What should have been a great environmental achievement and a tribute to community vision is instead a dog’s breakfast, a camel, a miserable disappointment and an insult to those who fought tirelessly for almost a decade to secure a future for this space.

What was sold to us as predominantly native habitat now resembles a fence farm or a barely disguised skate ramp. Locals despair when recalling the lush gully canopy that has been sacrificed for a barren embankment scarred with concrete. We traded a treasured wild space for the Council’s promise of native greenery (enduring years of dust and bulldozers along the way) only to end up with a tangle of fences, concrete and absurd follies. Oh, and a few trees too, almost like after-thoughts.

If Councillor Tornai thinks the Orphan School Creek Gully is the product of public consultation, then how did the council fall so pitifully short of public expectation?

Jon Murrie
Forest Lodge