Crowd of 300 attend Warrnambool rally against seismic testing

It came as the Southern Ocean Protection Embassy Collective called for a protest against a US oil and multinational company's plans to conduct testing across thousands of square kilometres of ocean floor off the coast of Port Fairy, Warrnambool and Port Campbell as soon as late 2023.

SOPEC founder and whale dreaming custodian Yaraan Couzens-Bundle said it was imperative sea country was protected.

"Koontapool - Southern Right Whales - come here every year," she said.

"The message and voice of Koontapool is to kooroondee, to behave properly. Koontapool tells the story of sea country and how we are not separate from it. We have been one and unbroken since time immemorial.

"We want this place held in perpetuity in protection for future generations."

Ms Couzens-Bundle said the solution lay in funding Indigenous-led research.

"Our knowledge systems have worked for thousands of years," she said.

"Seismic blasting is the wrong frequency. It is damaging and the song of death. Our songlines are the song of life and creation.

"We want to tell the international companies that have plans to carve up and industrialise our coastline that they need to get out and stay out of Gunditjmara sea country.

"They come only to take and that is against our lore."

The rally, held on October 22, was the latest in a series of protests against seismic testing the south-west has seen.

In July, hundreds gathered at Port Fairy's South Beach to oppose offshore gas exploration.

That same month, Moyne Shire Council stepped into the fight by voting to pressure the federal government to block seismic testing in the Otway Basin.

In August, Warrnambool followed suit as councillors voiced their concerns at a public council meeting, voting unanimously to write to the federal government opposing seismic testing for gas exploration.

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