By Ann Harpley

EARLY DRAFT ONLY

Three generations of women are custodians of a unique landscape in the heart of the Yass Valley in NSW.

Descendants of the pioneer Hume who marked the famous road south from Sydney, they nurture land that has been in the family for 150 years. Hilltops crested with the corals of ancient seas, nurtured pastures of native grass and fine wool producing livestock forage here.

A plunging gorge to the river storing seems of trilobites and fossils of marine anemones, a gorge home to endangered eagles nesting in the crowns of timeless gums, a river of sapphires and cod and the sacred women’s birthing water hole embraced by the sweeping arms of a grandmother tree that looks up to a waterfall, are all on the table for desecration……by towering electricity transmission lines, ominous ‘womping’ wind turbines, fields of solar plastic and metal over farmland and
wilderness, a ‘transgrid’ on the eastern states linking hydro, solar and
wind technologies. They plan to cut through this land, gut the gorge and
the home of the eagles and truncate this farm and its’ functionality and
many others. This sacrifice designed by politicians and bureaucrats,
serves off shore interests!

Nationally, wild habitats and rural lands are, without consultation or
agreement, planned to be sliced and buried by this behemoth of ill
conceived infrastructure, all in the mad pursuit of unachievable Net
Zero. It seems that the smart grid 15 minute cities of a dystopian
future drink electricity before they need air, food and biodiversity.
Tracking and tracing an internet of bodies, IoB in government
literature, drains extraordinary energy and costs environment. The
irradiating fields, electric, magnetic and sonar are ignored with
beligerance despite substantial independent science detailing human and
animal health effects. This is never discussed.

The fields emitted by these imperious lines will ignite fires dangerous to attend…The landowners saddled with alien structures are to suffer silently.

The beneficiaries of a 99 year lease of this corrupt design are foreign nationals, a Canadian superfund, Dubai, Singapore, China.

The steel pylons and irradiating power lines towering 80 m are to be built of cheap Chinese and Indian steel made from recycled shipping containers.
It is unlikely that this destructive network will ever to be realised as
an inherited asset by Australians and it will cost us our land, our
environment, primary production, health and wealth.

Nan, Grandmother, mother, historian, poet and farmer. Mary-Jane, Daughter, mother, artist, property manager, activist, ecologist.

Anna, Grand daughter, artist and student, the future of the land with her brother Oscar.

For eight years these women have fought Transgrid and Hume Link and it
has other names. They have negotiated, asked questions, reasoned,
appointed legal support and made countless daytrips to the city to
appeal. There is no rule of law in this world of government ‘deals.’
Irrational government and offshore industry agreements spell the end of
an era of rural productivity in our relatively new country. Our prosperity was on the sheep’s back, our culture was brewed by colonial pioneers, their resilience and the original people.

One traditional Elder who has joined these women in the mission to save our land and their land, will light a campfire and he will burn it indefinitely, until the heavy machinery retreat…his silent and private
protest.
The planned desecration of our land has flaccid media attention and it
is time now to inform Australians. Conservationist and award-winning wilderness photographer Steve
Nowakowski has launched the Truth Map:

https://www.rainforestreserves.org.au/renewablestruthmap

The Truth Map reveals:
    31,000 wind turbine towers — six times the current national number to
be replaced every 20 years, operating 25% – 35% of the time.
    28,000 km of high-voltage transmission lines — longer than a lap
around the equator.
    7,800 km of undersea cabling — cutting through fragile marine
habitats.
    44,000 km of new haulage roads — longer than Australia’s coastline.
    584 million solar panels covering 443,755 hectares — an area larger
than metropolitan Sydney to be replaced every 25 years, operating 18% –
25% of the time.
    $1.38 trillion in total costs — overwhelmingly subsidised by
taxpayers.
“After decades photographing Australia’s wild places, I have never seen
a threat like this,” said Steve Nowakowski. “The Truth Map empowers
every Australian to see what is really happening, zoom into your
backyard and see what is coming. For too long, the full picture has been
hidden.”

“This isn’t just about economics,” Mr Nowakowski added. “It’s about the
kind of country we leave for future generations. On World Habitat Day,
Australians deserve to see the truth.”