WHEN Greg Smart saw the extent of work being undertaken to clear the way for the Foxground to Berry Bypass he was horrified.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Smart and his wife Cherie have lived on a property fronting the Princes Highway near Austral Park just north of Berry for 25 years.
In that time they have transformed their former, open farmland property into a haven, covered in trees.
“We have regenerated the area with numerous different trees to what it would have originally been,” he said.
“We have had birds come back. The area is alive again.
“I was shocked with what they are doing here.
“I know it is progress and I’m not against that, but the road from Nowra to Batemans Bay has regular overtaking areas, it follows the curves of the land. But this work, they have just come in and cut down huge swathes of trees, with what appears little care or concern.
“It is almost arrogant. With the machinery they have nowadays, the work of generations can be destroyed in a day.”
Mr Smart said he has a lot of Koori friends, the traditional owners of the land, and they are also “horrified”.
“I have spoken to elders like Uncle Max Harrison and Aunty Grace Crossley from Jerringa, whose great grandfather was ‘Old Broughton’ who travelled the traditional tracks from the coast to here and they are shocked by the destruction,” he said.
“The old guys followed the tracks, the gullies, the waterways and picked through the trees.
“I saw the first cut and it took my breath away and they just kept on going. It almost amounts to vandalism. There was just no sensitivity.
“There just seems to be a lack of regard for the landscape in general.
“I’m just questioning the way the workers are doing the clearing. It is as if, if in doubt clear more.
“No one else would be allowed to get away with this.
“If a farmer wanted to cut down that many trees he wouldn’t be allowed. If they want to put up a shed it has to blend in. It just seems there are double standards.
“Why couldn’t they have continued with the flowing lines a bit more rather than just gouging through the countryside?
“To build something you have to destroy something and that’s what’s happening here.
“We are told they are building infrastructure for the 21st century but they are destroying the permanent structure of the Dreaming.
“I know you can’t stand in the way of progress but people should have a look at this.”
Mr Smart has made his protests public, placing signs at a section of work near his property, questioning the process.
“I think a lot of people are upset and concerned about the amount of clearing that has been done but won’t talk out against it,” he said.
“I will continue to put up more signs just to voice my concerns.”
Mr Smart, who works in the health industry as a physiotherapist, said people were becoming disconnected with the country and that is why so many young people are having trouble.
“It’s not about it being my trees, it is about what will be left for future generations,” he said.
Mr Smart will lose some land at the front of his property in the bypass construction and even asked the RMS about doing a land swap.
“They said no,” he said.