Summary

Dungeness, situated on the Queensland mainland near Lucinda, lies on the bank of the Enterprise Channel where it enters the Hinchinbrook Channel, across from the southern end of Hinchinbrook Island. In the mid-1990s Dungeness was the site of a proposed waterfront development put forward by Hinchinbrook Shire Council. Many of the documents in this collection reflect concerns about the impact on the local environment of a marina and resort and the proposed dredging of an access through a highly mobile sandbar. The North Queensland Conservation Council believed that the Environmental Impact Statement and Planning Report produced for Hinchinbrook Shire Council in 1997 was inadequate. The site of the development was freehold land owned by the Hinchinbrook Shire Council, which had called for expressions of interest in developing the site and chose as its preferred developer, Bursill Enterprises Pty Ltd. Many of the papers in this archive reflect the legal nature of the campaign. For example, the newly-opened Environmental Defender's Office of Northern Queensland was particularly concerned that Hinchinbrook Shire Council both owned the site and assumed the role of development proponent, with the intention to hand the site over to the actual developer once approvals had been finalised.