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Environment

Peter Garrett,
Shadow Minister for the Environment

Quotes about Shoalwater Bay Training Area
From; 1992 Documentary by Producer David Bradbury “Shoalwater - Up for Grabs”

• SWB one of the last unspoilt wildernesses in the world.
• Vast area, nearly twice the size of suburban Sydney, your looking at the oldest untouched sand dunes of their kind, anywhere in the world.
• Looking at…. what is to become of one of the great environmental resources that this country has, which has not yet become properly protected.SW represents one of the last opportunities that we have in Australia and probably on the planet, to actually hold onto an entire coastal eco system. It’s already recognised on the Australian heritage Commission list and we have to make up our minds as a country and as a group of people and as a community what we want to see happen to pieces of land like this.
• One of the most beautiful parts of Australia you or I are ever going to see.
• If this country has anything going for it, it’s the fact that it has natural beauty and is a natural beauty that is an asset and an inheritance for all of us, from the first Australians and the ones that come after them.
• The loss of sea grass beds and the loss of mangroves in the long term will really jeopardise the entire fishing industry. Making sure you don’t come in and develop or destroy the actual crucible of the fish, the place where their born and the place they feed and that the mangroves, the sea grass bed the river estuaries, of which we have such an extraordinary depth and diversity in the area.

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A Brief Overview of the Environmental Magnificence of Shoalwater Bay

The largest coastal area with high wilderness values between Cooktown and southern New South Wales
Shoalwater Bay has been described by the Commonwealth Government of Australia as “the largest coastal area with high wilderness values between Cooktown and southern New South Wales” (Commonwealth Commission of Inquiry p. xxviii).

A huge jewel on the coast of Australia
In Alan Carter’s recent film Dirty War, a local resident describes it as a “huge jewel on the coast of Australia” and points out its proximity to World Heritage listed areas of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

LandForms
With a 300 km coastline, Shoalwater Bay is the largest coastal and aquatic wilderness area with large undisturbed habitat areas in Queensland. Its landforms, flora and fauna include:

• mountain ranges
• rainforest
• dry open forest
• melaleuca woodland
• vine thickets
• creeks
• wetlands
• lagoons
• parabolic sand dunes
• perched lakes
• peat swamps
• mudflats
• mangroves and sea grass beds.

The estuarine and marine environments provide a home to

• dolphins
• whales - >> research into deaths due to military exercises
• crocodiles
• endangered sea turtles and dugongs
• and 445 species of fish.

1000 plant species
Shoalwater Bay’s location between tropical and temperate climate zones gives it a high biodiversity value with many animals and plants reaching their northern or southern limits in the area. Over 1000 plant species are found in the area including five nationally threatened species.

Birds, Bats and Gliders
The area is home to almost 50% of Australia's bird species and offers a sanctuary to large numbers of bats and gliders.

In short, Shoalwater Bay is a place of great environmental value – “Queensland’s Kakadu” is how it is sometimes described in local circles.