Belinda thought she had bought her dream Byron home. It soon turned into a nightmare

Following a tenuous living situation, in September of that year she accepted Simpson’s offer to move there with her two young sons. “He sent me a map of the land, and he circled a lot that I could have,” she claimed. Lucas said she transferred about $40,000 to Simpson for what she said was a cabin and development of the site.

Simpson acknowledged sending a map, but said it was to indicate where she could stay at the camp. He accepted the $40,000 but said it was a donation to the camp’s expansion.

Lucas alleged that Simpson insisted she pay workers as they brought materials to the site. Texts show Simpson telling Lucas that he had already spent the money she had sent, and needed more cash as he owed others. Screenshots of Lucas’ incremental bank transfers show “donations” listed in the description.

Lucas, who had family members involved in the defence force, wanted to set up a retreat for homeless veterans at the site. “I have land. Build a retreat here?” Simpson allegedly texted her.

Lucas and her sons lived in a tin shed for three months, but Lucas realised the camp was illegitimate, which Simpson had not disclosed.

“I had just become a single mum. I didn’t have anything – all my assets were still tied up with my ex,” she said. She left when she secured community housing.

Simpson said the camp was set up to “assist those going through struggles”, and denied ever claiming to own the land.

“The land belongs to the original people, the original bloodline descendants ... of which I am. We don’t actually speak as in terms we own the land. We belong to these lands [and] take care of these lands,” he said.

Lucas, now undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, posted her experience online to try to recover the funds for the land she now knows could never be hers.

Simpson alleged her posts were “defamatory” and was granted an apprehended violence order against her. In the AVO document, Simpson acknowledged that Lucas transferred $40,000 “by her own volition to contribute to the camp”. He has returned about $20,000.

Simpson acknowledged that he collected donations from several camp members, but said the funds were used to build structures, and that there was little left over at the time of the camp’s later eviction.

Tribal ‘lore’ and sovereign ideology

The camp, established in 2021, quickly grew into a “village” with structures and caravans, accumulating 70 tonnes of debris.

Rangers tried to move the group on, but Simpson, also known as Jaabarun Nyangbul, lodged a Supreme Court claim arguing the land had never been ceded, denying the court’s jurisdiction.

A sign at the entrance to the camp read: “Trespassers will be subject to tribal lore”.Credit: Instagram

“There is no superior governing law that governs the Aboriginal people in their dominion or terrain,” he said. “We are not in the Constitution.”

A sign at the entrance to the camp stated that trespassers would be “subject to tribal lore”.

Simpson, along with regular camp visitor Helen Delaney, was also involved in an anti-government protest in 2021, during which the doors of Old Parliament House were set alight. Members of this “freedom” protest allegedly misappropriated traditional cultural practices to “initiate” non-Indigenous members of the group as “original sovereigns”. Elders and traditional owners criticised their actions.

Delaney, who is not Indigenous, is also a prominent member of a radical anti-government group, Nmdaka Dalai Australis, which claims “customary tribal lore” is Australia’s only legitimate authority.

She listed the camp’s address as her own on court documents and participated in cultural events at the camp. Simpson was not an NDA member.

A screenshot from a since-deleted video posted on NDA’s website shows Helen Delaney (left) dressed in the organisation’s “sheriff” uniform, performing a cultural event at the camp. Many camp members were not Indigenous.Credit: ABC

Documents sighted by this masthead show NDA members claim that children removed from their care by courts are “stolen property” and demand “rightful collection” via self-created courts. Documents are printed in purple ink and signed with fingerprints, served by “sherrifs” in beige uniforms.

Delaney claims she was only a volunteer to assist elders in the group with tasks and is no longer involved. The group has not been active online in recent months.

During Lucas’ time at the camp, Delaney was in jail for breaching an apprehended violence order (AVO) protecting her ex-husband. She also faced court last month charged with stalking a police officer after he arrested her on domestic-violence-related offences. She denies the charges. She next faces court in December.

Ballina Mayor Sharon Cadwallader claimed the Lennox Head group didn’t respect the law or the environment.

“They’ve degraded the site something dreadful. We still don’t know how the land will be rehabilitated.”

An aerial shot of the sprawling squat at Seven Mile Beach, taken in April 2025.Credit: NearMap

Cadwallader said rangers needed a police escort when entering the camp due to the group’s volatility.

Simpson said the group had always intended to be peaceful, and argued that the “waste” collected after its eviction was culturally important structures.

The Jali Local Aboriginal Land Council condemned Simpson’s actions as misappropriation of culture for “personal gain”.

Chairperson Kylie Jacky said the occupation led by Simpson, with a majority of non-Aboriginal persons, was “without community mandate, cultural authority”, and ultimately “distorts the meaning of sovereignty and threatens the integrity of Aboriginal-led movements for truth-telling and land and cultural justice”.

“Sovereign citizens are taking our land from us and misappropriating and violating our culture while doing this … Sovereignty is not a tool for individual entitlement – it is a sacred, collective responsibility rooted in kinship, lore, and accountability to mob,” she said.

Both Simpson and Delaney deny being sovereign citizens, a broad term for those who use pseudo-legal arguments to deny the government’s legitimacy, and who believe they can “opt out” of laws.

“I do not align with [the] rhetoric. It’s a label that they’ve put on people who stand up against oppressive governments,” Simpson said.

In a legal letter sent to the Herald, Delaney stated that language which aligned her with anti-government, or pseudo-law ideology, or that portrayed her as irrational, dangerous or unlawful, was false and defamatory.

Luke Simpson and Helen Delaney, photographed outside Nowra court where Delaney faced charges of stalking a police officer.Credit: Staff

“None of the allegations, characterisations, or implications outlined in your [article] are accepted,” she said.

Simpson rejected the council’s authority and said he consulted elders outside the council.

Degraded land

After a lengthy court battle, the squatters were evicted on August 5 by the NSW Sheriff and Crown Lands, escorted by police.

Luke Simpson (right) rejected the Aboriginal Land Council’s authority, arguing that the group of sovereign campers should manage the land instead. Credit:

During the eviction, one man was arrested for assaulting police, and 14 traffic infringement notices were issued, as the group reportedly “doesn’t believe in government-issued driver’s licences”. Video of the eviction shows campers swearing at police.

A spokesperson for the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure confirmed that 18 people, including three children, were removed.

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Homes NSW confirmed that support and assistance were “offered to those sleeping rough”, but it wasn’t taken up at the time.

The group tried to return, prompting area patrols and the installation of new gates. Recent inspections have not found evidence of a new camp.

The focus on extremist anti-government groups has been renewed following the alleged killing of two Victorian police officers by self-declared sovereign citizen Dezi Freeman and the 2022 Wieambilla shootings.

The Herald is not suggesting that Simpson, Delaney or other NDA or camp members had any involvement in the shooting deaths.