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| Research into the construction
of each one of these features is expected to reveal useful insights into the motivation
for development, re-development, and improvement on the Capricorn Coast. Both
older major population centres, Yeppoon and Emu Park, were conceived in the 1870s
as ‘watering places’ for the residents of Rockhampton, and were part
of a large rural shire with its headquarters in Rockhampton until 1982. [Carpenter
1991:66] Thus, we expect to find that for much of the Capricorn Coast’s
history change has been driven from beyond the coast itself. Certainly pressure
for the initial road around The Bluff came from the Yeppoon Sugar Company, a large
Rockhampton concern that had its plantation and mill to the north of Yeppoon,
and the last major redevelopment in the 1980s was related to improved road infrastructure
for an Iwasaki Sanyo resort development. |
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| Research into the public
responses to each of these developments, when they were first proposed, while
they were in construction, and subsequently, should reveal the extent to which
public opinion influenced decision-making? How did the Shire council respond to
criticism? Was there any acknowledgement, by local policy makers or the public,
that some of these infrastructure decisions might have had detrimental future
impacts on natural systems? For instance, was any concern expressed in the 1920s
& 1930s about the possible consequences for Ross Creek or Shoal Creek when
their entrances were reduced in size by the foundations for bridges? It is tempting
to assume that the state of scientific knowledge was too imperfect: that these
kinds of projects simply were embarked upon with no thought for how they might
impact of ecosystems. Yet while the word ‘ecosystem’ may not have
been heard in the 1920s & 1930s, it is presuming too much to suppose that
there were not some Jeremiahs prophesising dire consequences. The important question
might yet be, who was listening? |
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