SOMR’s Paddle with the Macleay River Festival:

It went smoothly with 18 boats registering including the Dragon Boat. An easy paddle past the Riverside Park up to Euroka Creek, where drinks and home made cakes were waiting. Paddlers could relax and chat on that beautiful part of the riverbank before heading back as a “flotilla” where they received a great reception from the Festival participants. The festival was short on river activities, with those that were there receiving a good response .

There was a lot of interest in our Information Stalls (both at Euroka Creek and Riverside Park) with some new members signing up

All in all we felt it was worth the effort and would be happy to repeat the exercise next Festival.

However we are planning to organise another one of our “serious” paddles, probably next Autumn so as not to clash with the River Festival in Spring. This will be from Bellbrook to Nook Creek, taking about 4 hours.

Other news:

• No news on the Hillgrove Mine front regarding the outcome of their EIS for a proposed underground mine at Clarks Gulley. Things seem to be progressing slowly as is the way with many stakeholders being involved.  A decision was to have been made in March, so we are conducting a ‘watch and wait’ position. Our enquiries will continue.
• We have purchased a copy of the Dunn & Bradshaw report on the structure and composition of the Hillgrove Company. We can make it available to anyone is interested in reading it.

We are working with Southern Cross University who are adding their research on the river to that of University of New England.

Related issues:

• We have put in a submission opposing the Baird government’s proposed land clearing laws and encourage anyone concerned about maintaining or improving our remaining vestiges of biodiversity in this state to join the campaign. You can ring Baird directly on 85745000 or email him through their web portal nsw.gov.au. For more information you can contact Dr Mehreen Faruqi MLC who is running the campaign. We feel this is relevant to our mission.
• Another relevant campaign is to stop the privatisation of bodies like ASIC. To sign the petition go to the GetUp link:https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/asic-privatisation/asic-petition/turnbull-s-attack-on-transparency

   Not much time left to act on these two causes, so don’t delay!