Moderate Flood Warning Issued for Wollombi Brook Area

BY ISABEL EVERETT

A moderate flood warning has been forecast for the Wollombi Brook area.

The flooding will impact the towns and surrounding areas of Broke, Bulga, Laguna, Millfield, Wollombi, Brickmans Bridge, Ellalong, and Paxton.

The Wollombi Brook at Bulga may peak near 3.70 metres around 7:00 pm on Tuesday with moderate flooding.

The Wollombi Brook at Wollombi is expected to remain below the minor flood level.

The Bureau says people in areas likely to be impacted by flooding in Low-lying areas of Wollombi Brook Area should prepare for potential isolation and possible evacuation.

People in areas likely to be impacted by flooding should consider:

• Refraining from driving or walking through flood water   
• Road closures and flood isolation may impact on work, family and educational commitments
•  Monitoring emergency warnings and severe weather updates on NSW SES Hunter Facebook Page and Bureau of Meteorology website   
• If your property is at risk of inundation, please raise moveable items, such as furniture, as high as possible onto benches or tables, placing electrical items on top 
• If you are advised by an emergency services officer to evacuate, please do so  
• Securing outside belongings and before leaving; turn off the power, water and take essential medicines and clothes with you 
• Farmers should move machinery, livestock, pumps and fodder to flood free ground  

Nomads Bikie Gang Member Charged near Singleton, Police Seize Python

BY JESSICA KRAUSE

A member of the Nomads bikie gang has been charged after a search warrant and firearms prohibition order was conducted at a Hunter home yesterday.

The 31-year old man was arrested at a property in Bulga, near Singleton, and later charged with 28 offences including the possession of a shortened forearm and the possession/use of a prohibited weapon without a permit.

Items seized from the property include loaded rifles, a firearm silencer, prohibited drugs and a diamond python.

The arrest comes after the ongoing targeting of illicit motorcycle gang activities by Strike Force Raptor North, an initiative established in 2009 to investigate and police organised criminal activity.

The man was refused bail to appear at Muswellbrook Local Court today, investigations are continuing.

On Horseback to Save Wallaby Scrub

BY: GARY-JON LYSAGHT

The tiny Hunter town of Bulga has been fighting a David and Goliath battle with Rio Tinto and its Warkworth mine expansion for years.

The passionate residents have taken the fight with Rio Tinto to the courts twice, and they’ve won twice.

Demonstrators will ride on horseback along Wallaby Scrub Road

The stretch of road was built by the early convicts and has been a heritage listed site for years, but will soon be victim to the mine’s expansion.

In response, 40 members of Bulga will ride by horseback along the road on Saturday in a demonstration against the expansion.

Riders will carry with them a petition to save the road and keep it open, which will then be presented to the Baird Government.

Bulga local Rob McLaughlin is the event organiser and says the road is still used and very important.

“Wallaby Scrub is a much used public road and an essential piece of local infrastructure that must be kept open,” he said.

The demonstration is meant to imitate the early pioneers, as they ride on horseback from Warkworth town through to Broke.

For Rob McLaughlin, the ride is another part of the long battle to save his town.

"The deed of agreement signed back in 2003 between Rio Tinto and the State Government then [said] this area that is now under threat would be left in perpetuity as a buffer zone between the mine and Bulga" he said.

“Now that ministerial deed of agreement was not worth the paper it was written on.”

McLaughlin has said the fight between Bulga and Rio Tinto has taken its toll on residents.

“Been nearly seven years [since their Supreme Court win] and the locals here are absolutely worn out from it,” he said.

The convoy will depart Warkworth Oval at 10am and will ride along Wallaby Scrub Road, before finishing at Macnamara Park in Broke at about 2pm.

[Image Source: OzRoads].

Bulga Road protest against Warkworth coal mine

BY JARROD MELMETH

Bulga residents are hopeful of a strong show of public support for their daily protest vigil at the Warkworth coal mine.

Residents have been protesting daily next to Rio Tinto's coal mine, which has approval from the NSW Government to expand towards the town, through a bush land area of high importance to the Wonnarua Aboriginal people, and through the convict-built Wallaby Scrub Road.

The expansion was approved by the NSW Government last November following a campaign by local residents against the project that lasted six years.

Bulga Resident Rob McLaughlin says the way the community has been treated by Rio Tinto and the NSW Government is disgusting.

"Two courts have forensically examined the application of Rio Tinto and said the project should not proceed."

"We are here today to stand up and say this should not be happening. This expansion of the mine will see the decimation of our historic town"

The mine has seen two court cases against its approval. The government has since re-approved the mine, and removed local residents' right to challenge the merits of that decision in court.

Bulga Residents Heated Over Proposed Mine Expansions

BY BRIDGET GUNN

Two Wonnarua Aboriginal elders have been arrested in a peaceful roadside protest in Bulga.

The protest was against the proposed expansion of the coal mine in Bulga, which would destroy many sites of Aboriginal and European cultural heritage, and would have a large impact on the residents of Bulga.

Source: ABC News

Rob McLaughlin from Bulga says the proposed expansion would destroy the endangered woodland and the Wallaby Scrub Road, part of the Great North Road.

"They are going to destroy a world unique, critically endangered Warkworth Sands Woodland, along with the Wallaby Scrub Road, which is part of the Great North Road, built back in the 1820's."

According to McLaughlin, the residents of Bulga are not going down without a fight.

"Rio Tinto don't know whats hit them," he says.

"The people of Bulga are firm in our resolve, we will be there every day. It is part of our European history and we are not giving up.

"If they need to get the police out every day, they will have to."

Wackworth mine pit aerial
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

The Lock the Gate Alliance Inc Facebook page has received a huge amount of support,with over 60,000 responses.

McLaughlin believes that this is because the public is realising the full national scope of the governments control in issues such as that in Bulga.

"It's not just about this little tiny place called Bulga, it's a bigger question. It's about peoples rights in New South Wales to protect their environment and their homes."

For more information see https://www.facebook.com/Lock.The.Gate.Alliance/

Bulga and Rio Tinto Battle Continues

Bulga residents have accused the government of colluding with Rio Tinto to expand the Mount Thorley Walkworth mine.

Rio Tinto lodged an application on November 12 to expand the mine into Saddle Ridge, the natural barrier between Bulga and the mine.

Previously Rio Tinto planned to expand the Walkworth mine to within 2.6 kilometres of Bugla. After challenges from local group, Bulgra Mibrodale Progress Association, the application was over turned by the NSW Land and Mineral Association and is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court by Rio Tinto and NSW Government.

John Krey, vice president of the BMPA, said that the move is a breach of faith.

“The deed in 2003 and the Land and Environment court says they can’t touch [Saddle Ridge],” he said.

The New South Wales Minerals Council claim the expansion has received over 900 positive submissions.

Mr Krey said claims the positive submissions where the result of a marketing campaign by Rio Tinto and the Minerals Councils.

“You can tell the same lie 900 times but that doesn’t make the truth,” Mr Krey said, “we’re only a small town of 350 people; we don’t have the financial resources to do a campaign that the Minerals Councils and Rio Tinto have. So, yeah, they got a lot of submissions but you’ve got to look at the meat of the submission, and I think if you look at the submissions that said ‘no’ to the mine you’ll find there’s a lot of meat in that.”