CAPÍTULO I Género y Feminismo: nociones feministas para la comprensión de la dimensión
4. Cuerpo (de) mujer
4.1 Mujer-es sin cuerpo, o del no-cuerpo de la mujer
An historical perspective on difference
How places come to be and how they are viewed are of critical importance to understanding narratives of justice and foundations for senses of injustice. As Sze and London explain, ‘a focus on historical research shows that the answers to why environmental inequalities exist depend on the particulars – the place, population, political contexts, and time period’.88 For
Molong and Orange, the history records do not show a relationship of conflict or opposition
83 Jeff Rogers, (letter to the editor), ‘Councils put on notice over Hub’ Central Western Daily (Orange) (7
December 2007).
84 ‘Winning the battle for the Hub’, Central Western Daily (Orange) (2 August 2005). Those local impacts
included land use changes, odour, dust and truck movements.
85 Nick Redmond, ‘Anger at Hub meeting’ Central Western Daily (Orange) (8 January 2007).
86 Greg McFarland, ‘Hub court challenge’ Central Western Daily (Orange) (16 February 2007). Quoting Christine
McIntosh, Hub Action Group.
87 Christine McIntosh, (letter to the editor), ‘Hub appeal no surprise’ Central Western Daily (Orange) (23
February 2007).
88 Julie Sze and Jonathan K London, ‘Environmental justice at the crossroads’ (2008) 2 Sociology Compass 1331,
beyond the sporting field89 but of increasing separation and difference in views about the
relevance of each place relative to the other. Orange has come to be seen as the central place; Molong, the peripheral place.
When Australia’s first federal parliament was searching for a capital city, Orange offered itself as a candidate. Not content with being rejected the first time, the people of Orange tried again.90 Despite being overlooked for the capital twice, the townsfolk of Orange had
high opinions of their home, proclaiming:
the healthiness of the district is proverbial, and medical gentlemen highly recommend it as a health resort. The locally-born persons are famous for longevity. Orange is frequently quoted as one of the healthiest places in Australia all the year round.91
This was an attitude held by their neighbours in Molong. Just a decade after the
exclamations of the Orange Federal Capital League, Fitzpatrick, the then state Member of Parliament for the area,92 wrote of ‘Molong, little Molong dumped down in a fertile spot two
hundred miles and more from the site of Australia’s first settlement’.93 According to
Fitzpatrick, Molong’s two dominant characteristics were the fertility of its soil and its distance from Sydney. These two characteristics proved to be pivotal to the legal dispute arising almost 100 years later. Molong residents wanted to protect its fertile land from sterilisation, but its distance from the capital increased its difficulty in swaying the opinions of state politicians and administrators.
Molong has never shared the prominence and platitudes received by Orange; however, it
89 Interview with Rozzie Smith, Molong Express, 18 March 2011.
90 The Seat of Government Act 1908 (Cth) named Canberra as Australia’s capital city. Section 2 of that Act
repealed the Seat of Government Act 1904 (Cth), which had proclaimed Dalgety, New South Wales, as Australia’s future capital.
91 The Orange Federal Capital League, Canobolas: The Ideal Site for the Federal Capital (1902) 3. The reference
to the ‘district’ refers to the immediate surrounds of the then township of Orange and the area immediately (approximately 8 kilometres) to its south west known as Canobolas.
92 Jill Waterhouse, ‘Fitzpatrick, John Charles Lucas (1862–1932)’ Australian Dictionary of Biography (National
Centre of Biography, ANU, 1981). Fitzpatrick, a former journalist and newspaper owner, was a parliamentary representative for the district over a period of 35 years. He owned the Molong Argus for two years and, during his time in parliament, ‘compiled several books of reminiscences’, including about Molong.
has always been a separate place, with its own identity and legal structures. The discovery of copper in Molong in the mid-1840s94 proved to be less profitable and iconic than the
discovery of gold in Orange just a few years later.95 The fact that the Packham pear was first
propagated in Molong and the town’s first vineyard dates to the 1910s96 is overlooked when
Orange is presented as the district’s wine and food hub.97 While in many respects Molong is
a place that has existed in the shadows of the neighbouring city of Orange, it has only been since the end of the Second World War that the differences between the two places have become pronounced.98 Europeans arrived in the Wiradjuri99 country, which spanned both
towns and beyond, in the early 1800s, with records of cattle being run in Molong in 1819, residents arriving in 1830s100 and the displacement of the local Aborigines shortly after.101
Both towns were officially recognised as separate villages in the 1840s102 and were being
administered by their own local councils by the end of the 1870s.103 The local railway arrived
in Orange in 1877 and then Molong in 1885104 to transport the produce, particularly orchard
94 J Kay Donald, Exploring the Golden West (Kangaroo Press, 1991); D C Goldney and I J S Bowie, The National
Trust of Australia (NSW) Scenic and Scientific Survey of the Central Western Region – A Report to the Australian Heritage Commission Vol 1 (1987).
95 Goldney and Bowie, above n 94.
96 Karen Brown, Our Memories of Molong (Molong Senior Citizens History Group, 1983).
97 The Orange F.O.O.D. Week (Food of Orange District) prioritises, and is centred around, the City of Orange.
The local winemaking association is the Orange Region Vignerons Association and wines are classified as being from the Orange Wine Region.
98 Scott Carpenter, Cabonne Shire Heritage Report Part 1 (1997). 99 Goldney and Bowie, above n 94.
100 R D Drummond, Walkabout Through History: A Pedestrian Guide to Molong’s Past (1985) notes that the first
residents established a home on the Euchareena Road, the road on which the Molong landfill was to be located.
101 Donald, above n 94; Goldney and Bowie, above n 94, 43: note that in the decades following the arrival of
Europeans there was a ‘disastrous decline’ in the Aboriginal population.
102 Orange first in 1846, then Molong in 1848: see Goldney and Bowie, above n 94.
103 The municipality of Orange was established in 1860: see R C Sheridan, Early Orange (1971). The municipality
of Molong was created in 1879: see D A Rutherford, One Hundred Years of Local Government in Molong 1879–
1979 (The Molong Historical Society, 1979).
fruit and flour that were the main industries of the time, to faraway Sydney.105 By the late
1800s, both towns were prosperous and the population of Molong, supported by the ready access to cheap agricultural land, was quickly increasing.106
It was in the 1940s and 1950s – after the war and the arrival of the car – that marked the onset of the stagnation and decline of Molong relative to the growth of Orange,107 with
Orange becoming a city in 1946108 and Molong staying much as it always had been.
Thereafter, there also began a distinction between the townies and the cockies of Molong, a social stratification of the local population that was apparent in the early opposition to the Orange Waste Project.109 Goldney and Bowie note that the ‘changing economic, transport
and social patterns’ post-war ‘created a hierarchy of towns’ throughout the district with places such as Orange rising to towns and cities, becoming hubs for government and commercial services, and places such as Molong remaining villages.110 Amid the debate
about the Orange Waste Project, residents from Orange were curious about why people from Molong would object to a project for a city they depend on for social activities,
recreation, education and shopping. Molong, they thought, is ‘an outer suburb of Orange’111
– though one they would rarely visit or appreciate, and whose ignorance has led to
105 Orange City Council, A Brief History of the City of Orange (1973). 106 Yvonne McBurney, Road to Molong (1992).
107 Carpenter, above n 98.
108 Orange City Council, ‘Our Council’ Orange City Council
<http://www.orange.nsw.gov.au/site/index.cfm?display=147016>.
109 Interview with Paul Mullins, Molong Express, 24 February 2011. Interview with Rozzie Smith, Molong
Express, 18 March 2011.
110 Goldney and Bowie, above n 94, 55. Brown, above n 96, 5 notes that ‘we saw the business heart shrink when
good roads and motor vehicles made travel to larger centres an everyday event, but Molong always survived’; and ‘In the first half of the century, Molong’s business district was much larger and busier than it is today [in 1984]’ (p 16).
111 Charles Everett, (letter to the editor), ‘Land claim rubbish’ Central Western Daily (Orange) (4 April 2008) 8.
Judith Brett, ‘Fair share: Country and city in Australia’ (2011) 42 Quarterly Essay 1, 8–9 argues that larger ‘sponge cities’ such as Orange have ‘drained many small towns of purpose, marooning older residents and providing a rich reservoir for pathos in images of boarded-up shops and a few remnant locals with memories of grander days’.
economic decline, and whose belittling of Molong was noticed.112 Descriptions and
reflections of Molong for the half-century that followed barely deviate from a common script. Past residents remember the small, safe, out-of-the-action, country-life and bush setting of Molong.113 In the 1980s, Molong was described as a ‘pretty town’ where the ‘pace
of life is very steady and relaxed’,114 and in the 1990s as a ‘very pretty town’ with ‘the
atmosphere of a quiet, peaceful village’.115 Contemporary tourism marketing promises ‘a
trip back into the past when you visit the olde worlde charm of Molong’,116 while the local
newspaper, in the context of the Orange Waste Project approval, claimed that ‘Molong people are prepared to continue the fight in order to save the beautiful and safe town and district we call “home”’.117
Molong and controversy
While their town is peaceful and has historic charm, Molong residents have not been a socially or politically ambivalent community nor immune from controversy. Ten months after the formation of the local council in 1879, the local community began to object about road conditions, poor drainage, nuisance from washing horses and the erosion of paths.118
The community considered controversial the purchase of land to create the Fairbridge Farm in Molong, a child migrant home that itself became part of an international controversy.119
The opposition to the Orange Waste Project was intense and lasted the best part of a decade and was led, organised and financed principally by the people of Molong. As will be detailed below, the opposition coalesced, was emboldened and could be most
112 Interview with Rozzie Smith, Molong Express, 18 March 2011. 113 Bruce Paul, Cracks in the Soul (2004), 1–8.
114 Brown, above n 96, 4.
115 Yvonne McBurney, above n 106, 36.
116 Cabonne Council, Villages of Cabonne Country (brochure) (approx 2010) 12. 117 ‘Hub: Where to from here?’ Molong Express (Molong) (20 May 2010). 118 Rutherford, above n 103.
119 David Hill, The Forgotten Children: Fairbridge Farm School and its Betrayal of Australia’s Child Migrants
clearly characterised as being between a small rural town and a larger municipal city, after the opponents’ success in challenging the original approval for the waste facility in 2008.120
At this time, the project became Orange’s alone, as the opponents slowly garnered the support of their own local council. Opinion turned against the proponent as they sought to employ, and attempted to justify using,121 laws despised throughout the state to sidestep
the findings of the Chief Justice of the Land and Environment Court and procure the planning approval necessary for the waste project.122
It was the people of Molong who offered the media the storyline of a David versus Goliath battle:123 of the small and outnumbered taking on the large and powerful.124 They were the
ones who defined themselves as being other than from Orange, from being localised in a place distinct from the major rural city. Data does show some significant differences between the two communities suggesting some truth to the perception that the combatants were not on equal footing. The people of the township of Molong are
outnumbered by a ratio of 16:1 by the residents of the City of Orange.125 While separated by
just over 30 kilometres, Molong residents are employed in lower-paying, typically
agricultural jobs.126 While there is little difference between the two locales in the Australian
120 Hub Action Group v Minister for Planning (2008) 161 LGERA 136.
121 Orange City Council, (advertisement), ‘An open letter to the residents of Orange’ Central Western Daily
(Orange) (5 April 2008) 12.
122 Interview with Neil Jones, Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Orange, 23 February 2011.
123 This is a metaphor used elsewhere in environmental justice struggles. For instance, Cole and Foster, above
n 8, 1 describe the Kettleman City opposition to a toxic waste plant as a ‘classic David and Goliath tale’.
124 Ellen Vaz, ‘Why Hub is just rubbish to some’ Central Western Daily (Orange) (5 September 2007). A
billboard-sized painting near the waste site used the David and Goliath battle as an allegory for the waste conflict.
125 See Australian Bureau of Statistics, Basic Community Profiles – Molong NSW (Suburb) (2007) and Australian
Bureau of Statistics, Basic Community Profiles – Orange NSW (Local Government Area) (2007). The population of Molong was 2,135 and Orange 35,339.
126 Residents of Orange earn more money than those in Molong – household weekly income is AUD$935
compared with AUD$803, and 18 per cent of Orange residents reported earning more than AUD$1,000 a week compared with 12% of Molong residents. This is despite unemployment being lower in Molong (3.3%) than in Orange (5.8%). Employment participation is equivalent, with the major difference being in employment sectors. Agricultural jobs dominated in Molong, whereas health and retail were the two most common employment industries in Orange.
Bureau of Statistics’ measure of advantage and disadvantage, the scores indicate that the Molong township is a slightly more disadvantaged township than Orange City Council is a local government area.127 For the purpose of the Orange Waste Project, however, the
principal difference that supports a justice analysis is not a disadvantage based on wealth or race. Rather it is that of scale. Orange City was able to characterise itself as a regional centre, whereas Molong was disadvantaged by the law because of its local perspective, interest and status.