Book Review: A STRONG BROWN GOD .. the Mary River Diary

Author: Steven Lang

A Strong Brown God

Some seventeen years ago, in conversation with man from the state government’s Water Resources Commission, I made reference to Steven Lang who had just walked the length of the Mary River, from its source in the hills to the west of Maleny, to its mouth, beyond Maryborough, in the lee of Fraser island.

“Why would you want to do that?” was his response, and with those few words, I realised the chasm between his awareness of, and empathy with the Mary River, and my own.

In 1992, armed with the diaries of Stephen Simpson, the Crown Commissioner for Lands and Protector of Aborigines, and Christof Eipper a Lutheran priest who’d made the same trip almost 150 years previously, Steven Lang not only walked the river, but chronicled his journey and both his own thoughts and attitudes and those of people he encountered along the way.

In 1996 his musings and photographs became a play presented at Metro Arts in Brisbane. While the performance was excellent, its ephemeral nature always troubled me. Thus it was with some pleasure that I heard (as we were in the heat of the battle to save the Mary from Traveston Dam), that Steven was resurrecting “A Strong Brown God” in the form of a book.

And the eighteen year delay between walk and book has added some extra bonuses. Apart from Steven’s having become something of an acclaimed writer in the interim, with two novels to his credit, the book, for me, highlights some marked changes in attitude to the river.

When I was speaking to the Water Resources man, he was investigating a proposed sand and gravel operation, the sort that Steven found dotted along the length of the river, the dominant thinking of the time being that such operations were beneficial to “clean the river out a bit” with much of the sand being removed from the bed of the river itself.

In those days people seemed quite familiar with their “bit of the river” with not a great sense of connectedness with either upstream or down. I still have strong memories for the Mary River Congresses, commenced not long after Steven’s walk and organized by Peter Oliver, that drew together people from throughout the catchment, developing the whole sense of interconnectedness of a catchment.

I reflect that for the bulk of the time since Steven’s walk, the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee (MRCCC) has brought together many with an interest in the river and has fired and fuelled teams of water testers to visit the river and tributaries on a monthly basis to test water quality.

And who could overlook those who championed the Mary against calls for its damming, both in the early nineties at Cambroon, or more recently, at Traveston Crossing.

“A Strong Brown God” documents Steven’s walk with excellent photographs which may help those not so close to the river better understand the attachment of those who are, and the passion they hold for the river.

Steven’s book concludes that “ what the Mary Valley requires of me, and by extension, I suppose, of all of us who live within it, who benefit from its largesse, that we begin to sing it, which is another way of saying we learn to give it value, to actively love it.”

I’d like to think that in the time since Steven’s walk, all of us living along the Mary have learnt much, both of, and from the river, and that this will only grow richer with time.

Thank you Steven  not only for having the drive, back in 1992, to want to experience the river as a whole, from source to sea; not only for helping us to see it in a wider historical context, not only for being at the vanguard of a complete change in attitude to the river, but now for capturing all of that in this excellent book.

“A Strong Brown God, the Mary River diary” was launched to an appreciative audience of over 100 in Maleny a few moths back, and is available from all good bookshops or from the author at www.stevenlang.com.au for just $25.

Arkin during her 4-day kayak trip down the Mary River. image: Dan Lyons.

It’s often said that a picture paints a thousand words. Photographs of faces of anguish after the initial announcement, beautiful natural scenes that were so close to being lost forever and finally faces of joy and relief after the simple word, ‘no’ echoed throughout the Mary Valley.

Arkin Mackay’s images made the issue personal. They spawned far more than a thousand words. They brought us face to face with the product of government decisions.

And most importantly they reminded us that although a river can physically divide communities, rivers can also bring people together in a way not often seen before.

Ian Mackay, Arkin’s father, proudly reminds us about the importance of her work. (The ed)

When Arkin accepted her “Froggie” Environment Award for her role in the Mary River campaign, her acceptance speech was brief and humble.

“I'm absolutely besotted with my award,” said Arkin. “And I’m genuinely surprised to realise that what I thought was me just doing what I could for the campaign, has been really beneficial to quite a few people.” image: Jackie Smith.

“I can’t write submissions,” she said, “so I take photos.”

Arkin’s involvement in the Traveston campaign came after a decision, back in 2006, to make the then-parlous state of south-east Queensland’s dams more widely appreciated. This was before the Courier Mail had realised how simple it was to dispatch a photographer to Wivenhoe to produce cracked-mud images of its retreating water line.

It seemed a simple enough task, dig out photographs of dry dams and circulate them more widely, but it met a fundamental hitch. By and large, dams only get photographed when they’re full, so it’s perhaps not surprising that people come to think that a new dam comes already filled with water.

Arkin wasn’t daunted by the absence of images of dry dams and set out with her son Tanis and I, to visit and document failing dams across the state’s southeast, going as far north as the state’s most recent dam, Paradise Dam on the Burnett River.

What she found stretched the credibility of the notion that it was just population growth straining our water resources. Dam after dam was drying up, not just here but across the whole country, and it became pretty apparent that to think you were solving the water crisis by proposing another one was the height of folly.

Arkin’s graphic photographs appeared on her Stop Press website which she devoted entirely to “activism in pictures” and she went on to produce other albums.

One of the most memorable, “Something in the Water” tackled the residual phobia about drinking recycled water, highlighting the absurd assumption that water from rivers and dams is somehow of great quality, while recycled water, purified to a level far greater, is full of risks.

“Far from trying to scare people about the quality of the water people were drinking now, I just wanted to show the confidence we have in water treatment works to produce a safe product to drink,” she says.

Her 4-day kayak trip, with fellow photographer Chris van Wyk through the stretch of the Mary that would disappear under the dam gave a wider audience an understanding of what we stood to lose.

“Chris had taken these wonderful “algal-affro’ed” Mary River Turtle photos,”she explains,  “and I wanted to match these with shots of the vegetation in areas that could really only be readily accessed by canoe.”

As well, as these special albums, Arkin’s camera has been a regular chronicler of some of the highlights of the campaign, the rallies and actions, culminating in the jubilation at Peter Garrett’s Remembrance Day announcement.

“That was certainly a day the Mary Valley will never forget,” she says.

Arkin added a letter generator to the Stop Press website, ever expanded her mailing list, and played an important role in the more than 30,000 protest letters that went to politicians, both state and federal. She also produced posters, cards for both election campaigns and for fund-raising and was heavily involved in the photography for the Love, Mary book.

She has freely provided her photographs to reporters, writers and researchers and some of her Paradise Dam fishway photographs have been used in the Paradise Dam court case in the Federal Court.

Recognition of the role that Arkin and her camera have played in the campaign came just a few days after Peter Garrett’s “no” announcement, when she was contacted by the National Library asking permission to archive the Stop Press website as part of its history of the Traveston campaign.

Arkin protests that her effort was just one of many in fighting the dam.

The results, I think, say otherwise.

View Arkin’s images

"The Queensland government must focus on demand and supply management, rainwater tanks, water recycling and stormwater harvesting"

The crowd at Kandanga after Garrett announced his decision. Image: stoppress.com.au

Dam opponents say the Federal Government has done the “right thing” on Traveston Crossing dam.

The announcement of Peter Garrett’s “proposed decision” to can the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam has been welcomed by all those who have spent the last three and a half years examining the proposal and campaigning against it.

Save the Mary River Coordinating Group President, Glenda Pickersgill said she was pleased and relieved that the decision was based on  sound science.

“We wish to commend Minister Garrett and the staff of his Department for their professional and scrupulous conduct on this issue and urge him to hold his position. This decision is consistent with the Federal Government’s policies on water, climate change and biodiversity. It is the right decision,” Ms Pickersgill said.

“Although we need to wait for the final decision, we will shift our focus to making sure the community is involved in determining the use of over 14000 ha or so of land which has been purchased since the dam was announced by Queensland Water Infrastructure Pty Ltd, the company created to build the dam.”

Tears of joy. Image: stoppress.com.au

“A recent survey we conducted showed that members of the Mary River community want their voices heard. They want a future for the region based on sustainable agricultural industries which operate in harmony with the internationally significant biodiversity of the Mary River. We expect the Queensland Government to support this process. As a community, we look forward to working with the Federal Government on implementing their existing plans designed to protect the Mary River catchment’s biodiversity. This includes the biosphere managements plans for Noosa and Great Sandy Biosphere.”

“SEQ has escaped the construction of a wasteful, ineffective piece of infrastructure with this decision. We encourage Premier Bligh to accept this proposed decision and pursue cheaper and more reliable alternatives,” said the secretary of Save the Mary River Coordinating Group, David Kreutz.

“Examples include raising Wivenhoe dam wall which needs to be done for safety reasons anyway, implementation of stormwater harvesting and reinstatement of water rebates and incentives for commercial and domestic water efficiency particularly in new developments. Desalination using renewable energy could provide additional water security if needed.”

“Earlier this week we wrote to Minister Wong outlining these options, many of which have already been recommended by Queensland Government departments. We have previously brought them to the attention of the Queensland Government. It is time that they were seriously considered.”

The Mary River. Now safe from the proposed dam. Image: Arkin Mackay stoppress.com.au

“We thank all the people from throughout Australia and internationally who have supported our campaign. We encourage the broader community to join us in the celebration of this decision in Kandanga tonight and look forward to a “final decision” in the near future,” said Ms Pickersgill.

***

For all the latest images: stoppress.com.au

Further information: Save the Mary

UPDATE: After the announcement was made various news outlets have been running hot with the story. Many online comments are now asking: What’s next? If no dam, what should the State Government do?

A Channel 10 poll showed that three-quarters of those responding to the telephone poll did not want desalination plants.

Perhaps more efficient use of existing water supplies for starters?

Standing in ankle deep mud in a field in Switzerland, cold rain drizzling down upon my head and shoulders, it was the early 90s, and his words had me suddenly missing my homeland and yearning for its wildlife, the waft of eucalyptus on a summer’s day, its bright sunshine, its people.

And now in 2009 thousands of people wait for Peter Garrett to invoke not a passionate yearning for home, but a decision that may in fact save their homes, their communities, their lifestyles. And this time they don’t want a song or a live performance, they simply want one word. No.

“The hardest years, the darkest years, the roarin’ years, the fallen years, these should not be forgotten years”. Words that will ring in the ears of any Mary Valley resident these days.

“It reeks of politics, signatures stained with tears, who can remember, we’ve got to remember”.

These are just some of the words Peter Garrett sang proudly in his song Forgotten Years.  However it’s hard to imagine any Mary Valley resident forgetting the years since the proposed dam was announced.

And now the decision rests firmly in the hands of Garrett and according to some, so does the future of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) which the federal minister must consider when assessing the proposed dam.

Murray-Darling kayaker and river campaigner Steve Posselt, wants the federal Environment Minister to reject the Queensland Government’s dam proposal.  And he has definitely had a different perspective of the river compared with those who made the decision to propose a dam in the first place.

Kayaker and river campaigner Steve Posselt. Image: stoppress.com.au

“On my ‘Don’t Murray the Mary’ trips, I’ve tried to fight my way through impenetrable masses of hyacinth on the Brisbane river below its dams, and then I’ve had the pleasure of descending the full length of the Mary, as it winds down to its estuary and the Great Sandy Strait.

“I learned of the riffles and vegetation essential to lungfish breeding, and the sand banks essential to the Mary River turtle. I also learned that our lungfish is unique, and native to only two rivers in the whole world.

“When I paddled all the way down the coast from Brisbane to Sydney to deliver over 3000 letters of opposition to the dam to Peter Garrett on the steps of the Opera house, I encountered many people who were dismayed at the threat to this iconic species.

“Since then thousands more letters have gone to Peter Garrett and other ministers, and now Mr Garrett very plainly holds the future of the Mary River in his hands. In fact the future of the whole EPBC Act may be tied up in this decision.”

Let’s just hope Mr Garrett remembers that “these will not be forgotten years”. His decision should be a simple one if the relevant Act is followed.

A simple ‘no’ will mean the former Oils lead singer will be remembered as a man of principle, a man who understands and respects our environment and importantly a man who believes in the rights of his fellow citizens.  A man who still believes in the words he sang decades ago.

But politics, it appears, always tends to muddy the waters and dampen even the most vocal rock star.

Several hundred canoeists and supporters turned out to show their energy for battle was undiminished. Image Arkin Mackay stoppress.com.au

Three years to the day since Peter Beattie’s shock announcement of plans to build the dam, several hundred canoeists and supporters turned out to a “floatilla” to show their energy for battle was undiminished. Paddlers were shown lungfish breeding sites and turtle nesting beaches before taking part in ceremony, celebrations, speeches and entertainment.

“Today we’re celebrating the resilience of our community and the wider community,” said Save the Mary River Coordinating Group President Glenda Pickersgill.

“We’re celebrating that we have dug our heels in and mounted a very strong case against damming this river.”

“Peter Beattie may have called it ‘hardly pristine’, Anna Bligh may say it’s been damaged by farming, but the real test has to be what lives in there now and with a number of unique species, this is pretty impressive. International turtle experts are even coming to regard the Mary River as ‘ the turtle river’.

The truth is that the dam presently proposed is much smaller than Peter Beattie originally envisaged. When it became apparent that it would require federal EPBC (Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act) approval, the proposal was split into two stages. This means that the yield of the proposed Stage 1 is less than a third of the original proposal while the costs have more than doubled.

“This is why Premier Bligh was so keen not to make mention of the dam at her recent election launch.  The irony is that as soon as she was elected, she claimed a mandate to build it. Many in Brisbane remember her ‘delay’ announcement and think it’s on hold,” Ms Pickersgill said.

This was the third “floatilla” on the river, and was the biggest yet. After the first, in 2006, Greens Senator Bob Brown told opponents to be prepared for a long battle. When he visited the area in 2007, Roberto Epple of the European Rivers Network said to expect maybe a seven-year battle. From the looks of it, both pieces of advice have been well-heeded.

Dam opponents recently heard of a ‘milestone’ legal challenge to the Paradise Dam fishway which will be heard in the Federal Court in September. The case, mounted by the Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council and a coalition of Environment groups is significant as the Paradise fishway is intended as the model for use on Traveston Dam should it go ahead.

“We’ve already won this on the science,” says Glenda,  “and it’s defeating itself on the economics. Sometime soon the penny will drop for this government and they’ll realise they can’t cry poor to nurses and teachers and public servants wanting better, fairer, conditions while they pour more money into the black hole that is the Traveston Crossing Dam proposal.”

In most cases, dam opposition has invaded every aspect of life in the Mary Valley - this poignant black bean pod boat is an entry in the Moy Pocket Brown Water Classic. Image: Arkin Mackay stoppress.com.au

Since 1988 the Brownwater Classic at Moy Pocket has lured both locals and those involved in the environment movement to a patch of riverine forest near Pickering Bridge on the Mary River.

It’s been a celebration of the river, in particular the blackbean tree, for it is the seed pods of this tree that provide the raw material for the tiny craft that enter the prestigious race. The Trophy, the Numabulla Cup (gold on plywood) is highly coveted.

In addition to the main race, there is a candle-lit evening event as well as a hotly contested rock-skipping contest.

This being the twentieth such event, the Commodore of the Moy Pocket Yacht Club is keen to invite past participants (as well as any who have consistently missed it) to this year’s memorable event on Saturday July 11 from 1pm.

Boats must be biodegradable and can be constructed on-site before the race which is scheduled for 3pm.  All boatbuilding material is provided. Barbecues and fires are also on hand but all food and drink requirements need to be brought along by participants, as well as chairs and warm clothing.

For enquiries contact the Commodore, Ian Mackay (07) 54460124 evenings.

(Pickering Bridge is three kilometres along Moy Pocket Road after it leaves the Kenilworth –Eumundi Road at Gheerulla Hall.  Gheerulla Hall is about 24 kilometres from Eumundi, or eight kilometres from Kenilworth.)

Capitalism was hailed as the victor after Gorbachev brought perestroika to the former Soviet Union in the late 80s. Since that time, the West’s confidence in its own economic system has grown. Confidence that, until recently, had bordered on arrogance. Capitalism has allowed greed to flourish, to such an extent, that we are now witnessing a meltdown of a system, with global consequences.

No doubt the economy will return to some sense of normality in the future, but the lessons should not be forgotten. Any system that requires constant growth to survive on a planet with finite resources, is surely doomed to fail time and time gain. Any system that promotes greed before common sense — before the well-being of people and our environment — cannot be sustained.

The residents of the Sunshine Coast have felt the impacts of greed for decades. The State Government has, and is, insisting on more growth, with developers cheering them on and as a result the Coast constantly fights to protect its biggest asset — the natural environment. The economy and lining the wallets of a select few, it seems, is more important than even the basic fundamentals of democracy. Even if the economy and its architects have been proven to be faulty and lacking in principle.

Residents on the Sunshine Coast want a focus on sustainability not development. Image Greg Hardwick

Residents of the Coast, and its elected council have made it clear that they want and need a sustainable future. The Sunshine Coast can lead by example and display to the rest of the country, that it is possible. We have the talent right here in our own backyards, as was on display at the recent Sunshine Coast Environment Awards. It’s time the government was reminded that it is the servant of the people. Voters already understand that growth must have its limits.

The hopes and wishes of residents in the Mary Valley have been blatantly ignored by a government determined to build a dam, regardless of the impacts — be they economic, social, environmental, or ethical. Recently, as our lead story displays, a victory was won with a delay in proceedings of the Traveston Crossing dam. It’s now time for common sense to return and for some human decency to be restored so that the entire idea is scrapped.

Econews has long been an opponent of the dam, based on the wishes of the people, sound scientific facts, and the rule of law. We can no longer stand by and let an elected government sustain an ideology of growth at all costs. A government that has stopped listening to the very people that fund its wages.

Dam opponents happy to see some hope. Image Arkin Mackay.

It was a surprise announcement, from left field, as they say. The Premier on the morning news stating that Traveston Dam may be delayed by “at least several years” and that water re-cycling was in doubt. The Courier Mail would call it “Gone to Water” while the Gympie times led with “Dam’s End is Bligh”.

It seemed to show the first backing away from a plan that was hastily announced on the eve of the previous state election and it looked like great cause for celebration. Media and campaigners converged on Traveston Crossing and spirits were high. It was a clear sign that the dam proposal wouldn’t have passed the federal approvals process.

The Premier took a totally different angle, pointing out that 85 per cent of the area was degraded by farming and that substantial mitigation works needed to be carried out, presumably both upstream and downstream of the dam area, before it might get approval. By next day, though, she was backing away from the “delay” statement, saying that the EIS should still be with the federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett by next April as planned.

While it was locals hastily gathered together on the banks of the Mary River that day, the case has well and truly entered the national environment arena. As well as peak national conservation groups, the Senate has now passed three motions relating to Traveston, the latest by Queensland Liberal Senator Ian McDonald to scrap it completely. Media reports now consistently refer to the “controversial” Traveston Dam proposal.

Confusing any thoughts of a government exit strategy on the dam, though, is the fact that Queensland Water Infrastructure, a wholly government-owned company has run well ahead of the pack in preparations for the dam. An aggressive purchasing strategy has seen many properties sold to QWI .

“It was as if they were totally thumbing their noses at even the possibility that the Federal Government might reject this proposal,” said one.   “We were told it was a definite goer and that if we wanted the best price we should sell now.”

Businessmen report similar experiences, with a host of seminars organised, offering opportunities arising from the construction of the dam. Even the local Mayor, a self-professed opponent of the dam seemed to have become swayed toward inevitability by the insistence of QWI, and had even started to talk about community off-sets.

In the local community QWI strategically targeted its financial largesse. The Gympie Muster reportedly received some $100 000 in funding which many saw as little more than a bribe, especially when Muster star John Williamson was advised he couldn’t wear his Mary River Turtle T-shirt on stage.

Coinciding with, and probably precipitating, the Premier’s “delay” announcement, was the release of several damning independent reports originally commissioned by the Federal Department of Environment and subsequently tabled in state parliament by Gympie MP David Gibson.  The reports simply gave more credence to what opponents have been saying all along.

When Peter Beattie referred to the Mary as “hardly pristine” and when the present Premier points to the environmental degradation from farming, they conveniently overlook two key points. The real test of environmental degradation has to be measured in terms of what still manages to live in and near the river. With several unique species, the Mary scores well in that department. The other is that the least degraded section of river is precisely that part proposed for inundation. Cattle may indeed trample some Mary River Turtle eggs, as was claimed in Parliament, but the Traveston area shows the best recruitment of juveniles.

It was all eerily reminiscent of Harry Butler loosing all environmental credibility when he entered the Franklin Dam debate, declaring that the Franklin wasn’t really wilderness, not far short of Premier Gray’s labelling it a “leech-infested ditch”.

So Queenslanders approach a state election not really sure whether there is a delay or not and even less certain as to what it means for the Mary. They seem to have a much better grasp than the Premier, though, of the fundamental tenet of conservation biology, that of the imperative of conserving areas of high-quality habitat and are encouraged that the federal government seems prepared to stand up to the “bull at a gate’ approach of the Queensland government.

Persisting with the hastily conceived folly of Traveston, is simply pouring good money after bad.

The Mary River. Image Arkin Mackay.

Professor Angela Arthington of the Australian Rivers Institute and Water Co-operative Research Centre has recently released an excellent and timely paper “Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, threatened by a new dam”.

The paper draws from a number of sources to provide an overview of lungfish distribution, biology and requirements as well as assessing anticipated impacts of a dam at Traveston Crossing.

Peter Garrett also commissioned several studies which were tabled in state parliament in late November. Despite the Premier’s claims to the contrary, the findings by Associate Professor Walker, Professor Bunn and Dr Kuchling were scathing of the dam proposal.

They determined that the part of the Mary River that would be inundated by the dam contains important habitat for the Mary River Turtle, Mary River Cod, Australian Lungfish and the Southern Barred Frog that is critical to their ongoing survival. These experts also advised that it would be highly unlikely that the dam would provide suitable foraging and breeding habitat to support the self-sustaining populations of these species and were critical of many of the mitigation and offset measures proposed by the proponent.

Dr Kuching’s report on the Mary River Turtle says the proposed dam would “modify, destroy, remove, isolate and decrease the availability and quality of habitat” and likely cause a disruption of the breeding cycle of about 50 per cent of the population in the area. The report claims that mitigation measures like nesting bank relocations are unlikely to fully compensate for the lost habitat, and the planned Freshwater Species Conservation Centre would be unlikely to be beneficial because the centre is dependent on the construction of the Traveston Crossing Dam “which would eliminate the majority of the best remaining juvenile habitat in the Mary River.”

The reports can be read here.