Mum describes the health horrors her family endured because of a leaking gas well near Camden home


A mother has described the horrific daily health battles her family suffered after moving into a house, and she believes they have been brought on by a leaking coal seam gas well running under the home. 

Danielle Hodges and her children Cooper, Madison, Joshua and Jackson moved from Cambelltown to a new suburb near Camden in southwest Sydney in 2014

Within two months they began to endure prolonged daily nosebleeds, unexplained daily headaches, nausea, hayfever, and asthma.

In most cases the illnesses were either new, or much worse than they had ever been before – and occurred quickly after Danielle and her husband Brien bought a house for $450,000 in Spring Farm. 

The Hodges family suffered multiple health impacts over three years - including shocking nosebleeds and daily headaches, chronic nausea and hayfever. From left: Cooper Hodges, Madison Hodges, Danielle Hodges and Brien Hodges

The Hodges family suffered multiple health impacts over three years – including shocking nosebleeds and daily headaches, chronic nausea and hayfever. From left: Cooper Hodges, Madison Hodges, Danielle Hodges and Brien Hodges

Joshua Hodges (pictured left) began suffering nosebleeds every second day after the family moved to Camden in 2014, as well as headaches and nausea he'd never had, and his asthma worsened. His brother Cooper developed chronic nosebleeds, headaches and intermittent nausea and his asthma also worsened

Joshua Hodges (pictured left) began suffering nosebleeds every second day after the family moved to Camden in 2014, as well as headaches and nausea he’d never had, and his asthma worsened. His brother Cooper developed chronic nosebleeds, headaches and intermittent nausea and his asthma also worsened

Symptoms the Hodges family after moving near gas wells in 2014

Brien Hodges – new hayfever

Cooper Hodges – chronic nosebleeds, increased asthma, new headaches and intermittent nausea

Danielle Hodges – daily headaches and nausea, increased hayfever and asthma and diagnosed with blood disorder Jak2+ blood mutation, with essential thrombosis and prefibrotic myelofibrosis 

Jackson Hodges – new hayfever, intermittent headaches and nausea

Joshua Hodges – nosebleeds every second day, increased asthma, new headaches and nausea

Madison Hodges – chronic nose bleeds, new hayfever, increased asthma, intermittent nausea and headaches

The symptoms were severe for three years, until 2017, but some of the health impacts continue to the present. 

Ms Hodges, a stay-at-home mum, claims the family moved into the home without knowing that gas firm AGL was drilling nearby. 

AGL sunk 144 gas wells in Camden, finishing the work in 2014.  

Mrs Hodges was diagnosed with a blood mutation and a rare blood disorder in 2019, called prefibrotic myelofibrosis, which can lead to leukaemia.

She was told the condition can be caused by the chemicals used in drilling for gas, although she cannot be sure that is the cause.

But the impacts on her children are what really frightened Mrs Hodges. 

‘One night I heard my six year old, Cooper, calling out, “mummy help me”,’ Ms Hodges remembers.

‘I went into into the bathroom and there was a bloody handprint on the wall and I literally slipped over in a pool blood.

‘All of his pyjamas were covered in blood.’

She said two of her children were especially affected by bleeding noses, which lasted up to 30 minutes.

She remembers her 16 year old daughter Madison’s nosebleeds at the time were so bad she would leave towels soaked in blood.

‘One time she said to me “Mum I think I’m gonna bleed out”. It was like a Tarantino movie,’ she said.

Ms Hodges suffered constant headaches, nausea and hay fever – which she’d never had before the move.

‘I had a headache for eight months straight. We all lived on a diet of daily antihistamines and Nurofen,’ she said. 

When someone knocked on her door asking if she was aware of the nearby gas well, Ms Hodges didn’t understand the significance and sent the doorknocker packing.

An aerial photo of some of AGL's Camden gas wells, with Spring Farm houses pictured above

An aerial photo of some of AGL’s Camden gas wells, with Spring Farm houses pictured above 

Joshua, Danielle and Cooper Hodges (pictured from left) with American farmer and coal seam gas activist John Fenton in 2014

Joshua, Danielle and Cooper Hodges (pictured from left) with American farmer and coal seam gas activist John Fenton in 2014

A graphic from the Climate Council's new report 'Kicking the habit: How gas is harming our health'

A graphic from the Climate Council’s new report ‘Kicking the habit: How gas is harming our health’

But when the nearby gas well sprung a leak in August 2014 – leading to a local emergency, with police, fire and ambulance in attendance, she began to take notice. 

‘You could hear the gas coming out of the ground,’ she said.

Then Mrs Hodges she read the material given to her and discovered about 15 neighbouring families in Spring Farm were similarly affected. 

‘I was dumbstruck, it described what was happening to us and we read that people in Tara Queensland were having the same symptoms as – people 700km away,’ she said.

Joshua Hodges was having nosebleeds every second day after the family moved to Camden

Joshua Hodges was having nosebleeds every second day after the family moved to Camden

She believed the family’s worsening health was down to living by the wells, partly because when they took a holiday to Orange, the symptoms stopped – then returned when they got home. 

Mr Hodges also had fewer health issues, which his wife believes is because he was away from the house for 12 hours a day in his job as a spray-painter and signwriter. 

‘I cant prove that the gas wells are responsible for mine and my family’s health, but we have been told it is consistent with the health problems people living near gas field have had around the world,’ Mrs Hodges said.

She said a Sydney doctor at a health clinic presented by the anti-coal seam gas Lock The Gate alliance told her gas told her the problems ‘correlate with the impacts of living with gas’. 

Jackson Hodges had less severe health problems than his brothers and sisters - but he attended a school out of the area and spent less time at home

Jackson Hodges had less severe health problems than his brothers and sisters – but he attended a school out of the area and spent less time at home

After the 2014 leak occurred, Mrs Hodges spoke to media and began to get involved in campaigns against the gas wells – partly motivated by AGL’s silence.

‘I told people what was happening to my family, I wanted to know “is this because of the gas?”‘ she said.

To this day she says the gas company did not contact her directly. 

She took part in protests from Camden all the way to climate talks in Paris, where she was invited to tell her family’s story.

‘I’m not an activist but when it’s my kids at risk I’m going to fight for them. I’m a mum,’ she said.

After protests about the Camden gas well intensified, the company announced it would gradually close the project and cease extraction by 2023.

‘The Camden site and wells will be progressively decommissioned and the sites rehabilitated,’ AGL said on its website. 

But Mrs Hodges said the wells were still going.

‘We don’t want to wait until 2013. As a mum I want them to shut the wells now,’ she said.

‘They should have shut them when they knew local people were suffering health issues, and when we complained.

‘No-one ever contacted me from the company, they wouldn’t test our soil or our blood no matter how much I complained.’

Danielle Hodges with her eldest son Jackson. They both suffered ongoing health impacts after moving near AGL gas wells

Danielle Hodges with her eldest son Jackson. They both suffered ongoing health impacts after moving near AGL gas wells

Joshua Hodges (left) and Cooper Hodges (right) with a family friend

Joshua Hodges (left) and Cooper Hodges (right) with a family friend

On Thursday, Ms Robinson was part of a report released by the Climate Council which highlights the many health dangers of using gas in and around homes.

Asthma was also a major focus of the report, which claimed that a child living with gas cooking in the home faces a comparable risk of asthma to a child living with household cigarette smoke. 

An AGL statement to Daily Mail Australia said the company ‘is committed to the safe and environmentally responsible’ operation in the Camden area. 

‘AGL is working closely with representatives from the local community to address the operation of the Project as we lead into the end of production in 2023,’ it said.

AGL also pointed Daily Mail Australia to a South-Western Sydney Local Area Health District statement from 2016.

‘Some residents in the Camden Gas Project area have expressed health concerns,’ it read.

‘To date, investigations into health concerns of residents in other areas with CSG have not been able to clearly associate health complaints with coal seam gas activity.’

Leave a Reply