The future of Shelburne Bay has long been the subject of community debate.

No mines for Shelburne Bay

Sandmining at Shelburne Bay would be akin to bulldozing one of the great cathedrals of Europe.

Shelburne is a special place. The Queensland Government has the opportunity to protect Shelburne from sandmining for ever. (See maps for location...)

On the 28th of February 2003, two existing mining leases on the dunefields of Shelburne will be up for renewal. The Queensland Government has the opportunity to remove the threat of sandmining by not renewing these leases and declaring Shelburne Bay a no-mining area.

If the Queensland Government refuses to cancel these leases, the dunefields will be open for mining for another 14 years.

If the Queensland Government does choose to protect the dunefields of Shelburne from mining, it will finally bring an end to a campaign by conservation groups and the Wuthathi people to protect Shelburne from sandmining which commenced in the early 1980's.

Mining History

In the mid 1980's, it emerged that the dunefields of Shelburne Bay had been targeted by the silica sand mining industry.

This mining proposal would have involved the removal of two dune systems, Conical and Saddle Hills, near Round Point, Shelburne Bay and the construction of a major port facility from the eastern end of Shelburne Bay via Rodney Island to deep water offshore.

It was proposed that the Shelburne sand mine would export 400 000 tonnes of silica sand per year with employment of 15.

Don Henry of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland contested this proposal in the Mining Warden's Court on the grounds of the conservation importance of the dunefields.

The campaign to oppose the sand mine was joined by the traditional owners of Shelburne, the Wuthathi people, and other conservation groups including the Queensland Conservation Council, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Society.

The leaseholders of the Shelburne Bay cattle lease, the Nixon family, did not oppose the sandmining proposal. Even if they had, under Queensland's existing laws, the interests of the mining industry would have overriden the rights and interests of pastoral leaseholders.

The sand mining proposal was strongly supported by the Queensland Government headed by Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

Ultimately, the proposal to mine Shelburne was overruled by the Hawke Commonwealth Government through the use of its foreign investment powers.

However the dunefields still remain technically available for mining operations.

The Nixon's

Since the early 1960's much of Shelburne Bay has been run as a cattle property. In 1998, the cattle lease expired.

In 1999, after a one-year extension by the previous National Party Government, the cattle lease that covered Shelburne Bay expired.

The newly elected Beattie Government informed the leaseholders that the country was of such high conservation value that the area should be protected for the benefit of the whole community and that therefore the cattle lease would not be renewed. The land reverted to State Government ownership.

Since then, a protracted legal and political battle has occurred concerning the correctness of the State Government's decision in 1999 to not renew the grazing lease.

On the 24th of April 2002, Justice Muir, in the Supreme Court of Queensland, ruled that the issue should be brought before a full hearing of the Supreme Court of Queensland. This process may take up to 12 months.

Conservation Groups intend to strongly promote an outcome to this dispute that will see the extraordinary natural and cultural values of the region protected into the future.

Close this Window