Dardanup shire requests DPLH note potential issues with possible Wellington Mills Road native title transfers

The Shire of Dardanup has requested a State Government department investigate potential issues with two Ferguson Valley sites which could become native title areas. The Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage requested the council provide advice on plans to hand over Lot 501 and Lot 503 Wellington Mills Road, which are crown land, to the Noongar people as part of South West Native Title Settlement. While the shire voted to support the transfer of the two sites in the settlement, it has requested the department consult with the community and investigate issues raised by members of the public at its latest meeting. Micheal Hall lives next to one of the sites and said the crown land served as a right of way for his property, with a water pipeline also running through it. He told the meeting one of the sites used to be the location of the former Wellington Mills hospital. “With that hospital, we don’t know what contaminants were put in the ground there because there was no proper requirements back then,” Mr Hall said. “We don’t even know if there was any bodies buried there, as an example, stillborn babies.” Mr Hall also told the council Landgate, about seven years ago, offered to sell both of the sites to community members, but the offer was withdrawn after negotiations started. Jerry Bogdanoff asked the shire why adjoining landowners had not been contacted about the move and why there had not been any public consultation. Chief executive Andre Schonfeldt said the process of transferring crown land to the native title settlement was not a shire process. “The process is a State Government process, where they (are) just asking our comments from the local government perspective,” he said. Cr Annette Webster expressed concerns the shire had not done enough of its own consultation with the community. “We could have had all of this in the report that went to them when they requested it in the first place,” she said. Shire president Tyrrell Gardiner said the council was “supporting the community the best we can” with the matter. The vote was carried 8-0.