This history was written for members of the committee, to give them an idea of the history of the Conservation Group, and also to act as a reference. This should be especially useful for those issues and places which keep recurring. Dates are mainly those of committee meetings, which are shown in bold, and the history is largely based on the minutes of those committee meetings. The index mostly shows houses under street name or the house name, except for long roads, where the house number is used. As the number of permit applications and resulting objections grew, I have increasingly selected those which were more important as precedents, or of intrinsic importance, such as public installations or heritage buildings. These were generally the ones where there were also the biggest and longest fights. This also reflects the Group’s growing need to only object to the more important cases, because of lack of resources to cover them all. By the end of the year 2000 the number of building permits processed by the Shire grew to about 2,500, of which 131 were refused. Only 3% went before the Council. In any one month the Group was involved in objections in 5-30 cases. Some cases lasted for years, and I have not covered all the twists and turns, but tried to mention the more important ones, and the final results.
As it is based mainly on events, I have only occasionally mentioned the efforts of the flora subcommittee as clearing weeds and planting natives, as these were taking place continually, and would have taken too much space. Similarly the actions of secretaries, editors and treasurers have seldom been mentioned. And several Friends Groups have not been covered, as they were separate entities, although in some cases closely associated with the Group. I have mentioned some actions of the Shire Council and Governments, as they were intimately connected with the Group’s activities. I have also mentioned some Council and Government policies as a necessary background.
Alan Martin – 11 April 2010
Download PDF – 5MB