A small remote community bordering the Bloomfield River is concerned about the privatisation of the Bloomfield River wharf putting Douglas Shire residents on the south side of the river at risk. In fact the issue extends to three Shires - Cook Shire, Douglas Shire and the Wujal Shire Aboriginal Council.

One of the many issues being addressed by a working group of 10 concerned locals involves the privatization of the Bloomfield River Wharf, which also includes the gazetted public area and its adjoining public purpose block.  The locals are asking many questions in particular why was there a  change in the land tenure at the wharf and the public blocks to freehold?

This change in land tenure was only drawn to the locals attention when the owners both past and present put notices up informing the community of intending road closures of the two gazetted roads in the the wharf area.

Angie Dick, resident and a member of the Bloomfield River Wharf working group and her husband Harry (mooring his boat in the picture) are concerned not only for themselves but also the wider community.

“For 30 years the community has fought against these road closure applications  (three to date) successfully, but it is now apparent a permanent solution must be found,” Angie said.

The working group has now expanded to include 10 locals.  They are currently working together to produce a report to be presented to the three Shires, Cook Shire, Douglas Shire and the Wujal Shire Aboriginal Council.

“It has taken nearly 9 months of research and documenting our findings and the report is almost complete.   It will be put out to the community for their perusal, comment and input before presenting these findings to the Cook Shire Council, the Douglas Shire Council and the Wujal Shire Aboriginal Council. As this issue involves residents of all three shires, Douglas in the south, Cook in the north and Wujal in the west there must be co-operation to help resolve this very important issue once and for all,” said Angie.

Mayor Julia Leu attended one of the working group meetings “and she has first hand knowledge of the issue”, commented Angie.

“The impact on the Douglas Shire residents has been very worrying.  It is only in recent years that there have been roads and bridges on the southside of the Bloomfield River (Douglas Shire part). Prior to that, access from their properties has been by dingy,  to obtain groceries, fuel, mail , etc everyone went to the wharf and walked to Ayton through the mangroves .  Even today the properties on the coast outside the mouth of the river (which include the Wilderness Lodge) have no road access and are totally dependent on the wharf. Everyone of these properties is in the Douglas Shire,” says Angie.

Angie’s niece, Amy Bell, was very concerned when a picture was published of a large crocodile on the Bloomfield River, sunning himself only metres away from where Amy’s elderly Uncle Harry  is forced to tie his boat up in the mangroves in order to access the local shop, closest road and mail service.  In a letter to Newsport she writes:

“My uncle is now in his nineties but unfortunately my uncle’s plight is shared amongst other long term residents of the Douglas Shire who don’t have road access to their homes.  With the privatization of the Bloomfield Wharf the community is without much needed access to safe mooring areas for their dingy’s.  This area has long been safely utilised by Bloomfield, Wujul Wujul and the Douglas Shire residents as both a boat mooring area and a popular and safe fishing spot.  Unless there is a drastic move very soon to open the Bloomfield Wharf to the public, our Douglas Shire residents will continue to be at great risk of a crocodile attack,” commented Amy.

The issue of safety is of great concern to these residents.  As the wharf is privately owned and there is no public infrastructure, the residents have no choice but to tie up their boats to a mangrove near deep water (just past the wharf).  Angie commented that “there are other issues concerning Douglas Shire properties who have alternative power, so not only are groceries but also fuel and gas are being regularly transported by dingy to their homes. These bulky items are very awkward to load into boats especially when one must keep an eye out for crocodiles,” she said.

Newsport awaits further comment from Mayor Julia Leu and the result of the Working Group report being presented to Council.