Coal Face

After a century of coal, what should Latrobe Valley's identity look like in the future?  In this final instalment of season 2, we explore new technologies being researched right here in Gippsland, and how a multi-year long co-designed project has led to community visioning what could be after coal.  First, we dive into hydrogen with Dr Surbhi from Federation University. We explore how to cut throu...

It's our season finale and we’re going beyond coal!   After a century of digging, burning, and extracting, we ask the question: what actually happens next? Between election jitters, fringe politics, and the slow-motion chaos of public sector cuts, the future feels… complicated. Join Dr. Rosemary Joyner (MLRA) who talks storytelling, community voice, and what people really want: a future that’s fai...

This is episode is all about looking forward to Offshore wind. More specifically, the Australian Centre for Offshore Wind Energy AKA ACOWE’s Technical symposium, which happened back in September 2025. The ACOWE Technical Symposium was the first of its kind, and was presented in collaboration with the Gippsland New Energy Conference. Join us as we learn from expert guests Tamara Al-Hashimi the Tech...

Yallourn was a much loved company town built to house power industry workers and their families. It was much loved by resident's and a showpiece for the state of Victoria. After the Second World War, many migrants arrived to help run and expand the power station, mine and some took up residency in Yallourn. Unfortunately, the industry that helped build Yallourn also ended up being the reason for i...

The Hazelwood Mine Fire of 2014 left the Latrobe Valley blanketed in toxic smoke for 45 days. But the real story doesn’t end when the fire was extinguished. What came after was a reckoning: a landmark inquiry that exposed corporate negligence and health impacts. This episode asks: what did the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry change, and what did it leave unresolved? We’ll explore the creation of the H...

Radical Valley? Power struggles, unions, the SEC & economic geography. Hear from our guests Naomi Farmer, Luke Van Der Mullen & Sally Weller as we learn about economic geography discuss the SEC in its heyday, the radical history of the Latrobe Valley, power struggles. And how union actions in the Valley influenced the broader workers rights movement across Australia.   Season two has been...

For episode 2 we pick up the story in the 20th century, when Gippsland’s brown coal fields were transformed into power stations, company towns and modernist dreams. From Purvis Plaza to Hazelwood’s hot-water pondage, the Valley was sold a “golden age”... but golden for whom? Along the way, we speak with historian Erik Eklund about Gippsland’s twin booms, company towns like Churchill and the overlo...

We kick off Season 2 by going back, WAY back. From prehistoric swamps that became Gippsland’s coal seams, to Cloggs Cave and its 12,000-year-old stories, to the giant earthworms squelching under our feet, this episode digs into the ancient ground that shaped the Latrobe Valley. Along the way, we talk with botanist Ian Sluiter about coal’s ecological origins. Poet, environmental advocate and educat...

We are back (well almost) find out what is in store for season 2 of Coal Face in this special announcement teaser.  Episode 1, will be released later this week. Keep your podcast feeds subscribed to COAL FACE.  Follow us at https://www.instagram.com/coalfacepod/  

Coal Face covers the 2023 Gippsland New Energy Conference. Get all the juicy details about how the billions of dollars of new energy are going to impact the next generation of workers in Gippsland. We spoke to the Chair of the Australian Renewables Academy, Bernadette O'Connor, the Director of Emerging Industries at the Latrobe Valley Authority, Bodye Darvil, the founder and CEO of Green Lab Futur...

Josie and Steph speak with local Gunaikurnai artist Ronald Edwards Pepper about everything from creativity to cul-de-sacs. We learn about the power art has to change spaces, and how Ronald's sexuality and connection with the land intersect with his work.  Find Ronald here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1590978367 Show notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aN6mIyvXmcYb0UBu5Uad80C2S_P...

Josie and Steph speak with Environment Victoria's Bronya Lipski and Environmental Justice Australia's Chloe Babcock on the newly released draft of the Environmental Effects Statement scope for the Hazelwood Mine Rehabilitation project. We learn what an EES is, what this one gets right, and wrong, and why it's important for people to have their say during the submission window. (or you know, we mig...

Join Josie & Steph as they speak with special guests Darren McCubbin, Ashley Hall, Edwina Vega, Dr Jarra Hicks, Mayor Kellie O'Callaghan & Marianne Robbinson as they discuss the Gippsland New Energy Conference, what community-owned renewable energy projects could look like and what a 40 billion dollar renewable energy sector could mean for Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley.   This episode was spons...

Josie and Steph take you on a whirlwind recap of the Hazelwood Exhibit that was on display at The Latrobe Regional Gallery. The Coal Face team discuss the role of art in shaping collective identities, how space can facilitate conversations around trauma and a Morwellian myth about the Hazelwood landowner who would drive his Rolls Royce around the paddocks of the power station.   Show notes: https:...

Water feeds the arteries of all life on earth, what is that truly worth? Josie & Steph chat with activist, chef and mushroom farmer Hayley Sestokas about growing up in the Latrobe Valley, coal ash dams, mine rehabilitation, and the important advocacy work of Friends of Latrobe Water & Environment Victoria.     Show Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VC4K2o1lksVa4F-2eQybOGFzI9_OC0jmf34dNX_S...

Your voice will be heard. You control the capital. You can do something for your community even as you keep succeeding. Sounds pretty good right? Josie and Steph chat with worker, musician and Weet-Bix enthusiast Dan Musil about cooperative workplaces. Could cooperative energy manufacturing help to rebuild the Latrobe Valley as we move towards a life after coal?   Resources/ Show Notes:  https://d...

Eight years ago the Hazelwood mine caught fire with devastating consequences to the people of the Latrobe Valley. Josie and Steph chat to local legend and activist Wendy Farmer about how the Hazelwood mine fire changed the Latrobe Valley and the course of her life.  Resources/ Show Notes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kyORq_98-jphG80tpE4PuCA0_KLDPGta_ffk9RIn0xU/edit?usp=sharing

Josie & Steph learn about the complexities of mine rehabilitation in the Latrobe Valley from horse-loving, environmental scientist and acting CEO of the Mine Land Rehabilitation Authority Rhonda Hastie.