Black Swan supporters on wrong side of lake history

WITH all the bickering occurring with Black Swan Lake, I decided to investigate the controversy surrounding this topic.

I found out where this waterhole was located, and to my surprise it is located in the midst of the Gold Coast Turf Club grounds. I checked with the Queensland Government Land Title Searches and where this Black Swan Lake is situated is Lot 1 RP221016 (Block Description) 1/ RP221016 (Legal Description), the physical street address is 6-8 Gold Market Dr, Bundall.

It is owned by the GCCC and as Tom Tate so correctly described its use, it was a borrow pit from the 1970s when the Gold Coast Turf Club was officially formed. Soil was taken to fill in areas of the fledgling Turf Club grounds. Soil had to be returned to this borrow pit to return 6-8 Gold Market Dr to its original condition.

A further historical check on this area revealed this entire area was a flat basically tree-less plain that was once according to Wikipedia a large cane plantation, with the Nerang River flowing to the south of this property.

It also shows there is a very much smaller creek running to the north of the map as displayed as part of a very large photograph of the entire Gold Coast at the Southport Yacht Club. This photograph has a date of 1936, with 16 areas of the Gold Coast defined. Now that I understand some of the early history of the Gold Coast, I cannot understand the sudden interest in wildlife within this particular area when this precinct is a dedicated thoroughbred horse racing precinct with the land in question a registered parcel of land with QLD Lands Title Office held by the GCCC.

On further investigation, it does appear that a person who has been leading this exercise is self proclaimed Gold Coast Wildlife Commissioner Sally Spain. On checking her bonafides, Wikipedia listed her as an Australian Greens Candidate for the Gold Coast Federal Seat of Forde in the 2013 Federal Election.

I have checked out this area personally and to the west of the Turf Club is a huge body of water named Clear Island Lake which appears to be home to many species of birds as well as large parklands to the west which also contain an AFL and cricket ground and a bowling club. The area of 6-8 Gold Market Dr is within the midst of horse racing stables and would be a very difficult area for members of the public to use because of horse training activity within this area.

Mayor Tom Tate provided a very balanced summary of the early history of the Gold Coast Turf Club and it also seems to correlate with my findings.

ERIK CESLIS