Cartoon forces state heritage backdown.

Image, Spring Valley Cattle Dip. Courtesy, The gympie Times.

There seems to be no end to the stupidity of the heritage listing craziness that seems to sweep our nation at all levels. It seems that anything that has any age on it has a chance of being heritage listed, there was a public dunny listed the other day in Gympie! No bullshit. It is considered “a rare surviving example of an
early public toilet featuring Art-Deco motifs, demonstrating approaches to public hygiene in the early 20th century.”

Seriously, if you live in Queensland and have a derelict thunder box type crapper in the back yard that you just haven’t got round to getting rid of, do so now. It is possible that someone will list the damn thing on the heritage register, require you to restore it complete with original kerosene tin receptacle, and the appropriate newspapers from 1935 for hygiene purposes. You could then be compelled to open it to the public.

Recently a blue started between the regional council and the Department of Environment and Resource Management over plans to heritage list a derelict cattle dip:

Spring Valley Dip, a structure that would lead to your prosecution if you built it yourself (especially if you invited the public to visit), is apparently all ours if we want it.

Gympie Regional Council is currently resisting State Government moves to have us pay for safety improvements associated with plans to list it on the state's Heritage Register. But even with improvements, the site would remain dangerous, according to the council's Planning Committee chairman Ian Petersen.

One proposed safety improvement is a non-heritage steel grate to stop people falling into the potentially toxic water in the 1m deep concrete-lined pit, once used to poison ticks and parasites on cattle bound for the Gympie saleyards. No safety improvements have been proposed for the rotting timber and iron structure or the far from childproof fences that surround it.

Cr Petersen says the Department of Environment and Resource Management has rejected a proposal to fill the pit with roadbase. … "It's a hazardous site and a contaminated site.”

Now, a new report which is not online reveals that the decision may be under review, partly due to a cartoon by Jeff Douwes which was printed along with the report, and ridicules the heritage listing idea. It is also unfortunately not online.

“Councillors at their planning meeting this week heard that the Queensland Heritage Council may be reconsidering their decision at a meeting this month.”

“This is an indication that they may not proceed with it, because it is very unusual for a decision to be held over (and reconsidered),” committee chairman Ian Petersen told the meeting.”

“Then he added, “We need to acknowledge the assistance of The Gympie Times because the committee had in their possession a copy of the (Jeff’s comment ) Cartoon.”

“Mr. Douwes was somewhat bemused today as he considered his new role as informal heritage policy advisor and power broker.”