What`s on @ What`s on @ - North Queensland Land Council

NEWS
Carnage on
local roads
The fatal crash scene at Mareeba.
Tablelands Yidinji outside the Cairns Courthouse after their native title rights were successfully determined last Tuesday morning.
Picture: CHRISTINE HOWES, COURTESY OF THE NORTH QUEENSLAND LAND COUNCIL
Native title rights at Tinaroo Falls awarded to Yidinji people
EMOTIONS overflowed for
the traditional Tableland
Yidinji people when they
were awarded exclusive
native title rights to a 28ha
parcel of land near Tinaroo
Falls last week.
The ruling was handed
down in the Cairns Supreme
Court last Tuesday more
than 10 years after the
original claim was lodged.
Tablelands Yidinji
member Shaun Joseph said
the overwhelming feeling
was one of joy.
‘‘It was a privilege to be
part of this process,
watching our elders be
recognised as traditional
owners.’’
The original claim was
lodged back in 1999, followed
by a native title claim in
2004. The first successfully
determined native title
claim for the Tablelands
Yidinji people was cause for
celebrations in December
last year after a ruling in the
Atherton court house.
The latest determination
by Justice John Dowsett
means the people now have
exclusive native title rights
over 28ha of land and non-
exclusive native title rights
over about 6464ha of land.
Parties to the
determination included
Tablelands Regional
Council, Cairns Regional
Council, the State of
Queensland and Ergon
Energy.
Council neglect fears
Watsonville, Walsh River and Irvineback residents make urgent plea to State Government
FEARS of neglect under the resurrected Mareeba Shire Council has
prompted an urgent plea to the State
Government from residents in the
Watsonville, Walsh River and Irvinebank areas.
‘‘Rezone our boundary lines so we
are still a part of Tablelands Regional
Council.’’
Under the current boundary lines,
the towns are zoned within Division 1
with Dimbulah and Chillagoe.
Speaking to the Tablelander, residents declared they had been ‘‘much
better served’’ under the TRC than
they ever had as part of the former
Mareeba shire.
‘‘When it comes to services such a
road maintenance we have never
been better served than we are now,’’
Walsh River resident Lyn Fraser said.
‘‘Under the former Mareeba shire we
were lucky to get anything done.’’
First Officer for the Watsonville
Nikki Taylor
nikki.taylor@news.com.au
Rural Fire Brigade Rod Finch said the
TRC fire management group had provided significant help with back burning and preparation in their area.
‘‘Crews from Herberton are usually
the first to arrive on the scene of a fire
incident,’’ he said.
Paige Breheny from the Walsh said
all the community’s ties were in Herberton.
‘‘Our children go to school here, our
mail gets sent here, we use their
shops and the dump, it is just logical,
Herberton is 10km away while
Mareeba is 60,’’ she said. Tablelands
Mayor Rosa Lee Long recently voted
against a proposal put forward by
councillor Marjorie Pagani to endorse
a submission from Kuranda residents
and those from Watsonville/Walsh
River and Irvinebank to realign their
boundaries within the TRC. But she
said she was ‘‘sympathetic towards
the people’’.
‘‘We are well aware they felt neglected under the former Mareeba shire,’’
she said.
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Residents from Watsonville, the Walsh
River and Irvinebank areas want their
towns to be included in the same
division as the former Herberton Shire.
‘‘It is unfortunate . . . but we have
our hands full with the job of deamalgamation. Anyone has the right
to apply for boundary changes if they
feel they are not being served, they
need to lobby the Boundaries Commissioner.’’
Local Government Minister David
Crisafulli said any council at any time
could come forward with a submission for boundary changes but
that would be well into the future.
‘‘We have always said deamalgamation would be along the former local government boundaries of
the Mareeba Shire Council,’’ Mr
Crisafulli said.
‘‘When there are two elected councils, the community can have a discussion about possible boundary
changes but right now we have to get
on with the job of making the transition from one council to two as
smooth as possible.’’
MAREEBA TOYOTA
IT has been a horror weekend on
Far Northern roads with three
fatalities over the Easter break.
Two women were killed and
another seriously injured when
their vehicles were involved in a
head-on collision near Emerald
Creek at Mareeba about 7.45pm
Friday night. The Kennedy
Highway was closed to traffic in
both directions for almost four
hours as the Forensic Crash Unit
investigated.
Meanwhile, local police are
mourning the loss of one of their
own after 29-year-old Mareeba
Constable Casey Blain was killed
in a single vehicle crash near
Georgetown on Friday morning.
Commissioner Ian Stewart
extended his heartfelt condolences
to the family, friends and
colleagues of Const Blain.
‘‘All members of the Queensland
Police Service are saddened by this
tragic news; however our sorrow
and pain cannot compare to that of
Casey’s family and friends. Our
hearts go out to them at this
terrible time,’’ he said.
Preliminary information
suggests the marked police vehicle
Const Blain was driving crashed
on the Gulf Development Rd,
Routh Creek, about 15 km east of
Georgetown, around 10.45am.
Commissioner Stewart said Const
Blain was a fine young officer, a
valued member of the Queensland
Police Service and his death would
be a loss felt by all within the
police family.
In other incidents over the
Easter holiday break, two
Tableland motorists will front
court following separate cases of
high range drink driving. A
48-year-old man was charged
following a drink driving incident
last Wednesday night at Mareeba.
Around 6pm, police observed a
vehicle driving erratically,
colliding with the kerb of a
roundabout. Police intercepted the
vehicle, and will allege the man
driving the vehicle had a bloodalcohol content of 0.333 per cent,
more than six times the legal limit.
Yesterday, a 39-year-old Mt
Garnet woman was allegedly
caught with a blood-alcohol level of
0.296 per cent after her car hit a
seven-year-old boy on a bicycle.
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Tablelander, Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - Page 3