Michael & Natalie Hercus along with 10 other landowners are allegedly seeking to harm or destroy up to 1.5 million Indigenous artefacts on North Lismore Plateau

Banyam Baigham, The Sleeping Lizard
Click on image to enlarge

Michael McDonald Macky Hercus and Natalie Hercus (née Michaels) appear to be ensconced in one half of a $5 milllion dollar duplex on a leafy upmarket street in Point Piper, Sydney NSW. With her father Harry occupying the other unit.

Michael is the director and company secretary of Mackcorp Pty Ltd whose sole shareholder is Hercus Investments Pty Ltd. Hercus Investments in turn has both Michael & Natalie as directors and Natalie as the sole shareholder. Michael is also sole director, sole shareholder & company secretary of Allura Parklands Pty Ltd.

This former rugby union player & investment advisor and active property developer along with his former Sky News presenter wife are whimsically classified by realestate.com.au among the celebrity buyers and sellers of Sydney's waterside suburbs.

It could be considered unfortunate that they chose to become active participants in a move to effectively destroy the Widjabul Wia-bal People's spiritually and culturally significant Banyam Baigham (the Sleeping Lizard).

In was in May 2020 that the Winten Property Group's 2018 proposal for a large-scale 433-lot residential development on the North Lismore Plateau was rejected by the NSW Land & Environment Court.

In May 2021 Michael Hercus and Allura Parklands Pty Ltd, with other landholders Mr A J & Mrs D L Purtle, Mrs V Giacomini, Giacmor Pty Limited, Mr F Basso & Ms S Novkovic, Mrs M L & Mr G & Mrs L Mazzorana, Mrs L Massorana and Mr A R & Mrs F M Riordan, submitted their own large-scale 742 lot residential development plan for the same general area and had it refused by the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) in December 2022.

Refusing to take no for an answer this 'celebrity buyers and sellers' couple, through Mackycorp Pty Ltd, presumably along with the other ten owners, have appealed the NRPP decision in the Land & Environment Court. In the process submitting the amended development proposal for 714 residential lots, including 7 large lots and 2 ‘super’ lots for future development), 2 neighbourhood business lots, plus residual lots, public reserves and associated infrastructure.

It appears to matter not a jot to 45 year-old Michael and 46 year-old Natalie Hercus - or indeed any of the other ten owners - that they are seeking to make money from the proposed destruction of a land form respected and guarded by a people and culture which has existed on Country since time immemorial. 

Given that Mackycorp's submitted Aboriginal Heritage Assessment (May 2024) indicates that many of the artefacts found on the proposed development site would on further investigation probably fall into a pre-1199 Common Era time period, this supports the presence of ancestors of the current Widjabul Wia-bal people living in the Lismore local government area since time immemorial.

It probably wouldn't even occur to any of them that their connection to the North Lismore Plateau is as ephemeral as the aerial lifespan of a Mayfly when compared to the Widjabul Wia-bal community's presence there.

Banyam Baigham, The Sleeping Lizard

Images: Change.org & David Lowe

North Lismore Plateau rejected development proposal with the light yellow section representing "Allura Parklands" containing 45 new roads, infrastructure and more than 700 residential dwellings. IMAGE: Echo, 18 January 2023.

ECHO, 18 January 2023:

On Thursday 15 December, it took the four panellists on the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) less than half an hour, to unanimously decline the Development Application (DA) 5.2021.221.1 for the northern section of the North Lismore Plateau (NLP) also known as The Sleeping Lizard. Their overall reason? ‘Not in the public interest’.

ECHO, 20 July 2024:

The development of Lismore’s Sleeping Lizard – Banyam Biagham (the North Lismore Plateau) as a 742-residential-lot subdivision was rejected by the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) as ‘not in the public interest’.

The DA is the biggest single development ever proposed in Lismore and includes massive bulk earthworks for infrastructure.

The developer, Mackycorp, is continuing to appeal the NRPP rejection of the staged development for 742 residential lots, two business lots, a future residential lot, 45 new roads, bulk earthworks and significant infrastructure following the failed Land and Environment Court (L&EC) conciliation meeting in February this year.

On July 15, 2024 Bundjalung Elder Mickey Ryan sought to join the ongoing North Lismore Plateau Court appeal following the developer recently submitting to the court a Cultural Heritage Assessment Report, containing test pit results carried out earlier this year.

‘The Report recommends that the developer obtain a permit to allow the estimated half to 1.5 million sub-surface artefacts be directly impacted by construction works, i.e harmed, destroyed or desecrated,’ explained Al Oshlack from the Indigenous Justice Advocacy Network representing Mr Ryan. [my yellow highlighting]

‘This development with all its flaws such as traffic, flooding, storm water, and even landslides will irretrievably destroy one of the most significant Aboriginal sites in the Bundjalung country. It’s vandalism and sacrilege to such a sacred place, this development is a toxic mix of stupidity and greed,’ Mr Oshlack said.

Lismore Council failed to defend Indigenous heritage

The L&EC accepted the application by Mr Ryan to be a party to the developer’s appeal to overturn the NRPP decision.

This was based on the fact that Lismore Council had chosen not to defend the cultural heritage of the site despite this being one of the key factors in the NRPP refusing the DA, Mr Oshlack told The Echo. [my yellow highlighting]

‘In the statement of facts and contentions Lismore Council was not going to defend the Aboriginal cultural heritage component. Even though it was a key basis for the rejection by the NRPP,’ he said.

‘The developer strenuously objected to Mickey Ryan being allowed to join the case.

‘Mickey Ryan won the joinder on Monday based both on the arguments of public interest and for justice – they were considered valid by the court thus Mickey Ryan has now been joined as second responder.’

The L&EC hearing is set down for an onsite hearing on August 12 followed by four days in Sydney.

NOTE: The Widjabul Wia-bal are recognised in law as holding native title over more than 11,500 hectares of what remains of their land and waters held by public authorities/government agencies in the Lismore local government area.

Native title over certain land & waters in the Northern Rivers region granted to Widjabul-Wia-bal People on 19 December 2022

 

On 19 December 2022 the Federal Court of Australia recognised Native Title in relation to Application NC2013/005 - Widjabul Wia-bal People.

The Widjabul Wia-bal now hold native title over approximately 11,700 hectares of their traditional lands and waters within Ballina, Byron, Kyogle, Lismore City, Richmond Valley and Tweed local government areas. As set out in Widjabul Wia-Bal v Attorney-General of New South Wales (Section 87 Agreement) [2022] FCA 1521.

IMAGE: FCA 1521
Click on image to enlarge

According to the NSW Government the settlement also includes an agreement to disregard historical extinguishment of native title in national parks within the claim area, paving the way for the future recognition of native title over an additional 2,600 hectares of national parks.

From the beginning the NSW O’Farrell-Baird-Berejiklian-Perrottet Coalition Government resisted this native title claim in the Federal Court and, in this writer’s opinion, did not always act in good faith.

Perhaps this determination may give the Rothwell Family, Winten Property Group, Winten (No 12) Pty Limited, Glorbill Pty Ltd, Folsom Pty. Ltd, William Anthony Sexton, Lismore City Council and Mayor Steve Krieg, pause for reflection on their own business decisions and/or political ambitions.

Dunoon Dam proposal debate continues to concern many in Northern New South Wales

Echo NetDaily, 8 April 2022:

A locally-based NSW Nationals MLC was recently pressured over his lack of consultation with Indigenous custodians regarding the contentious Dunoon Dam proposal.

According to the February 24 Hansard transcript of NSW Parliament, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Ben Franklin, was asked by Greens MP, Cate Faehrmann, if he had attempted to meet with the Widjabul Wia-bal people around their concerns about the impending destruction of 25 sacred sites, ‘should the Dunoon Dam go ahead’.

He replied in part, ‘The short answer is that I have not met with them yet. I do not think they have reached out to ask for a visit. I may be wrong, but I do not think that is the case. Of course, I would be happy to meet with them. I am happy to meet with any Aboriginal organisation or community across this State as much as I possibly can if my diary will allow’.

Mr Franklin also refused to pre-empt the outcome of any meeting, and said that, ‘We must genuinely collaborate and listen to their aims and ambitions and concerns in order to address them effectively’.

I am happy to meet with them

He went on: ‘Can we do that in every situation? No, because there are a range of competing interests within government and they must all be balanced. But I make the commitment that I am happy to meet with them’.

He added there was no plan on the table for the Dunoon Dam, ‘though there has certainly been discussion, and a different position has been promulgated by Rous County Council after the recent local government elections, which may lead to other actions. At the moment there is no plan on the table’. for the Government’s consideration. When there is one, obviously that will need to be considered’……

Ben Franklin has been a Nationals MLC for the last 7 years, first in the NSW Baird Government, then the Berejiklian Government and finally in the Perrottet Government. He has been Minister for Aboriginal Affairs as well as Minister for the Arts since December 2021. These are his first ministerial roles.

Despite living in Northern New South Wales, Mr. Franklin has a spotty voting history when it comes to protecting the aesthetic, environmental, cultural, social & economic values of local communities against the interests of industry lobby groups and party political donors.

On 4 February 2022 in the NSW Legislative Council as he danced around the issues of strong opposition of the Widjabul Wia-bal people to the widespread inundation of sacred land in order to create a second dam on Rocky Creek, along with the loss of 25 ancestral stone burial sites, he clearly stated that he was; “a very proud member of a resident of the northern rivers region of New South Wales and member of the National Party. As such, I understand the critical importance of building water infrastructure as well…..that we must look at what we need to do to build water and other infrastructure in this State”.

Mr. Franklin further stated that; “we must also be incredibly sympathetic to the concerns of Aboriginal people”.

Given his advocacy on sensitive issues often does not survive when it comes to the vote he casts in the Upper House, I am not all that hopeful that he will genuinely assist the Widjabul Wia-bal people to protect Country.

One suspects that he is likely to be more closely aligned with Kevin Hogan the Nationals MP for Page, one of only two federal electorates in the Northern Rivers, who clearly favours dam proposals.