CABLEWAY FAILS TO LIFT OFF
Environmentalists claim victory by ensuring proposal for Gold Coast Hinterland tourist attraction does not see the light of day
CASHED-UP businessmen from an international consortium unveil plan for a $50 million cableway through the Gold Coast Hinterland.
That was the top headline 20 years ago today as the Gold Coast Bulletin unveiled one of the biggest projects ever proposed for the area.
The 11km tourist attraction was to run from Mudgeeraba to the rainforest of Springbrook and was to be the world’s longest.
Naturelink was the brainchild of former Gold Coast mayor Ray Stevens and businessman Terry Morris and had a targeted opening date of early 2000.
Gold Coasters woke up on Tuesday, February 10, 1998 to news of the attraction, which would go on to be a major talking point for more than two years.
It was early 1998 – the Winter Olympic Games were under way, a leading National Party figure talked publicly about the pain of splitting from his wife and Peter Foster was in jail again but still making headlines.
The US President, then Bill Clinton, was under fire for various scandals while there were calls for the Gold Coast City Council to provide more funding for Gold Coast Tourism.
The same headlines are playing out again two decades later as the controversial cable car network was put forward.
Under the proposals, 100 gondolas were to be used on the cableway, providing panoramic views form just above the tree line over the Hinze Dam catchment area.
The cable cars were to travel from an area just west of Mudgeeraba, near the Boomerang Farm golf course, to Springbrook and the Purling Brook Falls.
The project was to mirror the successful Skyrail cableway which links Cairns to Kuranda.
The scheme already had the support of the local tourism industry and the Borbidge Gov- ernment, subject to appropriate environmental requirements.
“You will have a magnificent view back towards the Coast showing all the high rises, the waterways and the beaches and then heading west you will cover some magnifi- cent rainforest before arriving adjacent to the Purling Brook Falls,” Mr Stevens said.
“There is virtually no environmental impact with these types of cableways as the Cairns experience has shown.
“It is one of the most effec- tive ways of educating the public about the environmental and our natural assets.
“Cableways are quiet, pollution-free, only require a footprint in sensitive areas and provide a unique experience for passengers.”
Environmental groups immediately expressed their outrage.
Environmentalists Steve and Sheila Davis, whose property bordered the Naturelink site, stormed a media conference held to launch the proposal. Mr Davis traded verbal blows with Mr Stevens, and declared the project would never get off the ground.
The battle over the project continued through 1998 and survived the Borbidge Government losing office and the election of Peter Beattie’s Labor administration.
Protests stretched on into the year 2000 when the project was finally canned after an aggressive campaign from Hinterland residents and environmental groups who argued the tourist attraction would cause severe damage to the Hinterland.
Mr Stevens, later a State MP, revived the project in 2014 but it was shelved again the following year after the Palaszczuk Government was elected.