A week after arrests took place, at a protest site on Putty Road near Bulga, those opposed to the closure of the historic Wallaby Scrub Road remain steadfast in their determination to keep the road open.
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Two Aboriginal elders were arrested and other protesters would have been unless they left the site last Monday to allow Rio Tinto to carry-out blasting on their Warkworth open cut mine.
A similar stand-off took place on Wednesday with police arriving and telling the protesters to move on because the company wanted to blast again.
This time the protesters opted to walk out of the exclusion zone in heavy rain resulting in the closure of Putty Road for more than an hour.
Protesters have now made ‘camp’ at the intersection of Putty and Wallaby Scrub roads where they are collecting signatures for the petition to stop the closure of Wallaby Scrub Road.
With a camp fire and billy at the ready the Bulga residents are regularly chatting to travellers explaining their plight.
Talking to The Argus on Monday the group said they were determined to stay for however long it takes to save Wallaby Scrub Road and the Warkworth Sands Woodland from being mined.
Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association’s (BMPA) Anne Maree McLaughlin said it was no longer just about the village because if the road and Warkworth Sands are mined it will destroy Bulga.
Wallaby Scrub Road sits in the middle of the expanded Warkworth mine which gained final approval last year after a six year battle between Rio Tinto and the BMPA.
A spokesperson for Rio Tinto said "Wallaby Scrub Road runs through the middle of the mining area approved by the independent Planning Assessment Commission (PAC). "Closing the road is essential to allow ongoing operations at Mount Thorley Warkworth, which provides work for 1300 people and supports hundreds of other businesses.
"This issue was considered as part of a rigorous process by the PAC before it approved the continuation of mining in this area, on the basis that the benefits outweigh the impacts.
"We believe there can be a strong future for both the village of Bulga and Mount Thorley Warkworth, and we remain committed to working with community members to achieve this outcome."
Singleton Council voted against a recommendation to close Wallaby Scrub Road at its monthly meeting in June.
The vote marked the sixth time Council had opposed the closure of the road. Built by convict labour in the 1830s the road runs between Bulga and Warkworth and forms part of the Great Northern Road.
Despite Council’s vote legal advice obtained by Council’s general manager Jason Linnane suggests the NSW Government can legally close the road.
“We have advised the mining company of our vote against their request for us to close the road but under changes to the 1993 Road Acts our legal advice says the government has a number of options to close the road,” Mr Linnane said.
Mr Linnane said Council sought the advice because should it happen they needed to look into the impact on the community.
We have to consider, in particular, the traffic impact on the Golden Highway intersection with Putty Road at Mount Thorley.
A spokesperson from the Office of Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the Minister will now seek detailed legal advice from Roads and Maritime Services on Wallaby Scrub Road.
A descendant of early settlers the Cobcroft family from Broke who owned Charlton Homestead on Charlton Road Caroline Graham said Wallaby Scrub Road Road was one section of the World Heritage (UNESCO) listed Convict Trail, but is threatened with destruction by the expansion of Rio Tinto’s open cut mine.
“The Convict Trail is also on the Australian National Heritage list (from 2007), and is described as “nationally significant” and as “one of Australia’s national treasures, she said.
“Could the NSW Government really be allowing open cut mining to destroy a section of this “national treasure ?
“However the historic road is owned by Singleton Council, which has voted against selling it to Rio Tinto, so at present the mine cannot proceed.”