longwall mining - the waratah rivulet - environmental destruction - cracked river beds

rivers- creeks - swamps - catchments - water - cracked river beds - aboriginal - rights - heritage

The Waratah Rivulet

These photographs record the damage to the Waratah Rivulet, a sacred site of the Wadi Wadi tribe of the Illawarra. Water is a spiritual element which gives and sustains life for all.

The damage seen is caused by the mining industry and their longwall mining methods. The mining companies assure us that the water lost from the rivulet will surface downstream and flow into the Woronora Dam.

This hasn't occurred throughout the 25 km+ length of river between the Cataract Scout Camp and the Woolwash, one of Georges Rivers tributaries.

Waratah Rivulet 1st September 2010

Allan Carriage and Ken Hall, both from the Macarthur Bushwalkers obtained permission to visit two aboriginal sites along the Waratah Rivulet Gorge.

Along the way we photographed the Waratah Rivulet to a point where we encountered Peabody staff drilling and grouting across the river bed and up each side of the gorge. They explained that they were near the end of the operation which had taken them one year so far.

On our way back to our vehicles we met another peabody employee taking water samples and testing the water with electrical equipment. he explained that he does this every day.

Never having been there before I cannot comment upon the state of the rivulet apart from feeling shock at the damage and the lack of water which has a similar appearance to our own Georges River at Kentlyn. Allan who has been there before wasn't too impressed and gave the impression of shock and complete surprise.

I did approach Peabody the following day and asked for permission to access the drilling site to take photographs and ask questions.

Please read the following document from the Total Environment Centre

What Happened to the Waratah Rivulet - In 2006 Total Environment Centre (TEC) discovered that broad scale damage had occurred to yet another waterway within Sydney’s metropolitan drinking catchment due to underground coal mining. This was hardly surprising as the issue of longwall coal mining within the catchments is now more than a decade old and remains unresolved.

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