UPPER Hunter couple Julia Mullins and Colin Imrie have made NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell an offer they hope he can’t refuse.
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They will gift the state 10 hectares of stunning Goulburn River waterfront land, in return for government support to reverse a land ‘‘gift’’ to Moolarben Coal in 2010 that many fear could threaten iconic Upper Hunter gorge site The Drip, near Ulan, and the river that is the main western tributary to the Hunter River.
Ms Mullins and Mr Imrie have offered their land, lot 51, as a vital bridge between the Goulburn River National Park and a thin strip of land above The Drip that Moolarben Coal has proposed as national park, in return for Moolarben converting a larger portion of its lot 45, above The Drip, to national park. Moolarben has proposed that half of lot 45 be made a state conservation area, allowing coalmining.
In 2010, the company was controversially allowed to convert a Crown lease over the land to freehold title without public consultation.
Concern for The Drip’s future and the potential impact of coalmining on the upper reaches of the Goulburn River, increased significantly after the Newcastle Herald last year exposed major subsidence in the Mount Sugarloaf State Conservation Area and botched remediation efforts.
‘‘Moolarben Coal is planning an exploration drilling program directly to the north of The Drip,’’ Hunter Environment Lobby member Bev Smiles said.
‘‘There is limited knowledge about the ground water systems feeding The Drip and base flow to the Goulburn River, which is the vital main western tributary to the Hunter River. This mining activity puts them at risk.’’
The Mullins-Imrie family has owned its property, Gleniston, through which the Goulburn River flows, since 1973.
In 1984, when the Goulburn River National Park was proposed, the family gifted 800metres of river frontage land to the state downstream from The Drip in the belief that land above The Drip would also be included.
The family was now offering this other lot ‘‘on condition that the area proposed by Moolarben as state conservation area, including all of The Drip lot 45, is transferred to national park as well’’.
‘‘This is the only way to ensure long-term protection and future public access to this special place,’’ they said.
In December, Nationals MP for Orange, Andrew Gee, disputed a Moolarben statement that it had reached agreement with the government on The Drip’s future as a state conservation area. There was a ‘‘big difference’’ between protections afforded by a national park and a state conservation area, Mr Gee said.
Moolarben, owned by Yancoal, said it was working with the government to create ‘‘three significant conservation areas’’ covering 700hectares surrounding The Drip.
In a proposal, Moolarben said it would enhance the area’s ‘‘tourism and education potential’’ by providing new toilets, improved access, more car parks and better signage.
Proposed underground mining was prohibited within 500metres of The Drip site, a spokesman said.