A still from Bernie Woolfrey’s wallaby video.
By Noel Murphy
NEWCOMB’S Bernie Woolfrey has videoed wallabies pounding through Eastern Park but can’t understand why authorities have abandoned its foreshore.
Graffiti, rubbish and weeds have destroyed historic lime kilns adjoining the park, while a former gun club site has laid abandoned for years, smothered in smashed tar and lead-riddled targets.
Mr Woolfrey was appalled at the detritus reaching all the way across Stingaree Bay toward a swan colony and an internationally-recognised bird haven in Moolap’s wetlands.
“Over the years the tide and waves have gradually picked it up and moved it further around the bay,’’ he said.
“You can see it on the satellite images on Google Maps.’’
The Independent has highlighted degraded sites on Corio Bay’s foreshore in recent weeks, with MPs, environmentalists, former ministers and mayoral candidates calling for master plans, community committees, icon status and other action.
The bay’s problems constitute a catalogue of rubbish, vandalism, shooting galleries, dangerous sites, toxic and unremediated land and dumping grounds.
They include asbestos deposits and a dangerous, unsecured former power station at North Geelong, an abandoned slipway at Rippleside and eroding cliffs at Western Beach.
As for Eastern Park, it’s four years since the EPA issued a clean-up notice to Department of Sustainability and Environment and two since the department and council were meant to complete a master plan for the site.
Mr Woolfrey’s partner, Kath Doole, said action was overdue.
She echoed calls for a new approach to managing Corio Bay.
“Perhaps leadership needs to be placed out of local government hands,’’ she said.
“They’ve had long enough to get it sorted but are still so easily seduced by someone showing up with a fancy picture of a convention centre. “
