Alex Bainbridge, Hobart
On April 17, 1000 people rallied at the Southport Lagoon Conservation Area, south of Hobart, to protest against logging at Recherche Bay, the site of French landings in 1792 and 1793 that have tremendous historical significance.
Emeritus Professor John Mulvaney — known as the founder of Australian archaeology — told the protesters the area needed to be preserved to allow for a proper archaeological assessment to be made.
Three days later, state Greens leader Peg Putt said from France that French heritage experts were "aghast" that the small reserves planned by the Tasmanian government could be expected to protect the heritage of the area.
"[French] heritage professionals who are experts on the French scientific expeditions of the 18th and 19th centuries agreed that the peninsula is a site of international significance and that it is imperative that further, urgent, archaeological and related studies take place before logging operations commence", reported the Greenweek website.
On April 24, it was reported that the Tasmanian Aboriginal Land Council had joined the fight to save Recherche Bay on the grounds of its cultural significance to Aboriginal people. The TALC has written to the federal government calling for protection of the entire north-east peninsula of the bay.
The area projected for logging is on private land. The owners have feigned outrage that anybody should tell them what to do on their land and complained that environmentalists and heritage experts have trespassed on their land.
A promise by the late premier Jim Bacon to preserve the whole peninsula notwithstanding, the state Labor government claims that a 100-metre reserve around the foreshore and the two acknowledged sites is adequate protection.
The April 29 Hobart Mercury published a letter from Greville Vernon, son of the former owner and uncle of the current owners of the land, in which he wrote: "I must say that my father would be horrified if the bulk of this land was to be cleared of the beautiful trees that have grown there."
Vernon argued that the existing logging plan is "tantamount to clearfelling", which his father would have opposed. Vernon argued that logging should be abandoned and his nephews compensated.
Background information about Recherche Bay can be found at: <http//:www.recherchebay.org>.
From Green Left Weekly, May 4, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.