Living on Memory, Farmer Confronts March of Miners

Legally blind ... farmer Ian Moore on his property in Apple Tree Flat near Jerrys Plains in the Hunter Valley. Photo: Ryan Osland

CATTLE farmer Ian Moore may be legally blind but he says the spread of mining through the Hunter Valley has been impossible to miss.

''We've lived with mines in the Singleton shire all my life,'' he says. ''It's only the last probably 10 years they've got out of control. And farmers are just second-class citizens.''

Mr Moore, 62, and his wife Robyn will head to the Land and Environment Court next month to try to stop NuCoal Resources from conducting exploratory drilling on his land at Jerrys Plains, in preparation for a major longwall mining project.

Mr Moore is worried about possible subsidence from the mining and the impact on his water supply. He will also ask the court to consider his vision impairment, which he says makes any intrusion onto his land problematic - and moving to another farm impossible. ''I live on memory,'' he says. ''I know this place backwards.''

Read More

QCL