Southern Bulahdelah
© M., A. & E. Carrall
Bulahdelah's most outstanding feature and the source of its name is the mountain in its eastern sector. Originally called Bulla Della - meaning: 'the Great Rock' - by the Worimi, the Aboriginal people who once inhabited the area, the mountain, a volcanic extrusion, was nicknamed the Alum Mountain in the late 1800s when it was discovered that much of its rock is alum stone (synonyms: alunite, aluminilite, alum) and mining for its alum content commenced.
The Alum Mountain has long been renowned for: its geology relationships; its mining history; being the site of discovery of an orchid which flowers underground (Rhizanthella slateri); and for its exceptional quantity of native orchid species.
It has also long been highly valued by many people:-
On 16th May, 1866, Rachel Henning, whose letters to her sister in England were later published in book form, wrote of the mountain: … backing up our house and the village, is “Bulladilla”, a great rocky mountain with steep sides clothed with forest and a range of perpendicular cliffs at the top which always catch the last rays of the sun long after they have left us, and very beautiful old Bulladilla looks then. Rev. Herman Montague Rucker Rupp, a renowned naturalist who lived in Bulahdelah in 1923-1924, wrote (page 123 The Orchid Man – The Life, Work and Memoirs of the Rev. H.M.R. Rupp 1872 – 1956 by Lionel Gilbert):-
“After three months of uneventful relief work, I accepted charge of Bulahdelah on the Myall River, about seventy miles north of Newcastle. The village is scattered along the western base of one of the most remarkable rocky hills in Australia, known as the Alum Mountain. Barely 1,000 feet high, its bold cliffs and rock-masses make it the dominant feature of the landscape for miles along the Myall Valley. I know of few more striking scenes than that which greets the traveller’s eye when, climbing to the summit of the range that walls in this valley on the west, the road suddenly curves, and he finds himself looking over a sea of undulating tree-tops to the strangely tinted Bulah Delah – ‘the Great Rock’ – on the far side of the valley. The colour scheme of the Alum Mountain is unique. …”
“If you approach Bulahdelah in the late afternoon and are lucky enough to see a passing shower sweep across the Great Rock, you will never forget the opalescent sheen that suddenly gleams as the rays from the western sun strike the wet cliffs.”
“The Alum Mountain is the pride of Bulahdelah.”
The mountain is a long-established part of local culture and is Bulahdelah’s principal tourism asset. One of its unique features is that the public open spaces and recreation areas on its foot provide for a wide variety of cost free activities in a natural environment which is within easy walking distance from the village shopping centre. These include a large park - the Alum Mountain Park - which was established on the foot of the mountain almost twenty three years ago and tranquil, easily accessed walking trails from which a wealth of native flora and fauna species can be viewed.
The Alum Mountain Park, Bulahdelah - A Section of the Picnic and Rest Area © M. & A. Carrall
The park, which delineates and conserves a former mine processing plant site of National significance, has two sections: a picnic and rest area and a sports recreation area, both of which are used for respite and social gatherings. It is also an education facility and is a popular stop-off point for road users.
With: State Forests 'managing, caring and sustaining'; a State Government whose slogan is: NSW Labor Securing NSW's Future; and a Federal Government which claims to have 'mainstream values', this unique ecological, geological, heritage, cultural and educational site should, it may seem, be well protectected. Not so! Largely due to an amendment - Part 3A - to the N.S.W. Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP and A Act), the N.S.W. Minister for Planning, Hon. Frank Sartor (email: office@sartor.minister.nsw.gov.au) has recently approved its proposed destruction by the N.S.W. Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA).
With the inclusion of Part 3A, the EP and A Act serves as a licence for the RTA and their ilk to destroy the major geographical and social infrastructure of townships and to exterminate state and nationally significant species and heritage.
In this case, Part 3A of said Act, in addition to permitting the destruction of the Alum Mountain with a massive new section of highway, six-lanes-plus in width and up to 24 metres below current ground level, also serves as a licence for the RTA to:
- exacerbate air and noise pollution within the township, sandwiching residents, children at two schools and others between two sources of ever-increasing pollution, including potentially deadly ultrafine diesel exhaust particles;
- locate part of the roadway in (13 metres below the surface of) a colluvial landslide and under 40 metre high scarps of a mountain which is prone to mass movement (landslides) and rock (and boulder) falls; and to thereby
- jeopardise the lives of construction workers, residents, visitors to the area and road users.
With (but not necessarily limited to) Part 3A specifically stating: "environment" includes all aspects of the surroundings of humans, whether affecting any human as an individual or in his or her social groupings, it can now be said that an intent of the EP and A Act is to enable the killing of humans.
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