Mortlake is a small country town in Victoria, Australia, located about 218km west from Melbourne and 50km north-east of the city of Warrnambool.
Mortalke’s an interesting place. The Kuurn Kopan Noot Aborigines are thought to have occupied the area before European settlement. Major Thomas Mitchell sighted the district in 1836 during his Australia Felix expedition and the Derwent Company, which succeeded the Port Phillip Association, established the Mount Shadwell station here in 1839.
There’s a great deal of history attached to Mortlake and surrounding areas. Like many similar towns in Australia, the locals are a resilient lot and don’t mind a bit of hard work to make an honest dollar.
Mortlake is a nice place to live and work, at least it was until the arrival of Acciona.
Acciona is an overseas-owned “renewable energy” company. Some say “renewable energy company” is another term for an organisation that makes millions from government subsidies and resident’s misery; you may make your own mind up on that score.
Acciona wants to plant a 96 turbine wind farm at the south and east of Mortlake, and needless to say some Mortlake residents object.
Now you’d think that non-violent objection was the right of every Australian, wouldn’t you. After all, we seem to have an “objection” – by Greenpeace (who don’t appear too peaceful at times), Friends of the Earth, WWF, The Watermelon Party, er sorry – The Greens and any number of heavily government-funded “environmental” groups, all of which claim to be “not-for-profit” but strangely have very healthy bank accounts – virtually every day.
Of course it’s only OK to object provided you are objecting right along WITH a green group; if you object AGAINST them, well, that’s not OK, or so Hamish Cumming of Mortlake has discovered.
Hamish is one of those honest, hard-working Aussie blokes who obviously believes a man is entitled to stand up for his rights and voice his opinion on matters.
Hamish has voiced his opinion on the proposed Acciona Mortlake wind farm.
A few days ago some haystacks and woolsheds (one with historic significance) on Hamish’s property at nearby Darlington were burned down.
At this point RGW points out there is no suggestion or inference that any individual or organisation is responsible for the apparent act of arson. Undoubtedly readers will use their own powers of adding two-plus-two in order to reach their own conclusions.
Hamish has been a frequent objector to wind farms for some time, and as such is no doubt regarded as a thorn in the side of wind farm proponents, developers and Victoria’s wind farm-crazy Minister for Planning, Justin Madden, who made an infinitely better footballer than he is a planning minister.
This type of reaction to honest objection demonstrates the type of people one is dealing with when it comes to wind farm projects.
For wind farm developers, turbine manufacturers, governments and those “not-for-profit” so-called environmental groups, wind farms (or even the small wind “parks”) can mean big dollars. Very big dollars.
For local residents and land owners it can mean loss of amenity, health issues and depreciation of their land value plus loss of lifestyle.
Hamish Cumming is not alone in receiving threats (and now violent action) because of his legal stance against wind farms. Some time ago a proposed public meeting of concerned residents of Smeaton in Victoria was canceled when a bomb threat was received. Acciona is also the developer of the Waubra wind farm near Smeaton. RGW again points out no inferences are made.
The incidents do suggest however that some person or persons unknown will go to great lengths and engage in illegal and violent actions simply because they perceive an individual’s or group’s actions as a threat to their money-making, lifestyle and environment-damaging developments.
