Media release – Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania, 15 December 2021
ABORIGINES WELCOME FEDERAL INTERVENTION ON ROBBINS ISLAND
“The Aboriginal community is overjoyed that the federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment will now consider the likely destruction of Aboriginal heritage, culture and memory under the Robbins Island wind farm proposal,” Chairman Michael Mansell said today.
Mr Mansell was referring to the controversial Robbins Island windfarm proposal that would install 122 wind turbines over the western two-thirds of the island that Mr Mansell says “would permanently destroy Aboriginal heritage and history and culture. According to UPC’s application for approval to the Tasmanian EPA, the project will include –
- the construction of up to three substations on Robbins Island and underground electrical infrastructure as well as a range of ancillary infrastructure, such as roads and on-site quarries.
- the construction of a bridge between Robbins Island and mainland Tasmania and a wharf for delivery of wind turbine components and construction equipment.
- each turbine will require clearance of a construction footprint in the order of 1 ha, inclusive of a foundation, which will likely comprise a concrete gravity pad.
- A network of roads will be built across Robbins Island for construction and operational use. This will involve both the upgrade of existing tracks on the island and the clearing of new roads. Roads will need to be of a width and grade suitable for accommodating large semi-trailers and oversized construction machinery.
- each combined tower and blade tip heights are over 270 m.
- The total area required for each turbine site is expected to be 100 x 100 m x 122 towers.
Mr Mansell said the wind-farm proposal is in the wrong place. “Robbins Island was the home to Aboriginal people since time began. The locations of our people’s villages, built among the thick trees by the waterways, will be destroyed by this project. Our people were buried on the island. Corroboree grounds were there. Marriages and birth of children took place. All these memories would be destroyed by concrete and metal towers and a mass of road construction. The island would be permanently altered from the place of a people to a commercial pit.
Then there are the certain killings of millions of adult breeding mutton birds. The birds fly across Robbins island to access the Robbins Island rookery on the northern end, and the rookeries on Walkers Island a few hundred metres away. The birds could not avoid the towers and the lights to be installed on the towers, plus the lights during and after construction, is bound to slaughter thousands of breeding birds in one year alone.
Strangely, UPC has not properly monitored the island for mutton bird pathways.
The Land Council will be making submission to the federal environment department against the wind farm.”
