HILL END COMMON take-over byNPWS UPDATE.

“HILL END COMMON” take-over by NPWS “UPDATE”
Further to my earlier post on this subject, 27 March there is a public meeting to be held on the 14th April from 2 to 5 pm in the Royal Hall at Hill End.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the implementation of the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service “Hill End Historic Site Master Plan 2004.
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/parks/masterplanHillEndHS.pdf
There are three main objectives to this plan; the second objective is the one most likely to effect us as amateur prospectors.
Page 7 Objective 2
NPWS Conservation and Management.
On pages 10 &11 there is a short summary of each of the policies within Objective 2
Policy 4.1.1 With regard to natural landscape conservation.
Policy 4.3.1 With regard to mining cultural landscape conservation.
Policy 4.5.1 with regard to contemporary cultural landscape conservation.
The above policy, 4.5.1 deals with the development and management of the identified character zones of which there are seven, see page 68.
Zone one is the current area that NPWS manages, the other six zones including the H E Common are the zones they are looking to take over.
Any one who is reasonably familiar with the area will realise just how much country these zones cover, some seven thousand acres I am led to believe.
If NPWS do get control of the country within these zones and based on their attitude to amateur prospecting in other areas they control, the Copeland goldfields and the Kiandra goldfields are two examples, then there is a very strong chance that we will be shut out of yet another important goldfield.
It goes without saying that there is no time for apathy on this issue given that the public meeting is just over a fortnight away, it would be great if as many of us prospectors could attend this meeting and put up a strong showing to try and protect our access to this great area.
Unfortunately myself and a couple of fellow detectorists will be mixing it with fellow Victorian detectorists in the Golden Triangle on that day and won’t be able to attend the meeting.
If anyone can make it to the meeting you will need to contact the Hill End NPWS office on 02 63378206 to register your attendance, apparently there will be council and other officials along with locals at the meeting.
The Master Plan mentions on many pages the importance of having a healthy tourist presence to keep the village viable, NPWS should be made aware in no uncertain terms that the majority of prospectors that frequent the area represent repeat business to the commercial business in the village including the two NPWS run camping grounds, rather than the one visit type general tourist.
Put bluntly, it will be a bloody shame if we get locked out of this fantastic prospecting area; the above meeting may well be our one and only shot at keeping the area open to prospecting.
Lets hope there will be a favourable outcome from this meeting.
Cheers, Auoptimist.

Have read a bit more of the Master Plan and its all there as has been put. There are even proposals to permit "lifestyle developments" in the Tambaroora zone 4 area for a start.

I will make a point of being there on the 14th and would hope that anyone whom has an interest in the future of gold fossicking/detecting will be there as well.

Or else we will just lose any access or have such onerous restrictions on our activities as to make it impossible.

Hi Mullockgrubber,
Great to see you will be attending the meeting at Hill End on April 14, I hope you won't be the only representative of the prospecting community present.
Also I hope the forum moderators see fit to keep this post at the top of the list as they have done with the pertition above, at least till the 14th of April.
If we loose out on this issue it will be a great blow to the many prospectors that frequent the Hill End goldfields.
One can only hope that those forum members who live within striking distance of Hill End will also be there on the day to push for a positive outcome on this issue.
Between now and April 14 it's hoped the word will spread, particularly to the various detecting and prospecting clubs who have outings to Hill End and we do infact have sufficient numbers at the meeting to have some impact on the final outcome.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

I made this a sticky at least till the 14th April and this will let members see how things are going without having to search for the topic

cheers dave

Thank you, this matter has the potential to impact on many people as time goes on.

Hi Davsgold,
Many thanks for the sticky, we are going to need all the help we can muster to win this one.
At this stage I am surprised at the lack of interest on this topic, lets hope there is more interest not too far down the track, time is short.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

We should also mention that there are always a lot of prospectors that come through Hill End so there is always money put into the Hill End economy which includes National Parks so for that reason there needs to be a Fossicking Area for us !!!

I would say this is a CRITICAL issue for everyone on this forum.

Thanks AUoptimist for bringing it to attention of members.

Mate – forget the trip to Vic. This is much more important. Vic Gold will still be there but this meeting will only happen once.
I have tried to excite some interest in pushing back on this from my pollies wish list post and other posts but to be honest for the size of the forum the response is disappointing.

We have to get off collective arses and be heard. This REAL AND PRESENT DANGER at Hill End is the moment to decide if you want to fight for a future or get walked over.

I have yet to have the pleasure of detecting in Hill End --never been there but want to go.

The history of NPWS to such areas is TOXIC TO PROSPECTORS AND FOSSICKERS. THEY WILL LOCK IT UP OR RESTRICT IT TO THE POINT WHERE IT IS USELESS. MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT THIS.

We need to be at this meeting and in some numbers to make sure the green machine does not do us over.

I have decided I will go to the meeting (from the ACT so a good 10 hours return drive). Maybe I will get some coil time in, but most likely not much if any. But this is so important. At least I will be able to say: “I tried”. Will you?

If you have ever found gold at Hill End then you also need to be there. If you have other prospector mates from other forums or not members anywhere – get them to attend please. Rouse them up!!

Can someone who is plugged into PMAV let them know about this. You never know they may want to help.

Get inspired because we need you.

The Diggers Oath (from Eureka)
We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.

This is NSW’s 2012 Eureka so make your stand.

Ufortuneately when this meeting is taking place i will be undergoing surgery for a tumor in my bladder.So with all that happening i'm afaid i wont be on deck for a while yet.For those who are going may i suggest that as soon as possible someone contacts glenwoodley@heapsix.net .au. He is involved with or has contacts to the Hillend historical society.Pointing out the benefits of unrestricted access to the golden gully and tambaroora fields by our members and others...(which must number in the thousands yearly)..will i am sure be self evident to this group of people. If some approach can be made to the local publican of the Royal and if possible through him to the rest of the business people there,in an affable and engageing way...(sucking up to them),might be a tactic worth pursuing given the little time left for members to organise. To all those members who are reading and tut-tutting I say hear is your chance if you wish to have stood for anything in your whole life, if your life to date has been a same old same old self-centered drudgery , then hear the call of the bugle..it was once... in another age a call to arms, it is now a call to YOU and YOU TO UNITE AT OUR HILLEND AND JUST AS IT TOOK A LOT OF EFFORT FOR THE MEN OF 1855 TO FORGOE THE COMFOFTS OF THEIR HOMES FOR THE RIGHTS OF FREEMEN.SO IS IT TIME FOR ALL YOU YOUNG MEN AND OLD OF TODAY TO UNITE UNDER THE SOUTHERN STARS AND PROTECT OUR RIGHTS.

HI Imadogman,
Mate, many thanks for your comments, very well put, it's great to see someone has the "balls" to say what needs to be said.
As you mentioned in your post the interest by other NSW prospectors to-date is disappointing to say the least, lets hope that your comments will stir the interest and we will see a lot more inividuals becoming involved in this issue.
For myself I am locked into being away on the 14th of April on three fronts but am currently trying to rearange my timetable to be at the meeting.
To the other forum members who have shown interest in this important issue, many thanks.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

With the very possible loss of being able to prospect in the Hill End area, as we know it to day it’s probably about time we as prospectors sort some help from NSW SHOOTERS AND FISHERS PARTY.
They have an interesting paper on their website titled:
Position Statement and Action Plan On:
FAIR RECREATIONAL ACCESS.
http://www.shootersandfishers.org.au/files/3/4099161461/position-statement---recreational-access-version-3rd-february-2011-.pdf
This paper is well worth a read as it covers more than just shooting and fishing as well as many other outdoor hobbies and pursuits.
Given that a good number of NSW forum members both hunt and fish and in all probability voted for this party then it follows that we should enlist their support to try and stop the ever diminishing land that we as prospectors have access to.
Do any of our NSW forum members have any contacts within the S&F Party? If so they might be able to get the ball rolling for the prospecting fraternity in NSW.
Sure as night follows day if we don’t make a stand on the issues of land available for prospecting we will have no alternatives but to go “cross border” for a bit of prospecting.
Stoppsy and Wombat et al I’m sure would make us all very welcome if we headed south to their goldfields and removed some of the metallic junk and lift some of their gold.
ROSSCO,
I hope your surgery has a favourable outcome and your out swinging again soon, thanks too for your comments.
Cheers, Auoptimist.

Its not just detecting - its anything to do with the outdoors and in National parks
Its fishing - prospecting - camping - fossicking -caravanning - 4wding or even just bush walking into certain areas, once these areas are locked up - they never reopen them and look to add even more

Auoptomist,

I will post this thread on the Alluvial Gold Prospectors site and spread the word.

Cheers
Fly_Dirt

Hi Fly_Dirt,
Many thanks for passing on the information, hope to have further details from another source that is more current and closer to the real situation as it stands at the moment.
At the end of the day we still need as many people at the meeting on the 14th of April, those attending the meeting need to register with the Hill End NPWS office PH 02 63378206, not quite sure why, may have something to do with a sausage sizzle, catering, who knows.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

I spoke to Rita Bently President of the PMAV and she is very sympathetic to the cause.

She is sending me 20 copies of the DVD they made (see the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEIqEl39QbM ) as well as some copies of the Eureka Echo - the PMAV's magazine. I intend to distribute the DVD selectively to some of the movers and shakers and businesses at the Hill End meeting. Hopefully it will help deomonstrate that fossicking is part of an integrated and sustainable future for Hill End -- and that locking it all up will ultimately be bad for the town itself.

It would be good if as many forum members as possible could show up at the meeting to show solidarity to maintaining fossicking access and making the point that as a group we matter.

Could be a good weekend -- a few beers; bit of fossicking; and attend the meeting. I'm also looking for someone to show me around the area. Woof. Woof.

Remember:

No point whinging about what's gone if you did nothing to keep it!

We need to become access activists if we want to keep good areas open and get access to others.

Sounds like just another greedy land grab by the Green arm of the NPWS.
I would have liked to have been there but wont be able to attend due to prior commitments. It seems so sneaky how they have arranged the meeting without much warning. Typical of the Radical Green Movement.
Might be time to go to the top and E-mail Bazza the Premier?

Just to clarify. I believe the 2004 master plan above is old will be replaced by a new/updated master plan that will be introduced/presented by NPWS at the Hill End meeting on the 14th. The link below mentions the new plan will be available from the 14th and can be commented on until 14th of May.

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/media/DecMedia12031301.htm

Tributer

Hi Tributer,
Thanks for the update, I only became aware of the new plan a few hours ago, thanks also for the link, I will have a look.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

So the meeting on the 14th April will reveal the new “Master Plan”.

It will be very interesting to read it and hear what NPWS have to say.

I hope it takes into account the need to Give Fossickers a Fair Go by recognising:

• the living heritage value of 160 years of continuous and ongoing gold extraction by prospectors, miners and fossickers at Hill End
• the rare significance of Hill End in NSW as an area that is viable for casual gold fossicking
• the iconic nature of Hill End as a fossicking destination for thousands of visitors from all over Australia
• the very low level of environmental impact of modern fossicking techniques (metal detecting, sluicing and panning)
• the need to maintain the maximum areas available within the zone to fossicking, excluding reasonable and negotiated no go areas (NOT PRIME FOSSICKING LOCATIONS) for genuine and demonstrable conservation of the buildings and ambience of the town precinct
• the need to maintain the ability of fossickers to bush camp as well as use the town amenities
• the significant contribution of the fossicking fraternity to the ongoing sustainability of Hill End both as a viable economic community
• the need to balance the needs of local community with the needs and aspirations of others who live elsewhere
• the opportunity for Hill End to showcase itself as a community that engages with, rather than discourages, fossickers and prospectors. It can only be hoped that such an example would encourage other areas in NSW to consult with fossickers on how to make their towns and regions fossicker friendly and capture some the of the visitor trade that is travelling to Victoria and Western Australia because NSW has locked itself up.

If it can do these things it will address the dismal tunnel vision that was presented in the 2004 report.

For fossickers and prospectors that report was astonishing for its lack of appreciation of the cultural significance of fossicking in Australia and NSW and its financial impact on a small and isolated community. Artists come and go and historians may visit a few times but fossickers will keep coming back year after year.

NOT ONCE does fossicking or prospecting even get a mention in the 120 pages of the slick, consultant-speak document that would have cost a pretty penny for taxpayers. That is a truly remarkable omission. Hello!! It brings into question the motivation and ability of NPWS to manage the zone as a whole for the benefit of the broad community not just the historians, the artists, the greenies, and National Parks zealots etc. They totally overlooked a critical stakeholder group.

Let’s hope the new plan is a vast improvement upon the old one and formalises the rights of fossickers in this critical NSW goldfield.

Stay tuned.

HOWEVER PLEASE COME TO THE MEETING IF YOU CAN.
THE MORE FOSSICKERS WHO SHOW UP THE BETTER THE DEMONSTRATION OF OUR WORTH AND INTEREST.
WE CAN WAVE THE FLAG AND HAVE A FEW BEERS AS WELL. THEN GO FIND SOME NUGGETS!

Just h ad the pleasure of talking to ,,imadogman RE. THE MEETING AT hillend ON THE 14TH APRIL. iT WOULD BE SO HELPFUL IF HE WERE JOINED THERE BY as MANY WHO CAN ATTEND. As he so eloquently pointed out in his post this evening there is a checklist of many questions that need to be put to the NPWS at this time. i emplore the moderators of the forum to please contact him and allow him to speak on behalf of the members for what he has to say on this matter is forthright and succinctly put. that is down to earth and clearly stated. As i understand they are calling for submissions from the public by 14th May every effort should be made with collaboration of our top minds ..aca.. people like imadogman,to formulate an official submission on behalf of the members of this forum or at least on the behalf of the NSW members. come on people...we need to hear from youall out there...ROSSCO

G'day rossco

I hear you 100% the more that can go the Hill End in person the better, for those who can not be there then Imadogman has my consent to speak on their behalf.

I am the only NSW ADMIN on here but I am sure the rest of the ADMIN team here would agree with this.

Imadogman has some very good though out ideas to put forward to NPWS. lets hope this turns out well for all.

cheers dave

Gday guys I would gladly sign a petition if posted on the forum like NT.

Cheers

Mike.

Hi IMADOGMAN,
Your last reply is right on the money, very well put.
I have sent you a PM.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

Hello All,

I have recently spoken with a NSW parliamentary pollie from the Shooter and Fishers Party regarding the NPWS expansion in Hill End.
They are now in possession of the master plan (see link below) and are now reviewing the document and considering what can be done. I expect to get a call back in the coming days and will keep you informed. They mentioned that they hope to have a representative(s) at the meeting on Saturday 14th April 2012 at Hill End.

The shooters and fishers party can be contacted via there website http://www.shootersandfishers.org.au/ and directly at NSW parliament house.

Lets support these guys as they can stop these recreational lockouts from happening.

Cheers,

Firefly.

Link To NPWS Hill End Master Plan
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/parks/masterplanHillEndHS.pdf

Link To NPWS News Release Re Meeting on 14th April 2012 and Latest Master Plan.
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/media/DecMedia12031301.htm

Davsgold,Thank you for your authorization to ..imadogman... to speak on our behalf... He has the ability to think on his feet and is as eloquent a speaker as any i've heard. if he was to report to you directly , then given the cut of date for submissions is May 14th, i'm sure that we can then organise a more collaborative approach involving at least yourself and whatever forces we can bring to bear. I will be at WINDEYER over easter and will try to spread word of whats happening to all and sundry. As i have to prepair for surgery by 13th i cant get to the meeting but i will be back on my feet come the end of this month. thanks for the vote of confidence in imadogman,,and for your support in general.yours under the Southern Stars, ROSSCO

Hi FIREFLY,
Many thanks for coming on-board on this vital issue at Hill End and a special thanks for contacting the Shooters and Fishers party, well done.
However, I would like to point out that the link you provided is for the "Hill End Historic Site Master Plan 2004" that has now been replaced by a new version that will be presented at the HE meeting on April 14.
At this point in time we do not know what it contains.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

Hi AUOptomist,

Yes I noticed the media release re the revised master plan and appended it to my original post.
I have also forwarded the media release to the Shooters And Fishers Pollie that I am in contact with in the NSW parliament so he is across the latest developments.

With help from the pollie's we may well be able to stop this as they can bring pressure to bear on the relevant bodies etc.

Cheers,

Firefly.

Hi FIREFLY,
Thanks again for your effort on this matter, it's great to see the support for this issue starting to snowball.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

SITUATION UPDATE SUNDAY 8 APRIL: HILL END DRAFT MASTER PLAN

On Saturday 14 there will be a public unveiling/briefing about the DRAFT new Hill End Master Plan.

The public then has a month to provide feedback on the draft. Presumably then NPWS (or the consultants they employ) will then “consider” those comments before coming out with a final master plan. We have no idea when that will be.

It is possible that the new draft may already take into account some of our fossicking concerns. However the detail of the draft is unknown and it is just as possible that we have been ignored again or given unsatisfactory consideration (such as lots of no go areas and tight restrictions).
Certainly the way fossicking was ignored in the 2004 plan means we can be rightfully skeptical. This is especially so when there is no anecdotal evidence of consultation with the fossicking community in the lead-up to this draft.

At this stage our best estimate is that somewhere around 15 fossickers will turn up to hear firsthand what is proposed by the new draft plan and to represent fossicking interests by their presence. Considering the short notice, that is not a bad outcome. However the more the merrier so if you are still undecided, then jump on board. At least you will get some detecting time in and meet some of the other forum members face to face.

We plan to assemble at the War Memorial, which is not far from the town hall. Assembly will be from 1:15PM to enable us to meet and mingle before the formal meeting is held (2:00PM-5:00PM we are told).

Our presence at the meeting is our best chance to provide first hand feedback on the draft and to mix with other members of the Hill End community who have a strong interest in the way Hill End will be managed into the future.

I have prepared some basic points that I will seek to make at the meeting on behalf of the forum. Thank you for that honour. As it is a public meeting no doubt others will also have things to say. I will report back to the forum after the weekend.

Looking forward, it is also in our interests to provide a more substantial written submission to the draft master plan. AU Optimist and I are willing to coordinate and finalise such a submission but we will need help of forum members to work it up. If you have knowledge or skills (such as planning consultant/engineer/accountant/report writing/editing) that can help, please PM both of us, or give us a call. Imadogman -AH: 02 62589302; Mobile: 0458 713 303 and AuOptimist AH: 02 49437462; Mobile: 0412 437 462).

The following media release link below provides more details about what NPWS is saying about the meeting and the draft.
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/media/DecMedia12031301.htm

So, six days to go! See you there. Woof Woof!!

Good to see others there so shall look forward to meeting everyone. Certainly only one month to put submissions in is hardly public consultation.