Chris and Peggy Vavasour
We bought our house less than a year ago, having exercised due diligence. We determined that the supposed last appeal by Gloucester Resources, the owners of the proposed Rocky Hill mine, was almost certain to be dismissed. It was. We thought that any lingering worries that we had about the proposed mine were over.
We had no idea that GRL would further pursue their plan.
We have a modest bed and breakfast business known as Farthings. Virtually all our guests comment on the beauty of the valley and its quiet, pristine appearance. The mine would kill that. Nobody is going to stay in a B&B on the edge of a coalmine!
To approve this appeal would seriously impinge on our quiet, peaceful retirement lifestyle and enormously reduce the value of our property.
Deborah Faull
My husband John and I moved to Gloucester from Sydney 40 years ago because we wanted to live and raise a family in a clean, country environment. This beautiful valley delivered, and we have been blessed with a wonderful life here. We raised four children and two of them have come home as they too were seeking the life they grew up with, to live and work in a beautiful place with fresh air, clean waterways and a vibrant community.
Fourteen years ago, John and I planted grapevines and started a small business called Faulls Ridge Wine. Our grapes are sent away to be made into three varieties of wine which we sell to our local business houses, townspeople and the large number of tourists that visit Gloucester regularly and come to our farm for a wine taste. Over the last 14 years, our business has grown and we have spent a considerable amount of time, effort and money to build this tourist venture. The Rocky Hill coalmine will have an incredibly negative effect on our business. People come to this region because of the beauty, serenity and clean environment; they certainly will not come if that coal mine comes to town.
Jeanette Spagnolo and Catherine Clarke
We have friends who regularly come from Sydney to visit just for the views and the clean air. We love sitting on the deck almost any time of the day enjoying watching the bird life, alpacas and ever changing views as the light moves and changes on the ranges.
If the mine should go ahead, these things will change. People won’t want to come to spend time in an area which is polluted visually, with noise from blasting and increased traffic and the potential for unpleasant odours from the mining operations as well as dirt and dust blowing from the coal face.
The life which we have built here will change for the worse both superficially and in a more long-term and significant way.
Vicki Coombes
I have raised my children in this beautiful clean country town and appreciated the benefits that clean air, water and open spaces can provide.
The Gloucester valley is a fertile agricultural area with huge scenic value for myself, and also for the community and people from afar as they travel through the district.
The underlying syncline, which holds the coal beds deep within its folds, would require an open cut mine up to 190m deep. The removal of the overburden would create excessive noise and dust to the main Gloucester township as wind often funnels up the valley.
I do not want this sight to fill our beautiful valley. If the Rocky Hill mine is approved on our town’s boundary we will sell our properties and leave.
Naomi Kilby
The NSW government says tourism in Gloucester contributes $51m annually. This number is important because it shows that tourism is already a significant industry to our town. It also means that over the same 21-year life span as the proposed Rocky Hill mine, tourism would deliver a minimum of $1.1bn.
My business is Barrington Outdoor adventure centre and employ over 50 people each year who pay rent, shop locally and support the local economy.
My business is already feeling the impact of climate change. Rainfalls that were once predictable are no longer so. Rivers are no longer full and the number of days that we can operate river tours is increasing each year. Should the coal project proceed, tourists will stop visiting due to the noise, dust and industrial ugliness that will destroy their visitor experience.
We have spoken to our clientele and the overwhelming reason that they choose this region is for its natural beauty, clean air, clean water and for the peace and quiet. A 10% drop in customers will make my business marginal. A 20% drop will send me out of business. And this is just from the climate change impacts.
We cannot afford the negative impacts of Rocky Hill which will destroy Gloucester’s tourism image with 21 years of mine blasts, dust clouds, constant rumbling of heavy machinery and the destruction of our scenic beauty.
Suzanne Hedditch
I have lived in Gloucester for the past 40 years. I am passionate about the town and its people. Not a day goes by without finding something to appreciate and think how lucky I am to live here. Whether it’s a sunset, the green rolling hills fresh from a rainshower, a view down the valley from a climb up the Bucketts. I constantly delight in the beauty of this place I call home.
To even contemplate the thought of my beautiful home being desecrated by a mine so close to town, scarring the very valley I love, is something incomprehensible.
I’m the owner of four tourism cottages. My guests are after unique experiences, something that gives them a sense of wellbeing, something that inspires them. What would a mine close by do? Surely take away the very thing these people are searching for.
A mine so close to town will kill this image for Gloucester.
Wendy Hughes
On August 9 1972, we disembarked The Fairstar in Sydney to spend a couple of weeks with my brother near Gloucester. We had decided to migrate to Australia from our heavily industrialised and mining region of England. The Gloucester region was so much more beautiful than we could ever imagine – we were in awe of the stunning mountain ranges, rivers you could swim in, remote areas you could walk in safely and the warmth and friendliness of country people.
We chose to settle in Barrington, where my husband set up business and my parents purchased the Barrington Store. They did a roaring trade because they were open when other businesses were closed - especially with campers, kayakers and those visiting the Barrington Tops.
In 1996 the TRA (Tourism Research Australia) stats showed a tourism value of $9m to the Gloucester economy; when I retired in 2017 the value was $51m – a slow but sustainable growth. There were approximately 11 tourism accommodation providers in 1996, there is now well over 60. Camping on the beautiful riversides has experienced extraordinary growth.
I have been involved in initiating and continuing a program to encourage people to relocate to Gloucester to live over the last 15 years and this has been very successful. The reason people decide to relocate here is the visual amenity, clean air and a vibrant community.
Visitors to Gloucester love the natural beauty of the area, particularly accessing the world heritage Barrington Tops. Many of them would say that coalmines would ruin the aesthetics of the area and that they would not come back again should mining occur.
As with hundreds of others, we have stayed and we have contributed. We love our community, Gloucester is our home town, and most of all we want it to remain a healthy, safe environment for our grandchildren and for all of those who continue to live here – just the way we have experienced it.
Michael Manikas
Minyang nyura wubaliyn? Nyura yiigu marala barraygu. Gathay nyiirun.
This translates to welcome, what are you doing? You have come here. Let us go together.
My name is Michael Manikas. I stand here today to speak on behalf of all the descendants of Jack Cook. Jack was also known by his traditional name of Malakut which is the Katang word for Lightning. Jack was also known as the King of the Barrington Blacks
… the last of the traditionally initiated elders from the region prior to the family being displaced from Gloucester.
Jack realised with the displacement of the Aboriginal people from the area the traditional ways were ending therefore he buried the King Stone on the Bucketts, because it was regarded as “the most sacred tribal ground”. This King Stone was similar in significance to Uluru to the local people of Gloucester. By allowing the proposed mine to proceed it would destroy a significant part of the chance we, the descendants of Jack and Jessie Cook, have in understanding the history of our family. Culture is a key component to addressing many of the health issues currently experienced by Aboriginal Australians.
Importantly connection to ‘country’ is a foundation of culture. There is irrefutable evidence regarding our family’s strong connection to the land in that area.
From the King Stone and the initiation routes, the scar trees, burial sites and birthing sites. All these locations are scattered though the Gloucester area and proposed mining site or adjacent to the site. Many cannot be identified due the sacred nature of the sites. If the mine progresses all this history will become a mystery to the descendants of Jack and Jessie Cook.
Over the last 10 to 15 years, our family, which currently numbers over 700 living individuals, has been coming together from all over Australia on a regular basis back on that land. Kinship groups are beginning to develop, many of us are learning to speak the language and as a result of reconnecting on that land we are collectively rediscovering our culture. This land is becoming the gathering place for generations of the Cook family to enable us all to complete the jigsaw puzzle of our family history and share it with the younger generations of the family.
Knowledge has been retained by many of our elders and we are in the early phases of capturing and collating that knowledge. We’re learning where the sacred ceremonial sites were for women’s business and men’s business, along with other important areas. The mine’s own environmental report highlights finding important artefacts around the area. We just don’t know the full extent of the importance of this area.
If the mine goes ahead, the family will lose some of our connection with each other and with this place as the land will be destroyed. The culture and connection we have been rebuilding will be once again lost.