Nurrungar Taxi Poll A taxi poll was conducted around the April '93 Nurrungar protest. The purposes were 1. to test the change in awareness of Nurrungar arising from media coverage of the protests, 2. to see if any increase in awareness had an effect upon support for bases, and 3. cultural preparation for the protest and community education afterwards. Method The driver of a taxi in Sydney asked all the people who got into his taxi if they wished to participate in a survey. 96% did. The survey consisted of two questions: 1. Do you know what Nurrungar is? Answer: Yes or No; and 2. Should Australia host United States military bases? Answer: Yes, No or Uncertain. There were three surveys, each over 500 samples. The first survey was conducted over December '92, and is held as the control. The second survey was conducted from three weeks after the Nurrungar protest, during May '93. The third survey was conducted in September '93. Conclusions People's awareness of Nurrungar was affected by the protest. However, the weekly data shown on the graph indicates that the memory of the media coverage was short lived. I conclude that isolated protest events depending on the mainstream media for publicity have a very short term effect upon community awareness. The increase in awareness of Nurrungar as gauged by Question 1 had no noticeable effect on attitudes towards US bases. Notes arising from conducting the survey The survey served as an excellent community education exercise. Just about all the people wanted to know all about Nurrungar at the completion of the survey. Many valuable discussions ensued. This can also work as a valuable 'cultural preparation' tool before the protest. The data was initially collected in gender groups. Many more men knew what Nurrungar was, and many more men than women supported US bases in Australia. Those people who supported bases almost always felt the need to defend their position. The most common justification was the fear of invasion from Indonesia. Knowing the level of community support for the removal of the bases was very useful in the preparation of leaflets, posters and media releases. Anyone with a cleanish driver's license can drive a taxi. This was my third taxi poll on peace or environment issues. I have found that conducting such a survey controls the passenger-driver dynamic in a very positive way. I recommend it as a campaign tool and fundraiser. James Langley