5.3.2 Goulds Lagoon
Located close to the northern perimeter of the municipality are the suburbs of Austins Ferry and Granton. They form the rural residential areas of the City of Glenorchy. Goulds Lagoon was proclaimed a wildlife sanctuary in 1938 is a declared nature conservation wetland area.
A range of birds visit the lagoon resting, feeding and nesting. The site is listed as significant in the 2001 Australian Directory of Important Wetlands where sixty native bird species, including seventeen rare and twelve endangered species have been recorded visiting the area. At any time a range of birds can be seen including; Black Swan (Cygnus atratus), Chestnut Teal (Anus castanea), Tasmanian Native Hen (Gallinula mortierii), Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra) and Pacific Black Duck (Anus superciliosa). Two migratory birds are known to visit the site, the Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) and the Great Egret (Egreta alba). Visiting over winter from China and Japan they are protected under the Japanese and Australian Migratory Bird Agreement and Chinese and Australian Migratory Bird Agreement (Commonwealth of Australia. Department of Foreign Affairs, 1974 [1981], Commonwealth of Australia. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 1986, 1988).
The lagoon is home to four frog species: they are the Brown Froglet (Crinia tasmaniensis), Spotted Marsh Frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis), the Eastern banjo Frog (Limnodynastes dumerili insularis) and the Brown tree frog (Litoria ewingi) and their calls are quite distinctive especially the Eastern banjo Frog which sounds like a banjo. By 1991, residential development began to have an adverse impact on the lagoon. A buffer zone and storm water filtration had been introduced to protect water quality in the lagoon but the strategic importance of the site failed to impress local and State government decision makers at the time and more subdivisions developed. I felt this area was under threat and in danger of being overlooked as significant by Council and community if much needed resources were not directed to Goulds Lagoon. A 1992 federally-funded Local Government capital works program enabled a funding opportunity. A successful application enabled the Goulds Lagoon project to begin. A major element involved the development of a school and community
awareness program, weed eradication, revegetation and construction of a bird hide and interpretation facility. An education kit was to be developed to encourage and assist school visits to the site. Appropriate work sheets were designed for preschool, primary school and for lower secondary schools linked into the curriculum through consultation with a number of science teachers. This place-making project became an intervention into the community to enhance and protect the special qualities of the lagoon and raise support for its ongoing protection. The community was informed through the Glenorchy Gazette and Mercury newspapers about the project, taking the form of media releases and feel-good human interest stories. The design process included consultations with other Council staff and State Government’s Parks and Wildlife officers, who shared joint management and maintenance of the wetland. This project raised community awareness and support for the environmental protection of the lagoon. An important element of the project was my engagement of a graphic designer to consult with science teachers at local schools and produce an education kit in support of the existing curriculum. Visiting school groups and distribution of the Goulds Lagoon education kit to all schools within the municipality significantly raised the importance of the site environmentally and socially and galvanised local community support to protect the area. Under the Water Watch in Schools program water quality testing kits were used and readings taken to monitor the health of the lagoon. These readings were presented to Council for record keeping. The significance of the place was increased by sensitive development of a bird hide and interpretation. The worksheets developed especially for school groups encouraged an increase in school group visitation and developed a greater respect for the area helping to reinforce Goulds Lagoon as a special place.
The Bagdad Field and Game organisation had been involved in constructing and maintaining nesting boxes in the lagoon for a number of years and after consulting with them they agreed to support the expanded environmental program. Early in the project I became aware of overhead power lines that were located in the flight path of swans causing a high number of deaths due to entanglement. Council had also received a number of written requests from the community seeking action. I wrote to the Hydro Electricity Commission, the government department involved, seeking
support to place the lines underground. Having initially denied our request they later had a change of direction seeking to re-brand their public profile towards a green and clean image. Out of the blue I received a letter of notification that they had finally agreed and would be locating the offending lines underground. They requested that Council support them in a media event on the site where local state and federal members of government were invited to mingle with local residents celebrating the removal and relocation.
Continued residential development around the lagoon was diminishing the local environment and concerns were being raised by residents about siltation, water quality and algal bloom from increased stormwater runoff. Friends of Goulds Lagoon, a resident action group formed in an attempt to direct Council’s attention to these issues. Other concerns were raise in meetings I conducted with the group included the impact of domestic animals on local wildlife, feral animals such as rabbits and cats, weed infestation, rubbish and litter and traffic along Main Road where the speed limit exceeded that which seemed reasonable for this significant area. Members of this group later became active members of the Austins Ferry/Granton community precinct group. The bird hide (Plate 26) and interpretation continues to provide visitors to the site with information about the local environment and the significance of the wetland to birds that migrate there from the northern hemisphere. Residents now campaigned strongly for speed limits to be lowered but have been unable to change the dominant thinking of the State government department charged with that responsibility. In May 2002 the State Government introduces a state-wide residential speed of 50kph but refused to change the speed limit along Main Road. The majority of Main Road passing through Glenorchy is 60kph and it appears that decision-makers refuse ongoing community and Council requests to lower the 80kph zone nearby the lagoon for “fear of inconveniencing truck drivers” (Prodanovic, 2004).