Friends of Stradbroke Island

Friends of Stradbroke Island Newsletter Issue #75 December 2016 In this issue Straddie’s Summer Birds The Moreton Bay Ramsar Site and Toondah Harbour Toondah Harbour plan raises serious questions for the State Government Both Sibelco and Walker Group Paid Nil Income Tax in 2014/15 Tell-tale sign of…? Glossy Black Cockatoo Count Day 2016 Report Moreton Bay Research Station Open Day Island Fox Control Annual Update Pelicans at One Mile Please support FOSI’s ongoing work Straddie’s Summer Birds Oriental Dollarbird – displaying its ‘silver dollar’ wing markings, photo by Chris Walker Stradbroke is expecting many visitors this summer— most will come by ferry or water taxi – but many others will be flying in from international and Australian departure points. But they won’t be landing at the Dunwich airstrip, but touching down in the island’s forest and shores. These are the myriad of birds flying in to spend summer on Minjerribah. Among the early arrival

In this edition: A New Era for Stradbroke Whale Shark Spotted Off Straddie Draft Planning Scheme Update Dunwich High Tide Roost Getting Good Use Island Fox Control Continues Coastal Raptor Nests Project Quandamooka Festival 2016  A New Era for Stradbroke After a drawn out process of consultation and speculation, the Government’s Bill to repeal the 2013 Newman Government amendments to the North Stradbroke Island Act was passed by the Queensland Parliament on 25 May. The repeal of the Newman Government’s amendments and the restoration of the 2019 end date for mining is good news. This will save over 700 hectares of mostly undisturbed, high dune habitat from destruction and limit the impacts of mining on wetlands and the underlying aquifer. It is of course distressing that there will be three and a half more years of environmental harm, but a non-mining future for Straddie is now within sight. The passage of the Bill through Parliament was enlivened by the