Look At Me Now

Even the name demands attention. Headlands are vantage points for viewing other places but this headland calls for the gaze to be turned onto itself. It particularly demands an awareness of time. There is an urgency to this call to ‘Look At Me Now’ and the suggestion that a series of looks, a sequence of repeated observations, might offer different conclusions each time. What do you see when you look at me this time?” These were the words I found on the notice board on our Sunday walk at the ‘Look At Me Now’ headland walk at Coffs Harbour.

This place inspires me. Back in 1989 a rally was organised and held in Coffs to protest the proposed sewage outfall to the sea. I learn that between 5000 and 7000 people marched in this rally in support of their environment in much the same way as people all over Australia are standing up to have their say about the Adani mine or the impacts of Climate Change today. The fight against the sewage outfall involved thousands of people who struggled for years to prevent the destruction of the headland and adjacent beaches. They gave their time and their energy; their passion and total commitment to a cause they believed in. During the confrontation, police resurrected an old and obsolete law to threaten and arrest those taking part in the protest. There were many bitter moments in the confrontations.

As we gaze in awe at the beauty around us, I am so grateful to those people who were prepared to put their lives on the line to protect a piece of stunning Australian coastline. In 1976 this reserve was gazetted in response to growing concerns of the impact of sand mining in the area. In 1995 a number of headlands including ‘Look At Me Now’ were added to protect these fragile grassy heathlands.

You may ask, what is so special about this place?

This is an Ecologically Endangered Community (EEC). The special collection of plants — many of which lie hidden beneath the grasses on the surface — found in this place is endangered because they face a high risk of extinction. This place has another history. Indigenous people used to create stone axes with the abundant water worn stones that they found. This was their ‘axe factory.’ This was their history. Sadly, the sand mining has erased and destroyed all traces of that.

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