The site
of the Save Smiths Beach campaign since
2000
The view of Smiths Beach from Torpedo Rocks is featured in this TV message
|
At
the start of this century a developer wanted to put a large town
on the beach hillside
vs The community wants to conserve the scenic rural coastline |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
"Never
doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead
Welcome to our campaign to help conserve Smiths Beach, Western Australia: a beautiful part of the Australian coastline.
Have a close look at the current scenic natural / rural landscape, the vegetation, the native wildlife habitat and relatively unspoilt coastline.
Developers, like the former Canal Rocks Pty Ltd, that submitted an inappropriate development plan, to develop a coastal town at Smiths Beach, will seek to exploit the "Tourism" zoning on the site.
The Save Smiths Beach campaign will need your help again, via public submissions to the Busselton Shire Council or other relevant authorities (such as the WA Planning Commission), regarding various stages of any new development process.
Please return to this web site regularly to find out how you can do your part.
The Save Smiths Beach campaign
The Save Smiths Beach campaign is a community campaign specifically to protect the Smiths Beach area from inappropriate development.
This campaign web site acts as a communication tool, information resource, historical archive and internet focus.
Concerned community members take action by attending public meetings, questioning potential developers, writing letters to public forums, contacting decision makers and writing submissions when called upon.
Students from Western Australian high schools and tertiary education campuses contacted the Save Smiths Beach website regularly during the decade of the initial campaign asking for information regarding potential development at Smiths Beach. Young Western Australians identified inappropriate development at Smiths Beach as a major Western Australian concern.
Our Aim Your View
Our aim is to help those interested in the wider community, decision makers, developers and politicians understand their responsibility for only appropriate development at Smiths Beach based on community consensus.
We aim to work in community to maintain the natural asset of Smiths Beach in a way that is forward thinking and of value to all, including future generations of Western Australians.
It is our responsibility to remain alert. Opportunity to speak up as a member of the public is essential in communicating and tends to occur in limited time periods.
About Smiths Beach
Smiths Beach is a beautiful bay south of Yallingup in the south west corner of Western Australia.
Photo by Christian Fletcher - the T-shirt design image.
Many Western Australians, interstate and international visitors have been inspired by the natural beauty of the relatively unspoilt coastline in this area.
A few small coastal hamlets exist. The hamlets cater for summertime holidaymakers and tourists, with a few lucky local residents and an increasing number of holiday houses.
The Danger!
There remains a potential development proposal for this scenic bay. Developments, if they occur, must be guided through public submission, to prioritise aesthetics that improve the intrinsic value of the scenic coastline, maximise visual amenity while minimising visual impacts, enhance beneficial environmental requirements, and secure public safety over and above economic goals for the developer(s).
The paradox of development in an area of scenic beauty
The paradox of any proposed development plan is that the reason for visiting this coastline is its inspirational natural beauty.
By allowing large scale development on the coast we are destroying the main reason why so many people visit and seek to live near the beaches in the south west of Western Australia.
[Top of page]
 |
This web site is the online part of a coastal community campaign. It was voluntarily powered during the height of the campaign by a member of the Surfrider Foundation (Australia) in community with the Smiths Beach Action Group, the officially recognised community advocate group on this issue. |
|
"Most
of the time we live our lives in our own heads, our own space. We
have friends who we can talk to but we keep our innermost thoughts
private. Every now and then something comes along that affects us
all in the same way and we are all on the same wavelength. Usually
it is when our community is threatened and we band together to fight
the threat. We unite with a common aim and the person who we rarely
talk to suddenly becomes a friend. Bob
McKay More Wise Words to consider: "I've always thought that the Australian coast is so precious, and beguiling, and yet formidable, that it should not be in the preserve of just a few; we all of us need some harbour of the heart to sustain us, and for many Australians the coast provides just that. It is both adventure and retreat. Yet if we continue as we are, and devour all that is natural about it even as we admire it, we will end up with a sour taste in the mouth and nothing left to inspire us and a crime on our hands for which future generations will never forgive us." Craig McGregor (in Resource Assessment Commission 1992) "Once these pristine environments are damaged, they are lost forever and cannot be replaced. Our children and our children's children may well look back unfavourably on a generation that permitted such developments." Cr. Wes Hartley (in Special Council Minutes17/12/08) "No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other." "The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life." |
The
vulnerable Western
Ringtail Possum and the endangered
Western
Native Cat (Chuditch)
confirmed sightings at Smiths Beach
Some of WA's unique and western most Tuart trees are found on the Smiths Beach development site
Links:
|
||
 |
SAVE |
SRO |
Smiths Beach News
Smiths
Beach back on the market
- not sold in 2012
28/08/13
The West Australian
Canal Rocks Pty Ltd goes in to liquidation
07/05/13
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Insolvency Notice
Smiths Beach in WA on the market after almost a decade mired in controversy
18/10/12
Jonathan Chancellor
Tourist lot numbers further reduced by WA Planning Commision
Not quite finished: The latest plan was adopted by the Busselton Shire Council on February 23, 2011. But some of the changes since 2009 remain questionable and of concern.
28/01/11
The West Australian
Minister approves Smiths Beach development
Not quite finished: "Final approval will come from relevant planning authorities." The WA Planning Commission will make the final decision.
11/03/10
ABC News Online
"There's been a synergy there, regrettably, between selfish commerce and selfish politics, which is probably peaked around this phenomenon of the lobbyists and these lobby companies which are full of people who do what? I'm not sure. Grease the monkey, and dirty their hands and a few other people in the same process." ...
"Technology,
the internet, means that the effects are there for the world to see forever,
and they're not under your control if you're the agency that's the subject
of the scandal..."
27/12/09
ABC Background Briefing
"David McKenzie, from the company Canal Rocks, is alleged to have lied to the CCC in 2006 when it was investigating the proposal to develop land at Smith's Beach near Yallingup..."
30/11/09
ABC News Online (Video)
Smiths Beach approval to end legal proceedings
(The
legal proceedings threat seems to have done its job)
17/06/09
ABC News Online
Smiths
Beach plans
an 'improvement'
16/06/09
ABC News Online
Smiths
Beach development gets council nod
15/06/09
The West Australian
Council
accepts
Smiths Beach plan
15/06/09
ABC News Online
10/06/09
Busselton~Dunsborough Mail
Changing
tide for Smiths Beach?
10/06/09
Busselton~Dunsborough Mail
Council
to consider revised Smiths Beach plan
09/06/09
ABC News Online
Revised
Smiths Beach project backed
09/06/09
The West Australian
08/06/09
ABC News Online
New
Smiths Beach plan ready for council
08/06/09
The West Australian
Smiths
Beach under discussion again
05/06/09
Busselton Dunsborough Times
EPA
opposes proposed Smiths Beach development
22/04/09
Busselton~Dunsborough Mail
Busselton
Shire welcomes
Smiths Beach
EPA rejection
21/04/09
ABC News Online
EPA
‘no’
to Smiths Beach proposal
21/04/09
The West Australian
Smiths
Beach development
'over the top'
20/04/09
ABC News Online
Save
Smiths Beach
Supporters
Please keep your contact details up to date and encourage your friends and family to join the campaign to Save Smiths Beach.
Thought
for today:
"We want to take care of what we have now. So in the future everyone
can enjoy the same as we do today. That's called sustainability."
For
your research: Media Reports
2000 - 2007
(over 150 articles
and letters)
Australia's
highly respected investigative current affairs program reports on the
Smiths Beach development
30/04/07
ABC Four Corners
Get your Smiths Beach image by a talented Yallingup artist
10/04/07
"Save 'da Hill'" Art Release
Smiths
Beach surfcam
by Coastalwatch.com
