A localised community campaign against development on ecologically sensitive land at Brunswick Heads continues, with more than 300 protestors said to have been on site over the weekend.
Sunday’s Save Wallum Vigil was a ‘non-violent direct action’, organisers said, featuring a second ‘tree sit’ after the first one last week.
Protestors have taken to calling their comrades, perched in what they say are ‘ancient’ scribbly gum trees, ‘possums’.
They say they’re determined to defend the old-growth trees from being bulldozed.
Council to debate First Nations heritage investigation
Support for the local campaign appears to be intensifying, with nearly a thousand people said to have visited the protest camp in Brunswick Heads in the past week.
While the Arakwal Corporation, native title holders in the Byron Shire, is yet to publicly comment on the proposed housing estate, other Bundjalung nation traditional custodians have spoken out against it.
The Byron Shire Council earlier this month voted to defer a vote on support for an Interim Heritage Order on the site, which would allow for investigation of indigenous artefacts there, while advice is sought on how respond to the request since it didn’t come from the Arakwal Corporation.
Councillors are due to debate the matter at their ordinary scheduled meeting this week.
Protest organisers on Sunday quoted from Mindjinbal Traditional Owner Mark Cora.
‘It is truly heartwarming and inspiring to see so many people attending the peaceful walk-in today at Wallum,’ Mr Cora was quoted as saying, ‘standing beside the indigenous custodians of this area, the land and waters’.
Uncertainty lingers over ecological protection at Wallum
Protestors are also calling for an immediate federal assessment of the development’s impact under the Environmental Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999), Australia’s federal law responsible for managing threatened species, such as the 26 reported on the land in question.
Meanwhile, the council also voted last month for Mayor Michael Lyon to invite developer Clarence Property to meet within 28 days to discuss saving ‘as much of the habitat on site as is feasible’ and to allow for more ecologist advice.
Part of the council vote agreed inviting the developer ‘to work in good faith to resolve the anomalies identified in the expert reports in submissions to Council,’ meeting minutes showed.
Protestor camp set to stay
It’s understood the protest camp at the end of Omega Court in Brunswick Heads is to continue indefinitely.
Save Wallum spokesperson Svea Pitman said support for their campaign has left protestors overjoyed.
‘The sheer number of people who have come to camp this week and who came today demonstrates very loudly to the Byron Council, and the state and federal Ministers involved in this matter, there is no social licence,’ Ms Pitman said.
‘The local community vehemently opposes this ecocide and we will not let this incredible and sacred place be destroyed,’ she said.
The claims of the SAVE WALLUM campaign are getting sillier and sillier. I live close to the land and have visited it a couple of times a week for over 20 years.
The land being built on is not ecologically sensitive, you only have to look at historical aerial shots to see that it has been cleared since the 1950s and today google maps shows that the area has perfectly straight boundaries, not something that occurs naturally.
The initial campaign to save the grand old Scribbly gum at the end of Omega had merit but it has got completely out of hand, scrambling all over the tree is not doing it any good.
Now claiming that there are 26 threatened species ( only 23 last week) on this block is ridiculous.
We are asked to believe that none of these species could possibly live next door on the 18 hectares (60%) of Clarence land that is not being developed.
The protesters are not locals they mostly have QLD or other interstate plates, the locals are heartily sick of these illegal campers who are mostly ignorant of where they are and what they’re doing here.
As for the glossy black cockatoos , their food trees are not in danger but just to make sure they are scared away the illegal camp has 8 meter high red flags not 20 meters from where I last saw evidence of feeding activity .
My focus is on getting the truth out there , and on protecting the adjoining land after all the fuss has died down!
Thankyou for your concern for your neighbourhood and local environment!
Before you continue your ecological truth telling would you mind sharing your environmental background and qualifications?
Currently I’m taking my advice from the expert bipartisan advice of the qualified ecologists leading this campaign.
The idea that “the threatened flora can just go live next door” sounds to me horribly flawed and doesn’t take into account the complexity of this systems waterways and the impact of putting 130 luxury houses with lawns, driveways and roads on top of half of it.
I’m sure that you would have noticed on your bushwalks through the land zoned for development that despite historic slashing and clearing, there is a minute presence of weeds.
Considering how much time and money goes into weed management in national parks this is remarkable and is a better indicator of the health of this system then aerial shots.
As for its cultural significance, well I’m taking that advice from indigenous elders who have been vocal on their strong opposition to the development.
Traditional owners have been present at the site now all week.
I can tell you now that neither they nor the majority of campaigners who have put their lives on hold to protect this land are blow ins from QLD.
Thanking you respectfully for your opinion, I hope that you can find the time to join in on an ecological tour of the area and meet some of the campaigners who are trying very hard to minimise any disturbance to locals while keeping in perspective the importance of saving this land.
Ant
It’s me who could take you on a tour of this land, I know it better than any of the pseudo eco warriors that are currently trashing it!
I’d love to take you up on that actually. When is a good time for you?
Tanya Plibersek is missing in action.
So is her fellow cabinet member and local MP, Justine Elliot.
What is going on within the ALP Government?