Tag: Daintree

I was the superintendent of Mossman Hospital in 1983 as the Daintree blockade, led by Mike Berwick, was unfolding. While the Blockade was ultimately unsuccessful and a new road was carved from Cape Tribulation to Bloomfield, the Blockade led to the World Heritage listing of the Daintree Rainforest, limiting its development and totally preventing logging..Fast forward to 2020 – the year of COVID-19….The Bloomfield Track remains a windy unsealed road with steep sections. For an undisclosed reason, the new Council has re-opened the issue of building a bridge.  I don’t understand how this became a priority….

A coalition of organisations made up of Douglas Shire Sustainability Group, the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre, the Queensland Conservation Council, The Wilderness Society and the Australian Conservation Foundation have collectively written to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to raise concerns about development threats to the Daintree Lowland Rainforest…

There is something inherently human in the practice of ritual.From the sacred rituals of spirituality and worship, to the obsessive urgings of bedtime door-lock checks, rituals bookend the important cycles in our lives and they reinforce the gravity of occasions and locations for which our high regard must never become diminished.

A “Save the Daintree, Again” campaign is being launched by a coalition of local and national conservation groups who see the push for a bridge over the Daintree River, coastal road upgrade and reticulated electricity as a threat to the areas’ Outstanding Universal Values, the foundation of its World Heritage Listing.

Contrary to the Douglas Shire Council’s claim in its Daintree Crossings Options Paper that “no significant environmental or hydrological studies (are) required to obtain approvals (for a bridge)”, the Qld Department of Environment and Science have informed DouglasNews.Network that any impact on the National Park and World Heritage Area “….would require thorough assessment under the relevant State and Commonwealth legislation”.

Terrain and the Wet Tropics Management Authority are calling on Wet Tropics teens to draw inspiration from the likes of David Attenborough, Greta, Dr Karl and local environmentalist Brian “Rossy” Ross and put Wet Tropics environmental issues in the spotlight.

“Many years ago, I put a petition to the Douglas Shire Council to build more speed bumps to Cape Tribulation to protect the cassowaries and other wildlife, and to slow the traffic and speeding. This was very successful.
Imagine what it would be like if a bridge went across. Endless traffic….”

Questions about the legality, process and cost of Douglas Shire Council’s decision to suspend the Daintree ferry contract and to explore a bridge remain unanswered… but will naturally surface given that this was the biggest contract ever awarded by the Douglas Shire.

Learn why a proposed Daintree Bridge may saddle the Douglas Shire Council and its ratepayers with over $60 million in debt…

The Daintree River Crossing Options Assessment Report, while meeting basic Council requirements, is woefully inadequate for such an environmentally sensitive area, and will undoubtedly receive national and international scrutiny and criticism.”