*The banks of the Namoi River in the Pilliga Scrub (Photo: Dean Moutopoulos)

For the many activists who fought against a $3.6 billion gas mining operation near the North-West town of Narrabri, its approval by the NSW Government came as no surprise.

But for a group of Gomeroi matriarchs, whose connection to the land goes back thousands of years, there’s little choice but to fight on.

Dean Moutopoulos travelled to Narrabri to see where they go from here.