Farmer George has taken his life

This was terribly sad news to wake up to.  To hear that another farmer has taken his life and the motivation for doing this was the endless bullying from Csg companies. 

Such a sad day in Australia the day George hung up his work boots for good and went to heaven in the name of fighting Csg in Australia, in particular Queensland where this madness has encroached upon so many in such a destructive way.    I am thinking firstly about the destruction of Land and Water and the land of special places for the first people here on this land.  Aboriginal sacred sites have been destroyed forever in the name of mining and now the second wave are feeling the heavy blucher boot of government psychopathy.

The article below is From Dayne Pratzky ... this was so well written I wanted to keep it because it says it all and I agree 100%.  

George Bender - Photo Source Helen Bender

Last week Australia lost a true hero, George Bender.

In 2009 a small rag tag group of people joined forces under the banner of the Western Downs Alliance. The only thing we had in common was our will to stand up for our families and land from being destroyed by the coal seam gas industry.

Many in our own community turned their backs on us, we were shunned by the people in the town of Chinchilla and Tara. They didn’t want to be seen standing by us as we challenged the government and mining companies for the right to live peacefully. There were very few who didn’t criticize and ignore us. One of those who choose to stand by us was George Bender. George would get in his Land Cruiser and drive out to the estates and stand shoulder to shoulder with us as we battled a mining juggernaut.

George put his reputation at risk to try and help us. He didn’t care who we were, what he cared about was our families and the land beneath our feet.

George's family had been a part of the Chinchilla community for 150 years. The Bender family is well respected and well liked with a reputation for being good farmers and good people. Many in country Queensland look at reputation as everything but George threw all that away to help us in our fight for justice.

While George was helping us fight he was also waging a battle against Origin Energy as they wanted to put gas wells on his land. George refused to give Origin access, he told them to take a hike, they were not welcome on his land. The battle raged on for ten years. Slowly George was worn down. The will to keep Origin Energy off his land was as strong as ever but his will to continue the day to day conflict took its toll on George as a person. In the end, instead of being dragged through land court he decided he no longer wanted to watch the potential destruction of the farm which had taken five generations of his family's blood, sweat and tears to build.
On the 14th of October George took his own life. It's really important to note here that George said he was not depressed. He told his daughter, Helen, that he was heart broken.

Today George will be laid to rest in the town he loved until his last days. George leaves behind his wife Pam Bender, his daughter Helen Bender, four sons and many more grandchildren to all those above I extend much love and respect and send strength to you all at this difficult time. I also extend the same feeling to the Nothdurft family who were friends of George Bender and who are also in a battle for their very existence in a district they love.

I ask every person who reads this to keep ‪#‎GeorgeBenders‬ memory alive.

This is not over, not by a long shot. Today we will grieve tomorrow we will wage war! ‪#‎enoughisenough‬

Photo :  Helen Bender

The Project also covered the story.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography