By Ana Kailis
The Queensland government agreed last week to buy back large tracts of land on the Cape York Peninsula from Queensland developer George Quaid.
The September 6 announcement came after months of intense campaigning by the Wilderness Society and the traditional owners of the area against Quaid's attempted sale of "Starcke" on the US market for $A26 million.
The campaign will continue, because this unique wilderness is still far from secure. While the Wilderness Society has welcomed the move by the Goss government, it still remains unclear who will fund the purchase, whether the area will be safeguarded from future development and whether the traditional custodians will be given control over their own land.
"Starcke" consists of more than 200,000 hectares of high quality wilderness just to the north of Cooktown. The 120 km coastline between Cape Flattery and Cape Melville has been described as one of the most varied on Cape York. It includes large mangrove areas, fringing coral reefs, melaleuca forest, freshwater wetlands, tidal flood plains, sand dunes and headlands.
The area hosts a number of endangered species and shelters pockets of rainforest similar to those under World Heritage listing to the south. The isolation of these rainforest pockets over time has resulted in the development of many endemic species.
There has been no systematic biological survey of the Starcke land, but a range of habitats containing many plant and animal species have been identified by the limited research that has been done.
The seabed of the area has the largest seagrass pasture on Australia's east coast. This feeds the most extensive dugong population (1500-2000) in Australia and possibly the world. The seagrass also provides an important habitat for the commercial breeding of prawns. Of the total seagrass present in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, 50% is located off the coast of Starcke.
Traditional owners
The Guugu-Gambiil-Mugu and Guugu-Yimidhirr people, the traditional custodians of the region, have had continuous connection with the Starcke land for thousands of years.
Despite their displacement from the area during the 19th and early 20th century and their relocation to the neighbouring Hopevale Lutheran Mission, the Guugu-Yimidhirr have used Starcke for hunting and fishing on an ongoing basis. Elders maintain knowledge of sacred sites in the area.
The introduction of commercial tenure on Starcke land in 1969 was done without consulting traditional owners. In 1969, the Starcke Cattle Company was granted a pastoral development lease of over 200,000 hectares by the Queensland National Party government. The lease was for the specific purpose of developing the pastoral industry.
In 1972 the lease was renewed and transferred to George Quaid Holdings P/L. When this transfer occurred, an area of 18,500 hectares was converted to an occupational licence pending consideration of its value as a national park. Quaid's company had control of this licence.
In 1979 Quaid applied for and obtained a special lease for 24,200 hectares of the original 200,000. This special lease was issued with the promise that if $600,000 was spent in the first three years on improvements to the property, the company could gain freehold of the lease for $30,000. In 1989 Quaid was granted the freehold for the full 24,200 hectares for the pitiful price of $30,275. A freehold lease meant he could develop the land as he pleased.
Sale
When Quaid's advertisement was placed in the Wall Street Journal on February 26, 1993, the land he was selling was covered by two lease arrangements: the pastoral development holding lease, and the 24,200 hectares of freehold. The proposed sale was made possible by a relaxation of foreign ownership laws for non-residential land announced by the federal government earlier this year.
By 1993, the state government had still not made a decision to gazette the land covered by the occupational licence as national park. In fact, documents obtained through Freedom of Information by the Wilderness Society show that the state government was intending to include this land in the Starcke pastoral holding lease, which inevitably would have meant its sale on the US market as well.
Quaid's advertisement in the Wall Street Journal offered "50 miles of Pacific Ocean frontage to the Great Barrier Reef, offshore islands and marlin fishing grounds adjacent to national parks offering incredible lake and river fishing".
It also stated, "The freehold 60,000 acres would suit a frontier tourist development based on hunting, fishing, adventure tours and a possible world standard game park with ample space and buffer zones provided by 400,000 acres of forty-year renewable government leases".
Quaid did not mention that the condition under which the company holds the pastoral development lease is to continue the stock carrying capacity of the land — not tourism or residential development.
Quaid's company has a history of profiting from the forests of north Queensland. He is perhaps best known for his subdivision of rainforest in the Daintree area and the construction of the controversial Daintree-Bloomfield Road. He was also responsible for the building of a road from Wangetti to his holdings at Southedge, which caused a public outcry, and for the dumping of cleared timber in the creeks forming the headwaters of the Mitchell River.
Opposition to the sale of the land has come from a wide range of sources.
The traditional Aboriginal owners of Starcke have tried to repurchase the land for a fair price, but with no success. The land is not claimable under the Queensland Aboriginal Land Act, nor can it be subject to a Mabo-style claim because of the narrow definition of what constitutes "native title".
The Queensland Commercial Fisherman's Organisation and scientists have also opposed the sale, highlighting the potential destruction of the dugong and marine turtle populations in the region. Currently the area is closed to commercial trawling because of the sensitive nature of Starcke's offshore ecosystem.
A group of the traditional owners and members of the Cairns branch of the Wilderness Society are currently on a tour of major east coast centres holding public meetings and stalls and presenting slide shows on the Starcke wilderness.
There is no doubt this campaign, which has brought to the public eye the dealings between the Quaid company and successive Queensland state governments (both National and Labor) has caused considerable embarrassment for the Goss government. The decision to purchase the land is an about-face from its previous position that the land was unaffordable.
With his popularity flagging over the recent state budget and the poor handling of the native title claim of the Wik people in the Weipa region, Goss may be seeking to buy back some support.
Unresolved issues
As it stands, however, there are many issues that remain unresolved in relation to the state government purchase.
In a press release, Goss advised that while the government had funds available for national park acquisition, this purchase would require special funding.
"That's one reason why we will invite the federal government to join with us to protect this land for all Australians", Goss announced.
There has been no commitment of funds from the federal government at this stage.
Goss has also been quoted as saying, "We may just acquire the most important part, which is the substantial coastal strip, but if it comes to the crunch we will resume the lot". What this crunch is, he did not say.
Gazetting of the Starcke region as national park will not guarantee that the area is saved from future development. One national park in the Whitsunday Islands has recently been opened up for the development of a golf course, another for the establishment of a cable car ride.
In the national parks that already exist on the Cape York Peninsula, only four rangers are employed for their upkeep. This is insufficient to curb vandalism and poaching. Claiming an area as national park therefore does not automatically ensure its protection.
The Goss government has refused to negotiate a return of Starcke to its traditional owners. The concern of these traditional owners and the Wilderness Society is that the aspirations of Aboriginal people to control their own land will be given only token recognition.
"The fine print of the state government's acquisition plan is that once Starcke is protected, the traditional custodians will be granted title to small patches of land. This is just a continuation of the 200-year-old policy of dispossession of the Aboriginal people", said Greg Sargent, spokesperson for the Wilderness Society.
"We believe that the land should first be made available for claim by the Aboriginal people before negotiation on protection begins. Premier Goss is missing a golden opportunity for genuine reconciliation in the International Year of the World's Indigenous People by not trusting Aboriginal people to decide the future of their land", Sargent concluded.
In a recent meeting in Canberra between the traditional custodians, the Wilderness Society and the federal government, Ros Kelly, minister for the environment, was willing to give only general support on this issue but not prepared to commit herself to any concrete action. Robert Tickner, minister for Aboriginal affairs, who also met with the traditional owners, raised the possibility of ATSIC funding part of the purchase. Again, no concrete proposals were put forward for the return of the land to its traditional owners.
One of the central demands made by the Wilderness Society and traditional owners has been the convening of an independent inquiry into the land deals that enabled George Quaid Holdings to obtain the 24,200 hectare freehold title. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information show anomalies in the sale of this land.
But even if such an inquiry is held, it could take years of legal wrangling before reaching its conclusions, and there is no certainty that the state government would act on its recommendations. Until the key issues are clarified and resolved, the campaign to return Starcke to its original owners will continue.
"From day one of this campaign, we have insisted that the land be returned to its traditional custodians, so they can negotiate the proper management of the area from a position of strength", Sargent stated.
For more information about the campaign, contact Greg Sargent, Wilderness Society Cairns, on (070) 412 066 or your local branch of the Wilderness Society.