5 minute read
Reflect
Battle for Bylong Proves Power of Heritage
BY MEG QUINLISK, HISTORIAN AND HECTOR ABRAHAMS, ARCHITECT
Listing on the National Trust’s highlyrespected heritage register can play a vital role in supporting community-driven efforts to save places of historical, natural or cultural value, as demonstrated in the epic legal battle to stop mining developments in the beautiful Bylong Valley.
Since the first Landscape Conservation Area listing was added to the National Trust Register in 1974, the register has grown to include hundreds of landscapes, parks and gardens. Among them is the Bylong Valley, near Mudgee, which was added in 2013 because of its scenic qualities, prime agricultural land and scientific significance as the cradle of Natural Sequence Farming.
Lying within lands traditionally occupied by the Wiradjuri, Gamileroi and Wonnarua peoples, this is a Great Dividing Range landscape – one of many valleys that form the western edge of the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains. The Bylong River flows through undulating open pasture and alluvial lands on the valley floor. Wooded hills rise into the Growee and Mt Tah Tah ranges, with sandstone escarpments enclosing the view in most directions. It’s not only the landscape that has intrinsic significance. The home of numerous horse studs and fertile farms, the Bylong Valley is the birthplace of an internationally-recognised experiment in regenerative land management known as Natural Sequence Farming, which was initiated in the 1970s by racehorse breeder and grazier Peter Andrews on his property, Tarwyn Park. This method essentially slows down the flow of water through the landscape, reducing erosion, raising the water table and recharging the soil.
Taking on Goliath The Bylong community was shaken when the Korean Electrical Power Corporation (KEPCO) announced plans for a combined open-cut and underground coal mine in the valley, after purchasing exploration licences in 2010. During the next seven years, the South Korean energy company acquired about 13,000 hectares of land for the $2 billion project, as well as the Bylong general store and primary school, and the Upper Bylong Catholic church and cemetery.
By the time KEPCO arrived in the area, residents had already organised to protest an earlier proposal for the Mount Penny coal mine, seven kilometres north of the town. They fought the good fight against a regulatory system and entrenched interests that turned out to have been rigged against them.
Granted in 2009, the mining licence was cancelled five years later after an ICAC investigation identified corruption. In 2021, the NSW Supreme Court found Eddie Obeid, Moses Obeid and former NSW resources minister Ian Macdonald guilty of conspiracy.
Residents believed KEPCO’s even larger proposal to mine 75 square kilometres spelt destruction of the valley’s scenic qualities and its rural community. The company’s land grab led to the closure of the school and the general store. Even Bylong’s famous annual mouse races were cancelled.
The Bylong Valley Protection Alliance swung into action in what was described as a David and Goliath struggle. After years of meetings, submissions and reports, the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) rejected the proposal in September 2019, citing impacts on heritage values and climate change among the reasons for refusal. A judicial review in the NSW Land and Environment Court followed in August 2020. While the IPC declined to participate in the review (citing its need to remain impartial), the Alliance fought on, represented by the Environmental Defender’s Office. The appeal was rejected.
The NSW Court of Appeal unanimously rejected yet another appeal lodged by KEPCO in March 2021. Then in February this year the High Court of Australia refused to hear a further appeal against the IPC decision, finally bringing the epic legal battle to a close.
Battle not yet over In June, Treo Resources withdrew its application to carry out metals exploration in the Bylong Valley. According to media reports, the company made the decision after learning of the National Trust listing. “The company and its tenement managers, Rangott Mineral Exploration, were not aware that the Bylong Landscape Conservation Area was within and in close proximity to the exploration license application area. Had the Company been aware, it would not have proceeded,” a spokesperson told the Hunter Valley News.
But extraction industries are not finished with the Bylong Valley. In addition to the possibility that KEPCO, or another operator, might submit a revised proposal for coal mining, gas explorations are currently taking place, and an exploration licence for diamonds, rubies and sapphires has been granted. With its last legal avenue exhausted KEPCO must surely consider handing the valley back to the locals, as is now happening in other places. Last year, the New South Wales government paid $100 million to Chinese state-owned company Shenhua to withdraw its mining lease for the Watermark mine on prime agricultural land in the Liverpool Plains. Shenhua has since sold its 16,500 hectares to twelve local farmers and an offshore buyer.
An eleven-year battle in the Southern Highlands also came to a close last year when Hume Coal sold off the 1,300 hectares it had amassed for an underground mine at Berrima. The proposal was knocked back by the IPC in late 2021, citing potential impacts on groundwater, air quality and farming, following a protracted campaign by the Southern Highlands Coal Action Group and Battle for Berrima.
The National Trust made two submissions to the assessment process for the Hume Coal project. It was well placed to advocate, having listed the Village of Berrima Urban Conservation Area in 1976, the Exeter/Sutton Forest Landscape Conservation Area in 1998, and the Berrima Memorial Park 1914-1918 Landscape Conservation Area in 2000.
Another coal mine proposal currently before the IPC threatens the historic Hunter Valley homestead, Ravensworth, listed by the National Trust in 1976. Watch this space.
Find out more about those who contributed to the Bylong result at bit.ly/3dRaSjy
Opposite The beautiful Bylong Valley (photo by David South, Alamy.com).
Below Rylstone is a popular stop for people touring the area (photo by Ben Jeayes, Alamy.com).
