Open Letter to Premier – Waratah Heritage

Open Letter to our Premier

The Honourable Peter Gutwein MP, Premier of Tasmania

Re ‘Fairness and Equality matter, they are Marks of a Civilised Society…’ (Part 2)

Dear Premier Gutwein,

Thank you for having your Principal Advisor acknowledge ‘my letter of encouragement’.

However, that did not stop the sale of the Mushroom Café, which according to its past owners is going to become a residence. Also, since I wrote last, the church, (first church in Tasmania with electric lights) until recently used as a gallery, was also sold for conversion into a residence.

Please paste link into the address line of your browser: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-01/tasmanias-premier-peter-gutwein-claims-victory/13325934

Why at all should Waratah Residents celebrate Waratah’s 150 years of post-colonial history with only two commercial ventures remaining: the roadhouse and the local hotel? Waratah, unrepresented in the so-called Waratah-Wynyard Council has lost its battle for economic survival, further undermined by Wynyard Council’s phoney shadow-boxing performance with TasWater.

Until 2018 the most significant remaining fully functional post-colonial hydrological engineering heritage asset was Waratah Reservoir, being re-wilded by nature: That is the original resource, which powered the mine and the town which saved Tasmania from becoming a province of Victoria.

It defies belief that a person with utter contempt for Tasmania’s environment, its engineering heritage and a demonstrated disrespect for its communities should be permitted by your government to shamelessly erase such unique heritage asset.

Dear Premier,

Add your voice to ours –

RSVP, and let Waratah live.

Yours faithfully,

Original signed by: Helmut Ernst

Founding Member, Friends of the Waratah Reservoir Incorporated

Copies to:

Friends of Waratah Reservoir Incorporated

Local Government Councillors

Members of State Parliament

Members of State Legislative Council

Tasmanian Members of Federal Parliament and Federal Senate

The State Attorney

The State Governor

The Federal Governor-General

HELMUT ERNST: Open Letter to Premier: Fairness & Equality Matter.