Tag: Cataract Gorge

Greed and the Gorge

Posted on August 31, 2019 by - Diary

My involvement in the community-led campaign opposing failed timber company Gunns Limited’s pulp mill, planned for Tasmania’s Tamar Valley, was the reason for establishing this website, and blog, in the first place. In addition to hopefully attracting some more writing work, (hello, any editors out there reading this!) my aim was to prepare the ground for a book about the pulp mill campaign. Writing the book has proved slow going though, not least because this being Tasmania, there’s always a need to campaign about some inappropriate and controversial development somebody wants to build. And now the activism gene has been activated there’s no shortage of environmental and social justice issues and campaigns to be fired up about. By default I also seem to have become the go to person when it comes to being involved in Tasmanian actions, or at least helping to spread the word.

As previously mentioned there are already controversial proposals to have cable cars up Mt Wellington/kunyani, mining and logging threatening the Tarkine/takayna, and an east coast threatened by the massive Dolphin Sands resort, as well as an expansion of the salmon farming industry.

These projects do make me wonder about the intelligence of those in all levels of government. Too many appear unable to recognise the priceless value of Tasmania’s natural environment, and that its attraction to the thousands who come here to visit, is precisely because it’s relatively unspoiled and undeveloped, and wild. The opportunity to experience nature in the raw is what draws people here. Tasmania’s point of difference is the wilderness, history, boutique food and craft industries, a vibrant and growing arts culture, and an enviable sense of community in towns and cities free of skyscrapers, and where people can breathe freely, and aren’t obliged to live or work 15 floors up.
It’s the ruggedness of the wilderness, the forests, and the unique wildlife that draw people to Tasmania’s shores. So it’s been both disappointing and frustrating to reflect that a good chunk of my year so far has been the need – yet again – to take up arms, (metaphorically speaking) on behalf of one of these special places.

This time it’s Launceston’s Cataract Gorge that is under siege. Two developers with very different agendas, but with equally inappropriate and intrusive projects want a piece of it. Both will threaten the peace, tranquillity and integrity of an iconic public space that is deeply valued and loved, not just by the locals but also by the thousands who visit it every year from all around the world. Few people are not blown away by the fact such an amazing and accessible place exists in the middle of a city. So it’s not at all surprising tourism publications and surveys consistently rate the Gorge as one of the top three must-see Tasmanian destinations.


No wonder then a significant number of people in the community are passionately opposed to the idea of 24 eight-seater gondolas circling the comparatively compact Gorge area 24/7. Given they will be fully enclosed and see-through glassed gondolas, whose design removes any possibility of privacy for people below walking, swimming or relaxing on the ground, it’s unsurprising there’s a mixture of concern and outrage such a development could be approved by the council.

Also of concern is the already-approved 39 metre Gorge Hotel, which will dominate Launceston’s skyline, and overshadow the Gorge from its controversial central location. One that is already challenged by increased traffic flow, and potential structural instability given the site’s proximity to the river.

Two campaigns that are arguably driven by greed and ambition on the part of developers, and with little consideration for the broader community who will be obliged to live with them. Neither seem to have any genuine appreciation and understanding of Tasmania’s unique place in a world where people can pause, catch their breath, and reconnect to a slower pace of life in a more natural world free from noise, crowds, and the tyranny of technology.
But while the writing pace on the book has slowed, it certainly hasn’t stopped. I’m just having to revise the timeline for finishing it.

Finally underway

Posted on July 29, 2019 by - Diary

So much for the best laid plans, and all that optimism post last year’s writers’ festival. While the book writing hasn’t exactly gone according to script, a serious start has been made and I can say, with hand firmly on heart, it is underway even if it’s not progressed as far as I both anticipated and intended.

The bread-and-butter writing obviously takes precedence, and there are other commitments – some might say distractions – in life, like federal elections for example, which despite all the predictions and polls, (and the efforts of those on the left side of the political divide) saw the Coalition returned to government. Before you ask, no, I’m not a fan. Not at all. If the pulp mill campaign did nothing else it made me far more politically aware, and left me totally disgusted with both the major parties in the context of the pulp mill project, and Labor and the Liberals’ continued irrational support for it.

During those years I found my tribe in the Greens, and they remain my tribe, along with other organisations and groups whose focus leans towards environmental protection, animal welfare, social justice and conservation. The down side to the ever-increasing need to support all the campaigns being run by these groups, and that require championing, is the time it takes. Ensuring Queensland’s Adani coalmine is ditched, Tasmania’s Tarkine/takayna is protected, and inappropriate developments are not approved at Cambria Green or Lake Malbena, or – most recently – in Launceston’s Cataract Gorge are all too often distractions from the main game, and I realise I’m guilty at failing both to ignore them, or say ‘No’ to requests for assistance in promoting them.

Most recently it’s the invitation, (persuasion more like) to be involved in the committee formed to oppose the Gorge Skyway proposal that has dominated a bit, despite my best efforts to distance myself a little. Fingers crossed, this will not be a lengthy fight to keep the Gorge free of the proposed 24, 8-seater see-through glass gondolas circling this unique and special place that was gifted to the people of Launceston over 100 years ago, and is therefore managed by the Council.


As I said in my recent letter to the Examiner – that was strangely published two weeks in a row:
“Numerous surveys, polls and tourism publications nominate the Cataract Gorge as Launceston’s ‘number-one tourist attraction’. And rightly so, consistently voting a visit to the Gorge as among the top three places to go in Tasmania.  Also consistent is why it rates so highly: the Gorge’s relatively unspoiled and natural environment. Yes, there has been some relatively low-key development in the Gorge since European settlement, so to describe it as ‘pristine’ isn’t exactly true either. But times change, and so do perceptions and values, and it’s pretty clear from speaking with some of those Gorge visitors, that it’s these all-too-rare unspoiled and natural features that are what people really appreciate and enjoy. They’re blown away that we have such a stunning and accessible natural public space that combines park, garden, wilderness, swimming area, Indigenous heritage, and playground, all together in the middle of a city. People value the fact the Gorge doesn’t resemble an overcrowded theme park, and that it’s not been over-developed. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a unique point of difference, and it would be unwise to ignore it. Not all development is good – and the idea of multiple gondolas coming from every which way, that must inevitably intrude into the peace, privacy and serenity of the Gorge experience not only risks causing unnecessary social division, it also risks coming at an enormous economic cost for our community if all those tourists that currently come to experience that unique natural experience choose to bypass Launceston, and go elsewhere.”


Here’s hoping this will prove to be a short-lived and successful campaign so my attention can soon return to my own writing project, before ongoing commitments to next year’s Tamar Valley Writers’ Festival start to seriously take over.
#handsoffourgorge