This comment by Julie Hagans is so good I want to make it a post in its own right:
Doesn’t one day make a difference. I just completed my morning walk 50 minutes round trip walked the kids to Kenmore South State School and down through the corridor for the proposed Kenmore Bypass. There is increased humidity in the air and light rain over night. All of a sudden winter seems over and spring is peeking around the corner. Dark clouds are gathering in the distance and overcast up above. When I walked through here 2 days ago I see and feel a noticeable difference. The birds are particularly active this morning all varieties I can see and hear.
A group of rainbow lorrikeets came swooping through over my head and my border collie/kelpie cross dog couldn’t believe it, her eyes and ears watching them intently as they fly on, screeching to each other having an absolute ball, it looked like a race.
The part that is most interesting is when I reach about 2/3 down and the knock knock croak croak sounds of the frogs have intensified since i was here yesterday. Today we walked slowly because it was something to really witness the abundance of life in the corridor and the changing of the seasons and though I have witnessed this many times it still leaves me incredulous at the wonder of life and how precious it is.
As I moved on I came to the massive gum tree at the bottom of the off leash area and a magnificent kookaburra up high but looking down at us broks into a laugh and it just gave me goose bumps. I looked up at the kookaburra and think to myself I just have to let every one know today how important it is to save this gum tree for you, as it is right in the middle of the corridor and would have to be removed for the proposed road.
To save the creek from obliteration the home of the frogs and the bushes and trees for the lorrikeets to race through. I walked on about another 60 metres and right in front of me another kookaburra stops me in my tracks it is sitting on a branch hanging over a garden fence that backs onto the corridor only about 5 metres away. He or she was looking straight at us and went full throttle with a laugh that left me with no doubt that the wildlife can’t speak for themselves in this whole Kenmore Bypass debarcle but we can. Today I will send my thoughts to the powers that be and I urge all of you in Kenmore and beyond to come and take a serious look at the corridor it’s really beautiful it’s not just the land set side for a possible road. It is magnificent in its own right. A walk or even a short time spent in this area reminds us that our environmental heritage is so very important. The ancient majestic timelessness of the kookaburra sitting proud in the old gumtree. We must protect all of this for all our sakes stand up and be proud of our Australian heritage you don’t have to even leave town to experience the outback it is here in Kenmore right under our noses and infront of our eyes.
Enjoy it, love it, it is to important and precious to let the organizers of the Kenmore Bypass take our environmental heritage from us and all our future generations.
Please write to the politicians and demand on saving our Australian environmental heritage.
22 Comments to “A morning walk in the Kenmore Bypass corridor”
Joan
Julie is spot on. Why would you want another freeway to destroy our environment, our community, our wildlife, especially when there are BETTER ALTERNATIVES and feel absolutely no guilt/ remorse? You know someone once said “evil is an absence of empathy”. Well Julie, you are the opposite of evil. Your views are empowering. I just hope people listen to us.
Victoria
I agree with Julie - I live right on the corridor and for the past three years have nurtured a family of butcher birds. The parents I feed have had three lots of babies and they have brought them to our back deck to feed and drink the water we dupply. I love the sound of the calls and the beauty of these birds. Its been a real treat to watch them grow, see their colours changing and I have a special whistle to let them know I have food for them and within seconds they arrive. Sometimes they call me when the bowl is empty. I would dread the day they were no loonger here. Its amazing that we have this pleasure in a suburb so close to the city. Please write to the policiticans and local newspapers we need to keep this area safe for all of us. Fresh air - its not a luxury - its our right.
Liz Lewis
I have just read the comments by Julie Hagans about the corridor for the Proposed Kenmore Bypass. I just wanted to pass on my thoughts.
I walk my dog most mornings and this morning it was particularly beautiful and as we were walking along a family of Kookaburras broke into chorus. They laughed for such a long time and I thought to myself how sad it is that the “powers that be” are even contemplating removing such wonderful natural beauty. I also hear the frogs and I watch and listen to the many, many beautiful birds playing and chatting to each other as they fly overhead. Quite often we see large hares running through the soccer fields and through the corridor as we walk quite early in the morning. We also see curlews with their young chicks. The wildlife is amazing and it really saddens me to think my family might lose that.
My family loves living in this area because of the fact we have so much nature at our front door. We as a community must do everything in our power to save this beauty we are so very, very fortunate to have at our fingertips.
Please preserve what we have – it is incredibly important.
Kathy(2)
The comments above show what we’re fighting for. I was driving along Ipswich Motorway yesterday - a nightmare and all I could think was THIS is what Bruce Flegg and Margaret de Wit are pushing for, for their own electorate. It’s beyond belief!!
Fred
Only a fool would want the Ipswich Motorway through their suburbs. They are only now upgrading the Ipswich Motorway from 4 lanes to 6 and 8 in some parts. Why would any intelligent person think that 4000 households west of Pinjarra Hills would need 8 lanes! This is the biggest con job known in Queensland! The Kenmore Bypass is all about bringing Ipswich traffic a different way! People aren’t stupid…
Riley
I see Main Roads have traffic counters out on Moggill Road, Kenmore Road and Gem Road. Probably want to see what affect interchanges there will have. I can tell them and save them the trouble - devastating! I don’t think these counters are accurate ways to measure where we drive and extrapolate whether we would use the Kenmore Bypass.
Robert
I see an article in the Courier mail saying the Goodna bypass is back on the table. The land purchased for the purpose is at least to be preserved. Go take a look.
Steph (grade 5)
Last week our grade 5 class from Kennmore South State school were invited to attend frog forest at South Bank. We have done lots of good work at school revegetating the creek for frogs and the richmond birdwing butterfly.
We learnt about the Brisbane River and the creeks that run into it from Ipswich to the sea and how badly it is polluted by all the things that humans do to it.
We also learnt about how important it is to look after all the ecosystem because different bugs & animals all help each other. We learnt about how important it is to look after the grasses & wetlands and trees. So that all the animals have a home.
We found out even the smallest bug is useful we looked at these bugs under microscopes. We saw yabbies and praying mantis. Which the frogs feed on. We had geckos wildlife bring along the predators that feed on frogs. Eastern carpet python, a barn owl and a water dragon, I thought they were really beautiful.
They people running the frog forest for the river festival told us that oil & petrol from the roads can run into the waterways and pollute it, Also rubber from tyres from faster driving & braking is very poisonous to frogs. We were given a lovely book on frogs and it shows that a green tree frog can get cancer from polluted water. Poor frog.
They even told us at the sydney Olympics they had to move the tennis stadium they were builing because the golden bell frog lived there and it was threatened.
I really don’t want the people to build the Kenmore bypass because I think that all the animals and their homes will be destroyed.
Steph’s mum - My 5th grader is pretty smart I doubt that the government & main roads people see it in such terms. This is what we call BIODIVERSITY and they don’t appreciate it at all, but I can assure them that there are many of us that do here in Kenmore. NO KENMORE BYPASS !!!!! NO KENMORE BYPASS !!!!!
Jules
I just read an interesting quote from Bruce Flegg in the Westside news from April this year after the scrapping of the Western Bypass….“Brisbane Forest Park, The Gap, Brookfield, Pullenvale and Samford are critical parts of Brisbane’s green space and environment, and I have joined with local residents for some years to ensure this dwindling and precious green space is protected,” Dr Flegg said. It seems our Kenmore green spaces aren’t quite so “precious” to the member for Moggill……
Steve
Further to that Jules, Bruce Flegg in a letter regarding the final terms of reference for WBTNI dated 1 November, 2007 Bruce Flegg.
States his “concerns for the thousands of residents by the continuing to study the ‘inner’ route through Brookfield, The Gap and Brisbane Forest Park’ and it is a vital issue for those residents.. The inner route would see the construction of a freeway, the size of the Gateway Motorway, through these quiet residential areas.”
Yet here he is less than a year later pushing the beginning of a major motorway at least the size of the Gateway motorway through even more ‘inner inner’ quiet residental areas that is about to have it’s only green space bulldozed.
It seems that the residents as well as the green space of Kenmore are definitely not as ‘precious’ to the member of Moggill.
On his website he is upset about the Goodna Bypass being put back on the agenda again. Right now the people of Kenmore and there is thousands of us as well would rather see the Goodna Bypass go through. I would rather that than the stage 1 & 2 of the Moggill Pocket Sub-Arterail with all the trucks day & night.
Penny Behan
Come on Sunday and hear an update and let us know what the social impact of the Kenmore Bypass is for you! We will pass it on to the appropriate leaders.
Steve
Bruce Flegg’s letter regarding WBTNI final terms of reference can be found on his website under hot issues, Western Brisbane Bypass letter dated 1 November, 2007.
I wonder if he actually considers that Kenmore West through to Kenmore South are part of his electorate. Maybe the recent boundary changes should have incorporated these areas into Indooroopilly electorate. We certainly would have had better representation.
Kathy(2)
I agree - it’s as though this part of his electorate doesn’t exist for Mr Flegg. I said way back can we please secede from Moggill electorate (maybe not here in SOK, probably one of my unaccepted letters to the Courier Mail). I was semi-joking at the time, but as the months have gone by and he still doesn’t seem to see what was blindingly obvious to us from the start (that is, it’s a horror highway, NOT a 3.2km local road), I think we all agree we’d be much better with a member who had a concern for their electorate as a WHOLE, not just select parts of it. Even those select parts will eventually see the bypass wasn’t the answer, but by then it will be too late.
I still can’t believe any rational thinking member would push for such a nightmare in their own electorate. It’s not too late for him to say “I was wrong, there are better alternatives” but unfortunately, with the mindset of the man, that’s very unlikely to happen.
It’s a sorry state of affairs to have a member who gives us no representation and shows no concern for so many of us affected by this road.
Joan
I just wanted to thank everyone for such a great meeting yesterday. It was good to see the Hall packed with people who all had such strong and committed opinions. I am sure Kathy, the politicians (who will be the ones who actually will make the decision on the Kenmore Bypass) will see sense - no-one wants a legacy of wasting precious funds on a white elephant. All the presentations were rational and reasonable and confirmed my belief - we are right. The young girl and her mother - how lovely and special they are. I would love to see the photo’s on the web. The students were very professional and I enjoyed the voting activity we did. Thanks again for the efforts you all made.
carl
Has anyone noticed that the new subdivision “jacaranda…” on Gem Rd has been cancelled? I have heard that the land has been bought back by either 1 - the developers or 2 - the state gov / main roads dept - does anyone know the real story with this? It sounds like it may have been cancelled due to the bypass….hmmmm not good….
David
The Jacaranda subdivision should never have been allowed to be developed by council & developer, it has been one of the contributing factors that have encouraged some people to think that either
A. there would never be a Kenmore Bypass if you knew about it
B. if you didn’t know about the proposed future road corridor as a new person to the area have & there are no signs to tell you, standing looking at the steep hill that you couldn’t guess or imagine that a massive highway would ever come plunging through that narrow neck of steep terrain.
I believe that the council has failed in it’s planning for this area and now they are telling working families they have to accept the Moggill Pocket Sub-Arterial. With all the severe impacts it will have on it’s community (human, flora & fauna)
What if they have made yet more mistakes with planning for this area.
What a bloody awful mistake it will be for the residents of Kenmore.
What if they could spend our money more wisely and actually do something that would help now & in the long term. Like a bridge at Moggill to Wacol would do.
Nooo, but that is too obvious solution, so what are Main Roads & government really up too??? That is really the multi billion dollar question.
Lauren
i saw on the news tonight that there will be a new city at Ripley developed for 125 000 people.
footage showed highways that will connect Ripley to the Centenary Highway.
does anyone know if this new city will be linked to the Ipswich and Brisbane CBDs by rail?
i think for now and in the future, rail for commuter and freight is much more important than highways.
Julie
Lauren,
Rail for commuters is more important than ever in the history of Brisbane.
But I am not sure that our current government is understanding this. All I see is an ever increasing amount of roads and tunnels funnelling cars and trucks to the city.
Not a very smart state!!
Craig Phasey
If you have a watertank with a single tap, putting in an extra pipe to the same tap will not make the tank emtpy any faster. The ‘tap’ for Kenmore and further west is Moggill Road. The Centenary Highway is the ‘tap’ for the Centenary suburbs and the growing area of Springfield. The Centenary Highway is already overfilled so it overflows onto Moggill Road clogging that further.
We need more ‘taps’ not more pipes. This means alternate transport options such as the Bellbowrie bridge and rail.
Craig Phasey
Furether to my last comment, many people think that the Toowong roundabout is the source of problems on the Western Freeway. This is primarily based on the fact that the traffic flow frees up along Milton road past the roundabout. Unfortunately this is not true. Traffic frees up on Milton road because the Toowong Roundabout is a flow control device that regulates the volume of traffic onto Milton Road. If the full volume of Western Freeway traffic were allowed onto Milton Road the jams would be far worse due to cross traffic at the lights.
Putting in a tunnel to the Inner City Bypass will not solve the problem either. The Inner City Bypass is already clogged even with the traffic flow regulated from the Western Freeway. If tyhe full volume of traffic is sent to the ICB then that will stop completely.
As I said above: we need more taps, i.e. out of plane transport siolutions for the whole city. This means multiple transport choices that do not all travel along the same congested corridors.
anon
are there plans to widen or duplicate the inner city bypass?
it seems there will be so much more extra traffic using the inner city bypass [from the Cunningham and Warrego highways that (i assume) would usually travel Ipswich Motorway then Gateway Motorway].
it seems each new road, tunnel and bridge construction causes more congestion - so a new road, tunnel and bridge has to get built! where will it end?
Angus
When are we going to do a walk of the corridor and invite everyone to join us?
The wildlife in the corridor is amazing. I know we can’t walk on the privately owned properties but the parks and DNR land is all connected. The frogs in the grassland area are amazing at the moment - I can’t believe coming out of a drought period there is so much life there. I think the Greens were going to sponsor the walk because they really wanted to do it and for insurance reasons - think that is important given the rough terrain in parts. We need a few signs around etc.