Australian Friends fined for tea-party protest

Three 'Quaker Grannies' blockaded a military training session in Queensland, Australia

by Tara Craig 31st July 2015

Three Australian Friends – known as ‘the Quaker Grannies’ – were fined 500 Australian dollars (£238) each for blockading a military training session in Queensland earlier this month.

Dawn Joyce, Jo Valentine and Helen Bayes held a tea party at the gates to the Shoalwater Bay Training Area to create dialogue with soldiers taking part in ‘Talisman Sabre’. The joint United States-Australia military exercise takes place in Australia every two years. Troops from New Zealand and Japan were among 34,000 military personnel taking part this year.