A few years ago I wrote an R.M. William’s Outback Magazine ‘station story’ on a beautiful cattle station – Lilyvale. Owned by the Shephard family for more than 80 years, it was the only cattle station that was a financially healthy pastoral business on the east coast of Cape York Peninsula. Lilyvale has a relatively reliable rainfall, good fresh water supplies and most significantly – better soil than much of the Peninsula, which is very phosphorous deficient. And by Cape York Peninsula standards, Lilyvale wasn’t nearly as remote as many other cattle stations trying to create a net profit. However the government were refusing to renew the pastoral lease. So the Shephard family had the ‘choice’ of either selling it to the Queensland State Government before the pastoral lease ran out or wait until the pastoral lease expired and walk away with nothing at all.
Lilyvale is now managed by the Queensland government and part of it is now known as the Lama Lama National Park. It is listed as an ‘Important Bird Area’.
Lilyvale operated as a cattle station for many decades and the presence of native birds in such numbers and variety that it is deemed worthy of the designation ‘Important Bird Area’, illustrates one undeniable fact. Remote area cattle stations operate in harmony with the natural environment, and there is absolutely no need to remove the pastoral activity in order to protect populations of local birds (or other species). In fact the reverse is true – pastoralists manage the landscape efficiently, with the long term health of the environment constantly in mind. Cattle station owners constantly work to reduce weed and feral animal populations and reduce the risk of overly hot, destructive bushfires. Long-term permanent residents are devoted to the country they live on – many grew up there so they know the land and climatic conditions intimately, and they’re passing it all on to future generations. The presence of permanent residents who know the country well, also reduces the unhindered and unobserved activity of bird smugglers and illegal arrivals who may threaten Australia’s native flora and fauna by introducing pests and diseases from countries immediately to the north. The latter aspect is particularly pertinent on Cape York Peninsula, where further de-population (and/or centralisation of population) has grave implications for national security. (There’s a raft of evils Australian native animals and plants would be decimated by – eg screw worm fly.) It’s an absolute travesty that the Shephard family were denied the right to retain ownership of the Lilyvale pastoral lease. They were railroaded by successive politicians and public servants who couldn’t give a rat’s toss; but who would never themselves have tolerated the treatment they dished out.
Curiously, though the Queensland Government repeatedly refused to renew the pastoral lease there was no plan regarding the future use of Lilyvale. Come hell or high water the government wanted the Lilyvale land to do what they liked with it, but they just didn’t know what exactly they wanted to do with it. Situated on the northern side of Queensland’s second largest National Park, Lakefield National Park (now known as ‘Rinyirru’) which is just north of the large Cape Melville National Park, Lilyvale cattle station was not at that time earmarked for national park status. Nor were the local aboriginal people at that time interested in acquiring Lilyvale.
I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have visited a lot of cattle stations over the years, right across the top of Australia. The refusal of the Queensland Government to renew the Lilyvale Pastoral Lease for the Shephard family really was a story of gross injustice. It was a David & Goliath story in which Goliath won, for absolutely no good reason. Unfortunately it was a not unusual example of how remote white Australians are treated these days. For example I clearly remember hearing the former owners of another cattle station that was compulsorily acquired by the government (‘cattle might damage the fossils’) describe their absolute disgust at how university staff were decimating parts of the property, using explosives to break up rocks containing fossils, loading them onto roadtrains and sending them south. There’s increasing numbers of examples of landholders who are not allowed to clear any vegetation – surrounded by mining companies who seem to be allowed to decimate the land at will. Quite bizarre that someone needs a permit to clear a fenceline or cut a few trees for posts, while mining companies can clear fell shot lines and vast areas for mining, roads, tailings dams, portable buildings and vehicle parking areas etc. And nobody bats an eyelid. On extensively grazed cattle properties, a few trees cut for posts are usually replaced by seedlings within a few years. Check out any old mining site, and you’ll see an environment that remains decimated for decades – and probably centuries. Even without the damage caused by saline evaporation ponds and heavy metals in tailings dams, and compaction of the soil, the removal of topsoil means vegetation will not grow back naturally.
Imagine my surprise when I opened up The Weekend Australian newspaper last weekend and found a little article hidden away on page 8, titled ‘Cape coalmine project fast-tracked’. It was the accompanying map that got my attention. It shows a big slice of land running onto what appears to be the southern/eastern end end of Princess Charlotte Bay. The ‘Wongai’ coal mine is not on Lilyvale station, however it is relatively close to it – almost right next door.
It’s one of those things that is so appalling I keep thinking it won’t possibly happen. It’s very depressing to think that this coal mine will go ahead smack in the midst of two such significant national parks, right beside a compulsorily acquired cattle station. And the Wongai coal mine will go ahead unless people kick up enough fuss.
– just how hypocritical is the Queensland State Government and Federal Government, in refusing to renew a pastoral lease on land that was so well managed it’s in fabulous natural condition, with so many birds that it’s given ‘Important Bird Area’ status
– how hypocritical is the general public in allowing a cattle station to be compulsorily acquired by the government but a coal mine to go ahead, in the same location
– how hypocritical are the local indigenous people? In reality it’ll be white people with particular skills and experience working at the mine, and most will fly in from hundreds or thousands of kilometres away. Open cut or underground, coal mining is not good for the surrounding environment, it doesn’t matter how you want to dress it up. Are the local aboriginal people really this eager to sell their souls? If money in indigenous communities could make everyone live happily ever after with not a problem in the world, then the problems in indigenous communities would have been solved many years ago. Billions are poured in, to no avail. In fact having a big share of mining royalties – money that hasn’t been earned by hands-on work by individuals – simply increases problems, it doesn’t solve them! It’s not hard to find plenty of examples where free flowing cash has simply exacerbated problems and made people more dependent, rather than fixed problems and fostered independence. It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about white people, black people or any race on the planet. Everyone needs the dignity of employment. Anyone who thinks the Wongai coal mine is going to do fix the local indigenous unemployment problems, is dreaming. Check out all the other mining, oil and gas projects from Cairns to Broome, and have a look at how many indigenous people work in these mines, and how many are working on cattle stations or any other form of private enterprise employment.
The blurb put out by the local indigenous groups regarding the Wongai coal mine, reminds me of the Muckaty nuclear waste dump. It’s simply blatant soul selling – short term cash in hand in exchange for long term environmental destruction; a reduction in independence and dignity; and all approved of by people who supposedly love their land and the natural environment.
There are photographs of Princess Charlotte Bay in my book ‘A Million Acre Masterpiece’. It’s a beautiful, pristine environment and it would be a travesty to see a coal mine situated here.
And what has happened to Lilyvale Station? It’s been handed back to local indigenous people, and the Shephards are now employed to work on the land their family used to own, and show the locals how to run a cattle station…so it’s still running stock on it, at present. And I guess if a mining company finds minerals on it, it’ll be a case of getting rid of those environmentally destructive bovines and replacing them with a mining moonscape. As the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction.
Tags: Living in the country and remote areas, Australian cattle stations, Australian quarantine and biosecurity, Rural properties for sale and ownership, Conservation and the environment