Byron Shire Council has been spraying us for years, for example in an attempt to eradicate the bitou bush that was planted by the sand miners after mining ceased in early 1970s. The aerial spraying over the lighthouse and Tallow Beach was extensive, there was no escape. All small animals were affected, including two nesting pheasants who lived in the dunes. All gone.
In March 2009 a cyclone was approaching, my husband went to check on the beach. He was confronted by a man in protective clothing who was spraying the bitou bush on the dunes. My husband said it was the wrong time to be doing this with such a strong wind happening as the spray was going over all vegetation. He continued to spray, the spray went over my husband’s bare right leg. Of course I rang the works department who told me what the spray was. It was a mixture of Metsulfuron-methyl and Roundup, a herbicide containing 24D.
Today we are still being sprayed here in Suffolk Park, every year. In all these years of spraying I have never seen a sign to warn us. My husband died in June 2012 at the age of 69.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
