Broken bottle prank ‘horrific’
Swimmers were horrified by the discovery of a jagged broken bottle near an entrance to the popular White Gates swimming hole in Aniseed Valley.
Tasman district resident Cathy Hughson said she was one of about 30 people enjoying a hot afternoon by the Aniseed River on Monday when the bottle was found by a father who had swum to a type of rock ford to help his child get into the water.
‘‘I was right there,’’ Hughson said. ‘‘[The bottle] was sitting on a ledge where the water flowed over into the pool.’’
The bottle could not be seen from the rock ford; it was only because the father swam up from the pool that he spotted it.
‘‘This would have caused significant injury if a person had stood on this,’’ Hughson said. ‘‘It also appears to have been placed deliberately in an access place with the point of the base sticking up.’’
People enjoying the Tasman District Council riverside reserve were ‘‘absolutely horrified and disgusted’’, she said. ‘‘People were wild; that’s so dangerous.’’
An injury would have been horrendous, she said. ‘‘There’s no cellphone reception up there.’’
Hughson said members of one outraged family told her their two girls had been at the same spot two or three weeks earlier and had seen a group of youths who had been drinking above the swimming hole ‘‘heave their box of empties into the pool’’.
‘‘It spoils it for everybody. There were very young children in there yesterday and . . . the injury caused from someone standing on this would have been horrific.’’
Hughson urged people to be on the lookout for broken glass as they entered the water. She said she hoped the ‘‘idiots’’ who were spoiling a fun spot would feel ashamed.
Council environment and planning manager Dennis Bush King said people should notify the council of such incidents in its reserves.