The Three Ladies of Tathra

Women have made a great contribution to the conservation of the flora and fauna and natural places on the far south coast.

Three local women prominent in the conservation movement on the far south coast were Jean Greenland, Doreen De Oleveira and Hazel Meadham.

Jean and Doreen had both retired to Tathra from farming properties in the late 1960s. Tathra was beginning to be a retirement destination with the town growing from 443 in 1961 to 648 in 1971. All three women became members of the Far South Coast Conservation League ,Bega Tathra Branch, renamed the Bega Tathra Conservation Society in 1970. The aim of their group was to encourage an interest in the conservation of Australian plants, animals, forests and coastal estuaries for the benefit of current and future generations.

This was at a time when much of the coastline of NSW, held as Crown Land, State Forest and in private ownership, was being rapidly developed for tourism and seaside living. Mumbulla and Imlay Shires had, at that time, extensive areas of undeveloped coastline which was attractive to developers from out of the area..

In 1970 members of the Society became aware that a developer had applied to Mumbulla Shire Council and Department of Lands to take a lease on a Crown Land Recreation reserve which included the southern part of Nelson Beach, Wajurda Point and part of Moon Bay and the spotted gum forests behind the dunes. The application included plans to develop the reserve with holiday cabins for a tourist resort and the provision of day visitor facilities The group began lobbying council to disallow the application and leave the reserve in public ownership as a natural area for everyone to enjoy.

As part of this group Jean, Doreen and Hazel wrote letters and submissions, attended meetings and approached politicians in person and by phone. They described themselves as a ‘formidable’ team. Another conservationist later described them as ‘tenacious’.

After much letter writing and many meetings between the Lands Department, Mumbulla Shire Council and the conservation group, the matter of the granting of the lease had still not been decided in February 1971. A state election was due on 13 February 1971, and the three ladies decided to take a direct approach to try to get a resolution on the issue. Jack Beale was the local member for South Coast and the Minister for Environment at the time, but his seat was being hotly contested by the up and coming politician John Hatton.

The three, accompanied by Jean’s husband Jim as their ‘photographer and granny minder’, travelled to Sydney to try to find out what was happening about the proposed lease of the reserve.The three had connections to Milo Dunphy and other members of the National Parks Association which was also lobbying for more national parks across NSW.

The women visited the Minister for Lands, Mr Lewis and the Reserves branch at the Lands Department Offices on Friday 6 February with questions about the lease. The answers to their questions were evasive.

They changed tack and decided to approach Jack Beale at his parliamentary office on the Monday morning before the state election. Beale rushed in and then out saying he had a meeting with the Governor. Over the weekend a massive flood had engulfed the Bega Valley and Beale was perhaps trying to arrange aid for affected Bega Valley residents.

The three ladies decided to wait in Beale’s office. It is not recorded how long they waited but later in the day they received assurances that the lease would not be granted and the recreation reserve would be preserved for public use.

This victory was publicised to National Parks Association members as an example of the effectiveness of constituents lobbying a local member before a tightly contested election.

Wajurda Point was incorporated into the slowly developing Mimosa Rocks National Park in 1979.

Jean and Doreen continued their work with the Bega Tathra Conservation Society including in Bournda National Park and the natural areas around Tathra for many years after this event. In October 1987 Jean and Doreen (Hazel had already died) were honoured at a dinner Grevillea Winery to celebrate their conservation work from the late 1960s.

Jean continued her advocacy for conservation by being heavily involved in protests against logging native forests. In 1989 she was arrested at a forest protest in Nullica State Forest, charged and finger printed. She later appeared in Bega Court to face the charges but wasn’t fined for her actions, perhaps because she was considered ‘a citizen of good character’.