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On 12 December, at the beginning of school holidays, Balmain families assemble down at Mort Street for a demonstration to stop the containers being trucked through their streets. Children hold up signs, a representative from the transport committee speaks to the crowd saying that residents insist and demand the trucks be stopped from passing through their suburb.
Curator’s notes
By timing their rally to coincide with the beginning of the school holidays, the resident group are highlighting one of the most pressing issues for them – that of safety. As we heard in clip one, a young girl was killed by a truck and other accidents had also occurred. Zubrycki focuses on the family aspect to this drama by showing children crossing a street, young people holding up signs at the protest and showing some of the pamphlets made by resident action groups asking the provocative question ‘how many kids will have to die?’
This video was used as a tool to lobby for change and was screened at the meeting that eventuated after the rally shown here between Transport Minister Charles Jones and representatives from the Balmain-Rozelle community.
The container terminal at Balmain was closed within a year of the video being made.
