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Voices for the Valley is a powerful documentary about the “small, but mighty”, community of Wollar, on the edge of Mudgee, in New South Wales, who have spent more than 20 years resisting the relentless damage of coal mining.

Produced by 19-year-old local filmmaker Jess Nipperess, the film focuses on the Moolarben coal mine, NSW’s largest producing coal mine, which is seeking to expand into endangered koala habitat and to the edge of the Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve.

Told through the personal lens of Manjot Kaur, a young person from Mudgee with Punjabi heritage — a region in India already facing deep climate impacts — the film weaves together stories from long-time residents, young people and migrant voices.

Kaur, who is also a climate campaigner for the Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC), said: “This isn’t just a local fight. The coal dug up here is shipped to, and fuels, climate impacts across the globe, impacts felt in Mudgee and Wollar, and then beyond — including in my family’s homeland of Punjab.

“It’s a story of courage, connection and what happens when we refuse to give up on the places we love.”

At the August 30 showing of Voices for the Valley at Ashfield Town Hall, on Gadigal Country/Sydney, Kaur chaired a panel featuring Bev Smiles, a Wollar resident and community advocate with Mudgee District Environment Group. Bev was joined by Julie Lyford, who led the successful campaign to stop AGL’s coal seam gas field and open cut mines in Gloucester and Manning Vale catchments in the upper Hunter Valley.

The screening was co-hosted by the NCC, Rising Tide, Australian Youth Conservation Council (AYCC), Tomorrow Movement and Enviro Mentality.

Prior to the film screening, AYCC campaigner Emma said: “As a young person, I know that now is the time to act to ensure a safe future for my generation and all generations to come. One way to stop climate change is to prevent the further expansion and openings of new coal and gas projects.

“The Moolarben coal mine expansion would be a step backwards in ensuring we meet our climate goals. The NSW government needs to act with the climate crisis in mind.

“The area where Moolarben wants to dig for coal, is also set to become an REZ (renewable energy zone). We need to shift the focus of the government to building up REZ areas, as we cannot simultaneously be expanding new fossil fuel projects.”

Smiles said that community screenings of the film are important to getting the word out and growing the movement: “The more people we have working to stop coal mine expansion, the better,” she said.

“The community won their case against the Mount Pleasant coal mine recently in the Court of Appeal. We lodged our appeal against the expansion of the three mines near Mudgee last week.

“We have to win Moolarben, then the others.”

Lyford said: “The Gloucester campaign involved 32 organisations and hundreds of individuals. No campaign is wasted; win or lose, it always leads on to other issues.”

Smiles also drew attention to the genocide in Gaza and Australia’s exports of coal to Israel: “Yancoal sold a shipload of coal to Israel last year. We will be working with Palestine solidarity groups to oppose future shipments of coal to Israel.

“This is a true horror story, and it is unconscionable that Australia is involved in supporting the massacre in Gaza.”

The screening finished with a call for action by the community to demand from the NSW Labor government that “all mines to be paused while climate impacts are assessed”.

[For more information or to host a community screening, visit: .]