Updated on Friday, November 20, 2009 at 08:09AM by stevem

THE bowls players of Kandanga will happily have to make do with their present digs, after news the cancellation of the Traveston Crossing Dam proposal has also meant the end of a proposed replacement bowls facility. This week’s Gympie Regional Council Planning Committee meeting was told the proponent of both the dam and the replacement bowls club building, Queensland Water Infrastructure Pty Ltd, has withdrawn the bowls club application.

Click to read more ...

Father Mark from the Noosa Catholic Parish has been so moved regarding the plight of the people in The Mary Valley after the State government decision to build the Traveston Dam, he offered St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Pomona for an ecumenical service. Several Mary Valley residents attended Mass in Pomona and the community is well aware of the heartbreak many have suffered since the dam announcement in 2006. The community has struggled with accepting a dam that will only be a few metres deep, will have high evaporation and seepage loss due to alluvial plains, and further endanger many species and put the Great Sandy Strait at risk. Over 160 people packed the small country church and took part in a service that moved many. Dr Eve Fesl, aboriginal elder whose mother was born on the banks of the Mary River, gave a traditional welcome to country, and began the service with song. The congregation then joined in singing ‘The Great Southland’.

Click to read more ...

Raine and Horne Mary Valley owner Nick Smith said when the announcement was made in July, 2006, the appeal of the area changed instantly. “It cost me a million dollars the day they announced it,” he said. “That’s how much land I had contracts on and it has taken three and a half years to get sales back up to where they were. “Now (buyers) don’t know what the price of land will be.” Mr Smith said the week before minister Garrett axed the project, representatives from Queensland Water Infrastructure were walking around saying they were “150% sure” it was going ahead.

Click to read more ...

DOZENS of families affected by the proposed Traveston Dam will not be able to buy back their properties because they are about to get a major highway through their yards. The Bruce Highway was realigned to incorporate the two stages of the proposed $1.7 billion dam project, with Main Roads turning the first sod in September. Anti-dam activists Alan and Jane Sheridan owned a 13ha property at Federal, near Gympie. They sold it to the State Government in 2007 for $1.2 million and leased it back - but now graders are working just 200m from the kitchen window. “We were hit by a double whammy: the dam and the highway,” Mrs Sheridan said yesterday. “The decision last week was a bittersweet victory. We were so happy they decided to not go ahead with the dam, but it is too late as far as the roadworks are concerned.” The Sheridans say they would have bought back their property - but the highway realignment left them with no choice but to move on.

Click to read more ...

Updated on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 08:28AM by stevem

The Beattie announcement in 2006 was a call to arms that united people who previously had not known each other and unleashed a powerful defence that was ultimately to prevail. None of the key group held enormous hope that Garrett would decide against the dam. Remarkably, they all believed that a “yes” from the federal minister, rather than being the death knell of their campaign, would simply provide focus to what they saw as an inevitable court challenge. By that stage campaigners had endured two elections and weekly twists and turns that had lifted and dampened spirits. They are now battle hardened, have a clear vision for the sustainable future they want for their community and will be ready to fight hard if, after pulling apart the economy and social fabric of the valley, the state government just walks away.

Click to read more ...

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 12:43PM by stevem

Updated on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 06:20AM by stevem

Updated on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 06:23AM by stevem

Updated on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 06:40AM by stevem

Updated on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 09:24AM by stevem

Updated on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 09:27AM by stevem

Updated on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 11:35AM by stevem

Updated on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 11:44AM by stevem

Updated on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 11:47AM by stevem

Tumbling land values have undermined the Queensland government’s plan to sell back the properties it resumed to build the doomed Traveston Dam project, potentially blowing a massive hole in the state budget. Premier Anna Bligh conceded yesterday it could take a decade to sell all 494 properties the government bought for $545 million over the past three years. The federal government has vetoed the $1.8 billion dam on environmental grounds, declaring it would endanger threatened species of turtles, cod and lungfish. Ms Bligh said the government would sell back the properties - but not for less than it had paid.

Click to read more ...

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 08:38AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 08:42AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 09:50AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 09:50AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 09:59AM by stevem

MARY Valley residents have demanded a say in their future and they want help from the State Government to repair their wounded community. Save The Mary River Co-ordinating Group president Glenda Pickersgill issued the demands yesterday at an almost impromptu press conference at Ground Zero - the Traveston Crossing bridge - yesterday.

Click to read more ...

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 11:16AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 08:34AM by stevem

QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh has apologised for pain caused to Mary Valley residents by a proposal to build a dam there…… But Ms Bligh was lukewarm on providing extra resources to the Mary Valley area now the dam was not going ahead. “What we have to do now is put our resources into the alternative sources of water,” she said. “The community in the Mary Valley has been the recipient of a number of services over the last three years, I think very appropriately.”

Click to read more ...

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 08:10AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 08:44AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 08:47AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 08:55AM by stevem

“REMEMBRANCE Day 2009 will be remembered for a long long time.” With those words, Alex Somlyay, whose Fairfax federal electorate once included Gympie, promised he would remember forever the integrity and moral courage of his political foe, Labor Environment Minister Peter Garrett. While Queensland Premier Anna Bligh remained a major exception, Mr Somlyay and Queensland Senator Barnaby Joyce were among the first to respond to Mr Garrett’s “No Dam” announcement, expressing within minutes their open admiration for Mr Garrett. Sen Joyce went further, saying Ms Bligh now has no choice but to step down as Premier and explain “why she pursued with such venom something so destructive and which would not have worked at all.”

Click to read more ...

Updated on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 10:24AM by stevem

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett will announce the government’s decision on Queensland’s controversial Traveston Crossing Dam on Wednesday afternoon. Mr Garrett has called a press conference in Brisbane at 1pm (AEST) to announce whether the billion-dollar plan to dam the Mary River in southeast Queensland will go ahead.

Click to read more ...