Draft Stanley Coastal Assessment Report Seeks Feedback

Preliminary Draft Report – Geoscene International, 4 March 2022

Stanley Coastal Landscape Assessment (First Edition)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Project Context and Aims

The Stanley Coastal Region includes an area of approximately 38,000 ha or 381² km. of land and the adjacent Southern Ocean areas, extending approximately 16 km to 18km to the east and approximately 19 km to 21 km to the west of Stanley Peninsula and approximately 7 km to 11 km inland from the coastal shoreline, in Northwest Tasmania.

The Stanley Coastal Landscape Assessment provides a broad natural, cultural, and scenic (visual) landscape description and assessment of the Stanley coastal region of northwest Tasmania. The report has been prepared independently by Dr. Dennis Williamson and his support team at Geoscene International (a Division of Scenic Spectrums Pty Ltd).

Range of Assessments Completed

The Stanley Coastal Landscape Assessment has assessed a broad range of landscape attributes and values. These assessments have been presented in three parts of the report, covering the following assessment types:

• Part A – Landscape Description and Assesssment of the region’s natural and cultural landscapes, including: Geoconservation sites; landscape setting units, flora and fauna species, land use, tourism attractions and facilities, Aboriginal and European history, and cultural heritage;

• Part B – Scenic and Visual Landscape Assessment of scenic quality classes, viewpoint sensitivity levels, viewing distance zones, and scenic value areas;

• Part C – Overall Landscape Significance, including Aboriginal and European cultural heritage and scenic, tourism and natural conservation values, and key recommendations.

Key Findings

Geology and Landscape Character and Setting Units

Th Stanley Coastal Region is primarily comprised of volcanic basalt and coastal sedimentary landforms, creating a series of uplifted mountain ridges, hills and plateau that are flanked on the north and in the intervening valleys by coastal plains and basins. The area contains Geoconservation Sites of global to district significance, with some areas at Rocky Cape that are ~1.5 billion years old, volcanic formations at the Nut and fringing Stanley Peninsula that are collectively of “world class”, and the Mowbray Swamp Megafauna Site near Smithton.

The geologic foundations form and influence two Landscape Character Types: the Coastal LCT and the Plateau & Plains LCT. Within these LCT, 35 Landscape Setting Units have been delineated for landscape description and scenic assessment purposes.

Flora and Fauna

The region has a great level of flora and fauna biodiversity, despite extensive clearing and alteration of habitats through European settlement. Vegetation types ranging from native grasslands and Dry Eucalypt Forests/Woodlands to Non-Eucalypt Forest and Woodlands. Approximately 46 Threatened Vegetation Species exist. In addition, over 80 terrestrial and marine fauna species in the region are classified on the State or National Schedules as Threatened or of Conservation Significance (ie., Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable or rare).

The importance of these threatened species is exemplified by the past extinctions of the Tasmanian Tiger and the Tasmanian Emu, which flourished in the region prior to European settlement.

Land Uses and Planning Controls

The private lands of the region largely include extensive agricultural lands; timber production forest areas; and urban and industrial land uses at Smithton and Stanley.

Key public reserves and conservation areas include Rocky Cape National Park; Stanley Nut Reserve; Shakespeare Hills Regional Reserve; and conservations areas at Duck Bay, West Inlet, East Inlet, Peggs Beach, Hellyer and Forwards Beach.

Circular Head Council’s LPS Planning Zones and Planning Code overlays have been mapped and described.

Tourism Attractions and Facilities

The regions tourism attractions and facilities have been inventoried and mapped. Stanley Peninsula and vicinity contain most of these attractions and facilities, with the Nut and rich history of Stanley township with its Local Heritage Precinct and Heritage Walks being prominent. Rocky Cape National Park and the various Regional Reserves and Conservation Areas are also key regional tourism attractions. The economic significance of tourism to the region is considerable.

Aboriginal History and Cultural Heritage

A rich picture of the traditional areas of Aboriginal occupation, food gathering, and hunting, seasonal movements, possible Songlines, and many Aboriginal Heritage Sites have been identified.

These various Aboriginal connections to “Country” and their recovering history are particularly concentrated and strong in the Rocky Cape, Stanley Peninsula, and Duck Bay areas.

European Cultural Heritage

Europeans gradually transferred their culture to Tasmania, beginning with sealers and whalers from the 1790s, exerting their influence and power in a manner that nearly destroyed the pre-existing Aboriginal culture of the island. The geographic progression of these historic developments has been reviewed and mapped, including the influences of: the early sealers, whalers, and explorers; the Van Diemen’s Land Company (VDLC); freehold farmers; the road, railway, and tramway networks; the clearing and draining of the region’s swamps; the timber industry; the undersea cable across Bass Strait from Stanley to Apollo Bay in Victoria; and the iron-ore pipeline and Port Latta export facility.

Forty-six Tasmanian Heritage Register Sites exist in the region, many of which are also tourism attractions.

Scenic and Visual Landscape Assesssment

Part B of the report assessed the Scenic Quality Class of the 35 LSUs, combining this with Viewpoint Sensitivity Level and Visibility Distance Zone analyses to delineate the considerable areas of High to Very High Scenic Value.

Overall Landscape Significance

Overall Landscape Significance has been assessed in relation to concentrated areas of concentrated cultural heritage (Aboriginal and European) and scenic, tourism and natural values. These are summarised in Table 22 and include:

• Rocky Cape Area – High to Very High;
• Shakespeare Hills Area – Moderate;
• Detention River – Crayfish Creek Area – moderate;
• Stanley Peninsula Area – Very High
• Duck Bay Area – High to Very High; and
• Smithton Basin Area – Low to Very Low

Conservation and Protection Frameworks Assessed

The assessment of potential conservation and protection status is documented in Sections 4.6 through to 4.10. The focus here was the application of prescribed criteria for: the National Heritage List; the Tasmanian Heritage List; and the Local Provisions Schedule (LPS) in relation to the Local Heritage Code (Local Heritage Landscape Precinct), and the (LPS) Scenic Protection Code (Scenic Protection Areas and Scenic Road Corridors).

Potential National Heritage List Nominations

The potential for National Heritage List nominations was assessed against the six concentrated areas described above according to the National Heritage Council assessment criteria. The Stanley Peninsula Area has the greatest potential for National Heritage List nomination and appears to qualify strongly under six of the nine NHL assessment criteria.

Other areas have been identified with potential NHL qualification regarding a lesser number of criteria but are not outstanding in the manner displayed by the Stanley Peninsula Area.

Potential Tasmanian Heritage Register Listings

The analysis of the six areas of concentrated values against the Tasmanian Heritage Register assessment criteria finds that the Stanley Peninsula Area should definitely be considered for nomination and that other areas, with further research, possibly could be considered for nomination including: the Smithton Basin Area; the Duck Bay Area; the Rocky Cape Area; and the Detention River / Crayfish Creek Area.

Local Historic Heritage Code: Local Provisions Schedule

The Stanley Peninsula Area, which includes the isthmus, West Inlet and East Inlet extending to the Black River estuary and Peggs Beach, displays an outstanding level of natural and cultural heritage value suited to the application of the Local Historic Landscape Precinct category of the Local Historic Heritage Code.

Although the Local Historical Heritage Code does not consider Aboriginal cultural heritage values, the Aboriginal community likely have a strong spiritual connection with the Stanley Peninsula Area, which is another criterion for the application of this category of the code.

Scenic Protection Code

Deficiencies in Tasmania’s Scenic Protection Code (SPC) have been identified and the Circular Head Council’s LPS designation of Scenic Protection Areas and Scenic Road Corridors as part of this code also appear to be inadequate. This assessment suggests that large areas of the Stanley Coastal Precinct are in High Scenic Value Areas and that there are other outstanding scenic features within the assessed LSUs that should be considered for the designation Scenic Protection Areas and / or Scenic Road Corridors in the LPS. This is an important consideration in the context of the maintenance of scenic assets on which regional tourism industry and economy depend.

Development of Visual Performance Standards

The application of effective Visual Performance Standards (VPS) in Circular Head Council’s LPS could be applied relative to the designated Scenic Value Areas. Such VPS could include such factors and concepts as: Landscape Character Continuum; Scenic Integrity / Visual Magnitude; Scenic Quality; Key Landscape Features Disruption; % Horizontal View Altered; Exterior Colour / Reflectivity / Lighting; and cumulative visual impacts.

Key Recommendations

Key recommendations include:

1. The volcanic geologic sites at North Point on Stanley Peninsula should be officially investigated and assessed by the Tasmanian Geoconservation Database Reference Group to determine whether they should be added to the Tasmanian Geoconservation Database (TGD) and on the Tasmanian Natural Values Atlas via the annual Geoconservation Site Significance and Listing Process¹.

2. Areas of the Stanley Peninsula have recently been nominated for the National Heritage List, including the public land areas of: The Nut and volcanic features of Plum Pudding Rock, West Beach submarine lava and lava lobes, Highfield Point and North Point. This nomination should be further extended to include additional public and private lands within the Stanley Peninsula Area as delineated in Figure 73.

3. The Stanley Peninsula Area delineated in Figure 73 of this report should also be nominated for the Tasmanian Heritage Register;

4. The Stanley Peninsula Area delineated in Figure 73 should be considered by Circular Head Council for future inclusion in the Circular Head Local Provisions Schedule (LPS) of the State Planning Provisions (SPPs) under the Local Historical Heritage Code as areas of Local Historic Landscape Precinct. Subject to further research, other areas that could be considered for Local Historic Landscape Precinct designation include: the Smithton Basin Area, the Duck Bay Area, and the Shakespeare Hills Area, as delineated in Figure 75.

5. The following areas as delineated in Figure 75 should be considered by Circular Head Council for future inclusion in the Circular Head Local Provisions Schedule (LPS) of the State Planning Provisions (SPPs) under the Scenic Protection Code (SPC) as Scenic Protection Areas:

1. The Stanley Peninsula Area (including West Inlet, East Inlet, the Black River Estuary and Peggs Beach areas);

2. The Rocky Cape Area (including Forwards Beach and Rocky Cape West areas);

3. The Shakespeare Hills Area (including the rivers, forests, and blanket bogs areas of LSUs P18, P19 and P20); and

4. The Ducky Bay Area (including most or all of LSU C1) as delineated in Figure 65 and Figure 75.

Other areas that might possibly be considered for designation as Scenic Protection Areas on a more limited basis are portions of the Black River and Mosquito Creek within LSU 13 – Dip River Hills (Figure 9 and Figure 65) and the area immediately surrounding Lake Mikany in LSU 7, as delineated in Figure 9 and Figure 65, assessed in Part B of this report.

6. This preliminary Draft Report is to be made widely available throughout the community for review and comment. Suggested corrections, improvements and additions to the facts and interpretation of information provided in this report will be respectfully considered and adjusted as appropriate following review of comments and fieldwork / photography during March 2022.

7. Further information and details are sought and collected from the Stanley Coastal Region community regarding a wide range of Aboriginal and European Cultural Heritage and historic issues.

¹ Refer to: Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania website. Weblink:

https://nre.tas.gov.au/conservation/geoconservation/tasmanian-geoconservation-database/geoconservation-sites-listing-process

Statement – Respect Stanley Peninsula Inc, 14 March 2022

LOCALS FIGHT FOR GREATER SCENIC PROTECTION FOR STANLEY

Stanley locals hope that a ground-breaking report from Geoscene will deliver scenic protection for Stanley.  Armed with this report, locals are calling for greater scenic protection provisions for large scale developments.

Of particular concern is Sydney-based developer Epuron’s wind farm proposal for the Stanley Peninsula.  The people of Circular Head know if this proposal proceeds, these turbines will be seen from many vantage points and special places around the region and will be jarringly visible in front of and next to The Nut. The report will be utilised to fight for greater scenic protection to ensure that proposals of this scale are assessed with scenic provisions in mind.

“This landscape captures people’s hearts. I think Tasmanian’s can sometimes underestimate how truly special their landscapes are,” says Kerry Houston.

Stanley is known for the famous Stanley Nut, the most prominent and dramatic landmark on the northern coast of Tasmania. The Nut in its own right is a major tourist attraction for the north-west region and is Australia’s only cooled lava pond, fully exposed at sea level. It is of outstanding global geological interest and played its part in Stanley being awarded gold in Tasmania’s Top Small Tourist Town 2021, and bronze in Australia.

The independent report was commissioned by a local incorporation formed in opposition to the proposed Stanley Windfarm. “We want to ensure that the assessment process is as robust as possible, and that scenic values are given the weight they deserve. A development of the scale of a windfarm doesn’t just impact the host landowner or immediate neighbours, it has impacts for the whole community,” says Kerry Houston.

Geoscene’s ‘Stanley Coastal Landscape Assessment’ is very powerful indeed, providing irrefutable evidence about the significant value of the Stanley landscape. The Incorporation have used this report to support federal submission for The Nut and surrounding volcanic areas to be placed on the National Heritage List.

Minister Petrusma, Minister for Parks and Wildlife, gave state government approval for the national submission and locals now await the outcome. If the submission succeeds, vistas of the Stanley Nut will become protected values under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act.

Circular Head Council are also considering scenic protection in the region, assessing whether to apply for amendments to the local provisions schedules of the Tasmanian Planning Scheme. Council engaged consultants, Inspiring Place, to deliver a scenic values assessment & management report for the broader Circular Head region. Circular Head Council will soon release the Inspiring Place report for public comment.

The Inc. will urge Circular Head Council to seek greater scenic protection under the Tasmanian Planning Scheme for the Stanley Peninsula. Council will be given the Geoscene report to support increased scenic protection.

“Scenic protection can sit alongside appropriate development. Development which benefits the community and landscape can and should be encouraged and supported,” says Kerry Houston.

The Inc. have made the ‘Stanley Coastal Landscape Assessment’ report publicly available on the Respect Stanley Peninsula website https://respectstanley.info/report/ and are distributing it widely to politicians and organisations within the community.