people power, we helped stop dangerous pollutants from being dumped near the Ningaloo World Heritage Area.

In July 2021, ACF raised the alarm that Woodside planned to sink a part of a decommissioned floating oil rig near the reef. This structure contained noxious toxins, plastic and metal that would eventually have ended up in the sensitive marine environment and may have breached international law.

By exposing the truth and with the strength of our community, the application to dump the 83-metre-long structure was withdrawn in September 2021.

Aerial view of Ningaloo Reef, turquoise water, coral formations, and coastline.

We advocated for the Climate Change Bill 2022

We have always campaigned for strong government policy and legislation that protects our climate and nature.

We provided bipartisan support to politicians, leading to Australia’s Climate Change Bill 2022.

This is the first legislative requirement regarding greenhouse gas emission reduction targets passed in Australia.

It is also the country’s first climate change related legislation to be passed in over a decade.

Green tree canopy, sunlight filtering through leaves.

We won World Heritage listing for the Great Barrier Reef

Our campaigns for the reef continue to this day. It all started in 1969, when we made history by kickstarting a Royal Commission and saving the reef from oil drilling.

Six years later, along with our allies we successfully campaigned to declare the Reef a national marine park. And we didn't stop there. In the 1980s, ACF supporters campaigned for the Reef’s World Heritage listing – and won.

Clownfish swimming near a coral reef, vibrant colors, underwater scene.

We won World Heritage listing for Kakadu National Park

Kakadu contains the world's richest breeding grounds for migratory tropical waterbirds. It is home to majestic waterfalls, vast wetlands teeming with wildlife, and Indigenous rock art sites providing a glimpse into over 50,000 years of living tradition and cultural practices.

For over 30 years, the ACF community played a leading role in protecting Kakadu from uranium mining. Together, we helped secure national park status for Kakadu in three stages between 1979 and 1991 and, standing with Traditional Owners, we halted plans for a new uranium mine in Jabiluka.

Gunlom Falls waterfall cascading into a creek, lush green surroundings.

We stopped mining in Antarctica

It’s one of the most spectacular landscapes on Earth. A land of towering icebergs, vast valleys of snow and fascinating sea life, including emperor penguins, minke whales, leopard seals and albatrosses.

When ACF stepped up and successfully campaigned to protect Antarctica from mining in the late 1980s, former Director Geoff Mosley regarded the milestone as one of the greatest conservation-related victories Australia had seen.

Snowy Antarctic landscape with mountains, ice, and a blue sky.

We led the biggest climate march in the world in 2015

On the last weekend of November 2015, we made history.

As world leaders gathered in Paris on the eve of the United Nations climate summit, we gathered in unprecedented numbers.

We turned up. We spoke out. And because we did this – alongside many more examples of community action – we now have a universal agreement to end climate pollution.

People marching, holding signs, Climate March 2015.

We helped the Wuthathi people win the return of their homeland

For over 40 years, the ACF community stood with Traditional Owners to protect the spectacular Shelburne Bay from sand mining and destruction. The ancestral home of the Wuthathi people, this part of Cape York is the last intact, unmined landscape of its kind in Australia.

It took time, courage and perseverance, but on December 15, 2016, we celebrated the return of this remarkable stretch of land to its Traditional Owners.