AS THE truck carting the drilling rig rolled out the property gate and onto the public road, Kerry landholder Rod Anderson pulled his Akubra from his head and threw it in front of the vehicle's wheels.
"Drive over that," he yelled.
A flurry of hats followed, as well as an Australian flag.
As a crowd of protesters and police watched on, the truck continued along its path, grinding the pile into the dust before disappearing down the road.
Locals believe it is symbolic of the Scenic Rim community's treatment from Arrow Energy.
"I've been standing over by that strainer post for the past bloody 10 days quietly behaving, like all of us locals have," Mr Anderson told the gathering of more than 100 protesters shortly afterwards.
"I've got a little place up the top there - it's only small, might be insignificant to some, but it's my house and it's my home. There are plenty of farmers around here, and no one's listening to us - treating us like there's no one underneath these hats. They don't give a shit. We've had a gutful."
"It's just absolutely mind-boggling that good citizens and good farmers and good people with no criminal history, just blokes off the street who are trying to do the right thing for this country, are forced to come down here and bark at cars like mongrel dogs."
It began more than a week earlier when 300 locals gathered as the sun rose one morning to block access to a team of Arrow workers looking to explore for coal seam gas.
A hardcore group camped each night around the roadside.
A total of 15 people were arrested and will face court in the coming weeks.
A string of campaigning politicians, activists and onlookers arrived to talk over the plight with locals.
LNP leader Campbell Newman announced, if elected, he would refuse production permits in the Scenic Rim.
There was a stalemate for several days as protesters and Arrow argued over the terms of negotiations.
A heavy police presence forced protesters from the property gate last Tuesday evening, and Arrow gained entry to the drill site the following morning.
The protests continued. with organisers claiming morale had not been impacted by the development.
And then, Arrow packed up and left the area at the weekend. Both sides have since claimed victory.
Protesters say the pressure they placed on the company, aided by days of negative publicity, made Arrow's plans increasingly difficult.
"This is one small battle in the war against coal seam gas," Keep the Scenic Rim Scenic organiser Innes Larkin said.
"We might not have stopped the drilling of the Kerry well, but we believe we won in the court of public opinion.
"The Scenic Rim community is now fired up and stands ready to help other communities in their efforts to challenge the rush for coal seam gas."
In a statement, Arrow claimed "as expected", the company had completed its planned CSG exploration drilling at Mt Lindsay, near Beaudesert.
"Arrow continues to extend its offer to local protest representatives for an opportunity to hear from technical experts in the fields of geology and hydrogeology to answer their questions and help allay concerns at an appropriate meeting place in Beaudesert," the statement read.
AgForce policy director Drew Wagner, who visited the protest site late last week, repeated calls for all sides of government to set clear boundaries on where the CSG industry can and can't develop.
"AgForce is not anti-CSG and recognises that the industry may deliver economic benefits to certain regions, but at what cost to the environment and longer term agricultural production? Where is the balance?" he said.
"The questions the Scenic Rim community is asking about this industry are questions AgForce has raised for many years now without adequate answers."
And with voters now counting down to the state election, Mr Anderson had a warning to those campaigners planning on throwing their hats into the political arena.
"Arrow should be down here justifying their existence to have the right to ruin our water," he said.
"We need help here from our government and it's about time that someone came down here and saw us."
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