WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE TWEED RIVERNSW FARMERS WANT ANSWERS

By SARAH WATERS

WHEN it comes to growing sugar cane there isn’t much Murwillumbah farmer Robert Hawken doesn’t know.

Still, the humble and jovial farmer jokes that after 50 years he’s just learnt how to do it right.

As a third-generation farmer in the Tweed, he considers himself a relative newcomer to the district compared to some of his neighbour’s families who have been in the business since the mid 1880’s.

His knowledge and expertise tell a different story though.

Mr Hawken, who is Chairman of the Tweed River Canegrowers Association, will keenly explain the history of sugar cane in Tweed, including how it used to be sent by boat or train to the Colonial Sugar Refinery (CSR) refinery in Sydney 150 years ago.

“When CSR had trouble getting enough sugar to refine, because there were difficulties, that’s when they said we will go and build raw sugar mills and we will mill it and make the raw sugar onsite where the farms are,” Mr Hawken said.

“In 1878 they built Harwood Sugar Mill; Broadwater in 1880 and Condong Sugar Mill in 1882.”

Mr Hawken, along with all North Coast Canegrowers, are part-owners of Sunshine Sugar - one of the few

Australian companies that not only makes raw sugar but refines and sells sugar.

He is well-respected in the cane growing industry and his knowledge about farming on the Tweed landscape is vast.

The one thing, he said he would like to know more about though is the Tweed River and why it is not functioning like it used to.

Like many farmers in the Tweed Shire, he experienced substantial deterioration of his cane crop on his 280-hectare farm during the 2017 and 2022 floods.

Thirty-five per cent of his sugar cane crop (in tonnage) was lost in last year’s flood, which resulted in a financial loss of about $150,000.

But, compared to some of his neighbours and fellow farmers in the Richmond Valley he said he got off relatively lightly.

Mr Hawken, and a large contingent of the Tweed Shire community, now want to find out why the floods are getting bigger and what state the Tweed River is in.

“We know that the river does not have the efficacy that it used to have,” Mr Hawken said.

“We know that the flood heights are higher, and they are staying longer.

“Even though every flood is different, because a lot depends on what the ocean is doing … we are concerned that the primary function of the (Tweed) River to expel excess water into the ocean, isn’t being recognised and it is not doing its job.”

Mr Hawken said the 2017 flood was the biggest flood he had seen in his lifetime and then the flood in 2022 was one bigger than that. He accepts floods happen and knows every year the Tweed River has flooded since the 1950s, but he believes something is going on that is not adding up.

“We know there has been torrential rain in the past,” he said.

“In 1956 there was a similar type of flood when there was 25 inches of rain (about 600mls) in 24 hours, which is phenomenal sort of rain, but there was nothing like the flood height and devastation and inundation that occurred in 2017 or 2022.

“What we want to know is why are the floods getting bigger and bigger and why is the river not expelling water efficiently into the ocean.”

NSW Farmers and Tweed community members recently welcomed the news that a study of the Tweed River will be undertaken by Australia’s National Science Agency CSIROpending the Tweed Shire Council’s application is successful.

Council voted unanimously at their April 6 council meeting to contact state and federal governments and request an urgent CSIRO study on the Tweed River.

If approved, a comprehensive hydrological and hydrodynamic study will take place, funded by the National Emergency Management Agency Fund.

The Tweed community, backed by Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin, rallied together to push for a CSIRO flood study.

There remains a level of scepticism by some community members as to why the study wasn’t done sooner.

Mr Hawken primarily puts it down to lack of resources and said 2017 would have been the year to do a full study, but ‘hindsight is a wonderful thing.’

“What’s motivated the community here is that the Richmond is getting a CSIRO study - and they certainly need it,” he said.

“Tweed Shire Council have done studies in the past, but they weren’t complete studies.

“The CSIRO people have told us that you need a completely detailed study both hydrological and hydrodynamic to find out just what is happening and how it (the river) will work properly.”

There are many theories circulating on why the river isn’t working efficiently.

Mr Hawken has his own ideas, which he hopes will be confirmed.

He said development over the years including roads, bridges and buildings have changed the landscape and put pressure on the flood plains.

As a result, the Tweed River has been constricted in parts and developments have been detrimental to parts of the flood flow.

“The planning of development is very important and there needs to be very careful consideration when it comes to development.”

He also believes silt in the Tweed River is a major factor.

“We know for a fact that the water doesn’t get away off the landscape as quickly as it used to.

“There is a suspicion, which we can’t prove, but we hope the CSIRO study may confirm that even though we’re having torrential rain, the torrential rain that we’ve had in recent years - such as the big flood in 2017 and this even bigger flood in 2022 - even though we’ve had that type of rainfall back in 1956, it just seems that the flood peaks are getting higher.

“The big question in everyone’s mind is desilting the river.

“That’s the big push that’s on - the river is in a very sad state.”

If the CSIRO study is approved, it is estimated it will cost more than $2million and it could take up to two years before it commences, due to the other studies which CSIRO are currently undertaking.

Mr Hawken said the wait is well and truly worth it.

“All I can say is that the Tweed farmers, and many other community members, are really looking forward to the results of this CSIRO survey and are very hopeful that local, state, and federal governments, will be supportive of the recommendations that CSIRO make.

“If you have a professional survey and professionally formulated recommendations, I think there’s little option but for council and state government to implement them.”

In the meantime, Mr Hawken is back to work on the farm and doing his estimates for the year, which he predicts will be down.

He still finds debris from last year’s flood stuck among his crops, but his level of optimism about the future of farming in the Tweed remains as strong as ever.