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By this stage though, the Fight for the Bight had become the largest coastal environmental campaign in Australian history, with tens of thousands of people paddling out in protest right around the country. In the end, the weight of public opposition saw the oil company, Equinor, quietly withdraw.

This was February 2020, but before locals could even celebrate the win – let alone consolidate it into some kind of permanent protection for the Bight – Covid hit, the world locked down, and the Bight movement quietly slipped beneath the waves. The fact that another oil company had walked away from the Bight was good news, there was still a chance that at some point in the future they’d be back.

“While those exploration leases were all still open,” offers Heath, “at any moment someone could jump back in and have a crack at drilling out there again. I don't think anyone's going to go near this for a while, because Australia stood up and stopped it, but if the economics shifted or the world shifted, it's all back on. While those leases are still open, you never win.”

The longer question now is how to protect the Bight forever.

During the Fight for the Bight, kicking out the oil and gas companies was the immediate goal, but beyond that – for those who dared to dream – there was the idea of the Bight gaining World Heritage status, protecting it for good. Quietly, that almost happened. Before the 2019 federal election and at the height of the Fight for the Bight, the then-Labor opposition floated the idea of nominating the Bight for World Heritage status as an election promise. Ultimately, they didn’t, and ultimately, they lost the election anyway.

But now the wheels are turning again.

Working alongside the Yerkala Mirning Traditional Owners and Sea Shepherd, the Wilderness Society of South Australia is currently pushing the case for the World Heritage listing for the Great Australian Bight.

The area to be nominated extends from the West Australian border in the west to Elliston in the east, and covers over 40,000 square kilometres of land, coastline, offshore islands and ocean. It includes natural features like the Nullarbor Karst, the Bunda Cliffs and the Koonalda Cave, a site of huge cultural significance to the Mirning Traditional Owners.

The area to be protected by the World Heritage listing is made up of a string of current state and commonwealth marine parks, wilderness protection areas and national parks. World Heritage listing would consolidate the protection already offered by these and would make the development of any offshore oil and gas in the area almost impossible.

“Very important place for the Mirning people,” offers Uncle Bunna Lawrie, a Mirning Elder, whalesong man, and a key figure in the Fight for the Bight. “We are the original people of the Nullarbor, the seacoast people. It’s very important to us. And as you can see and understand, it's one of the greatest and biggest whale sanctuaries in the world, and breeding places for the southern right whale. Not only the southern right whale, but there's dolphins, sea dragons. This incredible place, our people have lived off the sea here in abundance.”

“We are the family of that place,” says Uncle Bunna. “So, we have a good connection there... very good connection and understanding of that Country. So, it is now our natural responsibility to carry on looking after that Country, looking after sea, making sure everything's all intact. It's just an incredible place and we share that place now with the world and all of Australia. Their eyes are all on the Nullarbor now, and wow, it’s blowing them away.”

“Yeah, it's incredibly exciting to think that that could be on the cards, and I believe it should be,” offers Heath Joske of the efforts to have the Bight World Heritage listed. “It's just such a living and vibrant and diverse part of the ocean. So many marine creatures that live here, don't live anywhere else. And then just the amount of marine life, the amount of fish that we enjoy eating and that feeds our country. It's an amazing resource and it's got so much to give to us. To see a huge area in the Bight World Heritage listed would protect all this, and also stop the threat of any oil or gas exploration out there in the future, and that's massive.”

The process of attaining World Heritage status takes several years, and the Wilderness Society is well down the track. Before the case goes to the United Nations for consideration, it first requires a commitment of support from both state and federal governments. The South Australian Government gave its support in the lead-up to the 2022 state election, so the focus now swings to the federal government.

The Wilderness Society has created a petition that it intends to deliver in person to Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek in Canberra in the coming months. You can lend your name to protect this ancient, vibrant and sacred stretch of Australia here.