Sadly on the 02/03/2009, Ross lost his life in an accident on the Kuranda range. In memory of Ross, knowing what the project meant to him, Tom, Liam and a crew of their mates stepped up the pace to make The Coalition of Conscious and Willing (The COCAW) a fully functioning fund raising events company in 2009.
With their original ideas in mind, 2009 was the year they evolved from doing small underground events to holding medium to large scale live music fund raisers. With support from local bands and companies, The COCAW raising money for worthy organisations in the local and national communities.
On Saturday the 8th of August 2009, 200 people met at Jungle Jacks in Lake Placid to show their support for the “Save the Kimberly” project, aimed at increasing awareness and action groups to help protect the beautiful region far to our north west from the destructive powers of Shell, BP and Woodside as they planned to bring in their heavy machinery and destroy one of the natural wonders of our world. The event was successful, raising a little over $1000 for the cause and as it turned out all the campaigns nation wide swayed the WA government into putting stricter regulations on how those mining companies could operate in the area. As a result, 2 of those companies withdrew their interest and the one remaining is going ahead with a project that will have significantly less impact on the environment of the area than what was originally proposed.
Hopefully their passion will become infectious and The COCAW will grow to host events people from all walks of life come to enjoy knowing they're partying in the name of a green future and love.
