Great Sandy Strait

ourgreatsandy.com

Celebrating and Defending the Great Sandy Strait

About Us

Like most cities around the nation, Brisbane, the rapidly expanding capital of Queensland, is facing a water crisis. It is predicted the city will run out of water by 2008. The State Government, which has been slow to embrace alternative water solutions thus far, last year (April, 2006) announced plans to construct a mega dam on the Mary River at Traveston Crossing.

The word ‘mega’ is no overstatement. In size this dam, if constructed, would be more than 1.3 times the area of Sydney Harbour! That’s pretty enormous, but it will be a shallow dam, with a mostly porous bedrock foundation (predominantly sandy substrate), which experts tell us will make it prone to significant leakage and evaporation, and therefore not very reliable. If it ever were to fill, it would not be able to supply water to a thirsty population until 2012 at the earliest, and Brisbane’s current water shortage has to be solved by 2008. There are viable alternatives that can come in to effect within this time frame, and these will be discussed at a later time in ourgreatsandy.com. In the longer term, the projected demand for water to feed continued unsustainable growth in South-east Queensland simply cannot be met by building more ineffective dams in the south-east corner.

The upstream effects of the proposed dam have been widely publicised (See links page): it will inundate the central Mary Valley, flooding hundreds of fertile farming properties and possibly driving to extinction already endangered species like the Mary River Turtle, Mary River Cod and the oldest fish in the world: the extremely rare Queensland lungfish—an ancient species, often referred to as a ’living fossil’, which is unique to science and sacred to the local indigenous people.

There has been less discussion, however, of the DOWNSTREAM effects of the dam, and the threat it poses to the Great Sandy Strait. It is this lack of focus that has inspired the creation of this website.

It cannot be stressed enough just how much the Strait depends on the Mary River. Aside from the fresh water that flushes into it from Fraser Island, its marine areas also depend on the nutrients that flow from the river mouth annually; a flow which has already been hindered by other forms of infrastructure upstream (See Mary River Tidal Barrage). The mega dam proposed by the State Government, however, will almost put a stop to this flow altogether. It will have a devastating impact on both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and their biodiversity. It will change the natural food cycle on the floodplains, affect fisheries, and generate a significant quantity of greenhouse gas emissions to boot (See Impacts at a Glance).

International attention was drawn to this area during the 70s when campaigns were waged against the destruction of Fraser Island’s pristine forests and the mining of its sand. These battles were fought and won, and now ourgreatsandy.com sees the need for a similar call to arms.

The Sandy Strait has already had its fare share of abuses over the years and will inevitably face others in the future, especially in relation to climate change. Currently, increasing urban development, upstream infrastructure, recreational activities and tourism are all placing pressure on its fragile ecosystems. The Queensland Government has attempted to solve these problems in recent years, spending many dollars formulating management plans and frameworks to better protect the area (See DEH Ramsar Information Sheet, Section 23). The Great Sandy is now on the register of National Estate, its fish habitats have been declared, and threatened species like dugongs and sea turtles have been protected under national law.

Are all of these efforts to be now wasted?

If the Mary River dam goes ahead they will be, and it may take generations to see the full impacts on the Great Sandy Strait.

ourgreatsandy.com aims to provide factual information about these impacts, but also to establish a forum for celebrating, from both scientific and aesthetic perspectives, the abundant diversity and natural beauty to be found in this unique landscape.

Our philosophy:

This is not a local issue. The Great Sandy Strait belongs to the world, and by showing the world what it stands to lose we hope to inspire others to join the fight to protect this very special place.

^Return to top^