One could have a reasonable yarn with them, and come to agreement on many things. The men who drove the trucks that took the logs away were more abusive, mostly not listening to anything we said. They seemed to collectively wish us off the planet. They knew little about the forest, only about the money it earned. We would have been isolated to some extent anyhow.
Interventionary action is confrontative.
However the redneck mythology deepened this isolation, cutting us off from local support, and heightening fear and abuse. I promised myself after Fraser Island to form good contacts with local communities in every future action I am involved in organising. Before attending actions organised by others, I will want to know that local community networks are strong. Fraser Island took place in the first twelve months of a Labor government in Queensland. For many of us it was the first Labor Queensland government in a life-time.