[4] When woodchipping began around the town of Manjimup in 1975, local residents Michael Haabjoern and John Chester felt they had no recourse to legal means of stopping the destruction of the old growth forests.

[6] The motive of the protesters was to destroy the port's loading facilities and prevent the export of woodchips from Western Australia's old-growth karri and jarrah forests for at least 18 months.

[7] Haabjoern set the charges at three critical points of the machinery and informed the watchman of their plans whilst also checking whether any personnel would be passing through the site.

At 5:25 am the first charge detonated, causing damage estimated at $300,000 (equivalent to $2,100,000 in 2022) to the gantry structure and sending steel pieces over the Leschenault inlet into a housing estate, smashing windows.

[12] Neither Haabjoern or Chester were affiliated with any environmental organisation, however, the bombing allowed opponents of the emerging movement to characterize all protesters as violent extremists.

[3] GW Kelly of the Forest Products Association said that the incident had been caused by extremists who "inflamed emotions with a campaign of bitterness and hatred, divorced almost entirely from the truth.

[8] Chester made contact with a journalist and issued threats against the Premier Charles Court, mining magnate Lang Hancock and said he might blow up a woodchip train.