Desperately seeking solution to water shortage Dam cultural divide

Townsville Bulletin (Australia)
October 22, 2004
Author: John Andersen

ANY move to build a dam on Urannah Creek south of Collinsville would be opposed by traditional owners, the Townsville Bulletin has been told.

Aborigines who live on 650sq km Urannah Station told the newspaper this week that a dam would threaten wildlife and cultural heritage sites.

Their opposition will add further complications to the problem of engineering a solution to the critical water shortage being faced by Bowen Basin coal towns.

Graziers who depend on the Bowen River for water have been calling for a dam at Urannah for a decade. Their call has been echoed by the Bowen Shire Mayor, Cr Mike Brunker, and the chairman of the Bowen-Collinsville Enterprise, David Evans.

Strangely silent on the issue are the main beneficiaries of the water, coal mine owners Xstrata and BHP Billiton.

The State Government, while originally resisting calls for a dam at Urannah, is now saying it will ``consider'' the dam proposal.

Proponents of the dam say that it is the only way to guarantee a reliable supply of water in the Bowen River and would relieve the pressure on the nearby Eungella Dam, which is now at 15 per cent of its capacity.

The Eungella Dam provides water to Bowen Basin coal mines and towns and to irrigators.

Both Urannah Creek and the Broken River on which the Eungella Dam is built feed into the Bowen River.

Traditional owners Ken Dodd, Snowy Jack and Hone Heke, who live on Urannah Station which was bought by the Indigenous Land Corporation in 1998, say they oppose the dam.

``Our house would be under 100 foot of water,'' Mr Dodd said.

Mr Jack said wildlife on Urannah Creek that would be threatened included the platypus, jabirus, kingfishers, koalas and rare turtles.

Mr Dodd said traditional owners were concerned about the possible loss of cultural heritage sites.

``We got trees used for burial bark and to make coolamons. Urannah is a kitchen area where people used to make tools and eat,'' he said.

In an earlier interview, Mr Evans said that if the 2004-05 wet season failed and the Eungella Dam ran dry, the $4 billion coal fields would be at risk.