Where the River Runs Red - a mining community caught between the past and a sustainable future
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- čas přidán 24. 03. 2019
- In the isolated west of Tasmania an ominous red river divides the small mining town of Queenstown. A result of copper run-off from a closed mine, it is an ever-present reminder of the town’s history of environmental and industrial disaster. Where the River Runs Red explores a community in an economically crippled area caught between the past and a future that is less reliant on a mining economy
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I spent 5 days in the area in 2016. This film is *really* focusing on the negative. They filmed in winter, on cloudy rainy days, ffs. They filmed when everything is closed. The place looks great in the sun, and it's the major hub for tourists in the area, which brings in money and activity. The West Coast Railway tour is a real gem. The town definitely has its problems, but it's not unrelenting misery like this film suggests.
Spend five years there and tell me it's not unrelenting misery. It rains like 200 days a year
@@steveabel call a wambulance you fruit tingle.... sooking about a little rain haha.
Ivan Sturmgeschutz I guess that sorta weather is fine if you’re content to stay inside and smoke weed all day.
@@steveabelwhat did you do for work? I am thinking of moving there.
Spent 18 months there working at a mine 30 mins out of town. It rains almost every day. The town is poverty stricken. Tourist season is 1/4 of the year. Outside of that it’s a ghost town, riddled with violence and drugs. It is not a pleasant place to live
The melancholy and kitsch of it all is breathtaking. It speaks so bluntly and honestly about the struggles of their mining region.
I agree, the point I take from this film is the lack of real interest in developing sustainable, alternative, economic activity to mining. Such development would require imaginative thinking and support by the Australian government probably for many years. A few eco-tourists of themselves will not make that much difference.
this planet that we take for Granted will outlive us all.......SAVE IT
What lovely people interviewed for this. Visited Queenstown 20 years ago and loved it. The west coast is amazing.
Yeah, living there for fourteen years however gets to ya, makes you depressed and what not, especially as a teenager it was so hard to find an escape from the town
I was in Queenstown early December last year. Having spent considerable time there in the mid 80's it is certainly quieter than it was. However, there were signs of life and the west coasters are a resilient lot. Talking with locals over a beer they seemed positive. There has been an influx of people from all over Australia and the world seeking a cheaper, quieter alternative. The town and area has its challenges but will battle on.
So the miners had jobs that paid them a pittance compared to the wealth extracted.
And they are left with the mess.
Corporate capitalism at its worst.
Tears shed watching this. 💔😢
Clean water is the basic means of survival. 😨
Without it, you can have massive health and wildlife issues. 😢
Digging for profit is so sad.
The Earth *can* heal from this though. 🌏
Us humans are responsible, but getting back to caring for nature is the key, just like these lovely folks do.
They try hard with such little means.
Big hearts in Queensland, Australia.
Thank you Guardian for posting this.
U2's song "Red Hill Mining Town" lyrics, I feel, are spot on for this town and massive area of land.
Love from Michigan USA 💗
Peace! ✌
@Randy Lahey nice
Ok... let me straighten out a few things here, cause I dont think The Guardian knows what Queenstown is like at all
First and foremost, I'm a life-long Queenstown resident (17 years since may) and even I found this film utterly appalling, they've made us seem like an uninhabitable, toxic wasteland... yes, our river is undeniably polluted, but the rest of it? The trees and wildlife? Is FLOURISHING. What happened to the river did indeed have a lasting effect, but in NO way is it "acid", its not clean, but it isnt going to melt your bloody tripod.
Secondly, the housing. Majority of the bloody shots taken for this bloody film were taken in Gormanston (a separate town, located very very close to Queenstown, and is almost completely abandoned) and the shots that were taken of Queenstown homes, were either houses of those who are less fortunate or completely bloody destroyed (which there are few of). Though I understand that our houses may be below what might be considered the "standard". that certainly doesn't mean every building is abandoned and dilapidated.
Thirdly, the people. The people shown in this film are NOT a representation of our population as a whole (2 or 3 of which are from Gormanston), the people shown in the film are less than a FRACTION of our population.
Fourth, the mood. While Queenstown can (and has) see it's fair share in bad weather, that by no means means the place is as grey and cold as you've represented it, the place looks completely bloody dead, which it by no means is! This film strips the town of all colour and dimension that I assure anyone watching, it has. We have festivals and celebrations which make the town buzz (Namely the Unconformity) which, is held every 2 years and was in 2018.
Even I, not being a great lover of the place myself, feel as though this film is nothing but slanderous and ignorant to our town, I IMPLORE The Guardian to reevaluate their view on our home and come back, instead showing what our town really has to offer, instead of decay and rot, which I assure, is NOT Queenstown and is NOT who we are.
- K
Silly queenstowner, do not insult the gormanston
@@fionnbanks-gorton861 tazzies just a shitole in general😂😂
This Documentary wasn’t made to demonise Queenstown or the people. It was to show the decline of the town since the tragic deaths of the men in Mount Lyell.
Although as you had mentioned it shows a lot of decay of the town and environmental impact of a century and a quarter of mining operations. It’s the now unused smelter that really did its toll on the place.
I plan to move to Queenstown at some point and purchase a home. This video has only made me like the place more because of how close everyone is.
20:30 "Even those that don't agree with mining, they show their disagreement using Phones that have been produced from mining"
true
I'm getting serious Fallout 4 vibes from that intro
Man's plight !
More about profits.
Pollution, destruction.
I lived there for fourteen years, it is basically Fallout 4 there haha
Im getting a fallout feeling right now
What is the point of this so called documentary? It does not bare any representation of the truth at all.
❤️❤ ♡ ♥ ღ ❣ ❥ ❦ ❧ ლ 💖 💝💕Thank you "The Guardian"...
6:19 she mentions acid rain. Now I get the acid drainage from the mine and the rainwater taht flows through the waste. But acid rain? where's that coming from? Certainly not cuased by the mine?
acid rain occurs when the mine is operating and sulphur dioxide emissions go into the air that are then washed out by the frequent rain forming sulphuric acis. So shouldn't be occurring now. The EPA should be checking.
@@hughfarleigh5367 Ah, thanks!
@@catriona_drummondQueenstown use flotation and have done for decades. The acid rain occurred in the old days of smelting copper
@@nathanwells9610 Ah I see. Thanks for the info. That makes sense.
it was caused by the mine, It was all the copper, iron, gold and raw sulfur being smelted and all the chemicals made acid rain, the river being acidic is also apart of the smelting process, any excess mineral they couldn't smelt they just dumped into the river and that was that, tonnes upon tonnes of minerals just dumped into that river
Mabye its time to seek financial restitution and drag any politician's that stood and will stand in the way into the spotlight. This is the age of accountability. Mabye an investigation into the finances of those politician's who signed this whole thing off.
One hundred and twenties years of mining. Majority of this is a legacy of post 1995 remediation program to stop the pollution. Those who signed off are long gone and dead.
We shouldn’t be concerned with bringing those to justice. We need to just be intelligent and work with what’s happened now and try to fix it.
I went to school in pitcher Oklahoma my grandma lived o 212 south alta I was there did ring the buy out but never got paid
Terrible slanted stuff ...Why not mention some great stuff about Queenstown and the whole gorgeous West Coast ... I live on the opposite side of Tasmania and know Queenie has done a lot of great things ..Tell that too ..
Smells like first year film student
fire ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥💪💪💪💪💪💪
Develop the tourism industry and develop a massive offshore windfarm industry off the West coast, linked to industrial centres further east and to mainland Victoria. Every day Tasmania doesn't have those things in place they are throwing away tens of millions of dollars.
Offshore wind farm off the west coast???? You do realise the swell can get over 20 metres down there😳.. never gonna happen🤣.
@@daman7129 You know there is the world's biggest offshore wind Farm being built in the North Sea, right now? They routinely get 20 metre swells and more.
Hyy semuaaa
Trump for 2020 mueller report found nothing the left in meltdown lol
Ey stupid - Trump isn't the topic here and "nothing" is the wrong term mate
@@lickificki slap it up you trump for 2020
Have you read it?
But the report did not say there was no corruption.
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i agree hey semuaa
@@jonxu4335 correction: hyy semuaa (not 'hey')
Hyy semuaaa
@@jasoneastabrook ratio