History: Bylong Tarwyn Park
Preview of version: 9
Click on images to enlarge
1952
1959
23 Oct 1959
2010
2014
19 March 2014
Bylong Tarwyn Park
KOREAN coal miner KEPCO has bought the iconic "Tarwyn Park", in the Bylong Valley, where Peter Andrews developed his Natural Sequence Farming system.
The property was latterly owned by Peter's son Stuart Andrews, who will lease back the property to continue grazing cattle and his training business in landscape management.
A portion of the land will be subject to mining, but the Andrews will have access to unaffected areas of the property.
KEPCO's Cokatoo Coal will operate the Bylong project.
While KEPCO may buy more land around the Bylong project, "Tarwyn Park" is likely the last of its significant purchases.
Earlier this year, Wallings Pastoral Company's land was acquired. Together with "Tarwyn Park" these two properties almost doubled KEPCO's land in the Valley.
KEPCO previously purchased the historic Bylong Park and Bylong Station properties.
The company now holds over 75 per cent of the available property within the project boundary. About 20pc of the land in the boundary is crown land or State forest.
Stuart Andrews served as vice president of the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance, but resigned his position following the sale. He will remain a member of the organisation.
Peter Andrews said mining "Tarwyn Park" "could ruin an important scientific investment in the landscape".
The land had been developed to an exceptional level for "cereal grazing, whatever", he said.
"There is not anywhere that comes within 50pc of its quality," he said.
However, he took a sanguine view of the situation and believes the NFS system could be used to rehabilitate the mined land.
"In some ways it is an opportunity to complete the NFS process.
"The mined areas can become recharge areas for the water catchment."
KEPCO has submitted its mine plan to the government's Gateway panel, which is considering the project's agricultural impact.
The panel will make recommendations to the government on the future of the project, or make recommendations for modifications to the mine plan.
KEPCO said it will promote farming on its agricultural land, and aims to achieve no net loss of agricultural productivity from the land it has acquired.
"A number of farming initiatives are already underway to ensure this occurs," said Cockatoo Coal general manager of NSW project development, Stuart Hides2 .
2016
7 July 2016
Andrews vacate Tarwyn
Stuart Andrews will walk off Tarwyn Park, past the final resting place of Melbourne Cup winner Rain Lover, on July 31.
Last week removalist trucks were working at the Bylong property that was sold to Korean state-owned coal mine company, KEPCO for more than $14 million in February 2014.
The leaving has come much earlier than Mr Andrews expected.
He said the sale included an eight year lease with regular renewal, allowing him to continue using and teaching father Peter's natural sequence farming methods that directly challenge several centuries of Australian land management.
'I put my hand out to say I want to make this work. For three years we made a stand against mining, but I knew we couldn't hold them out forever because they have the law on their side so we sold,' Mr Andrews told the Newcastle Herald said.
'I thought if this has to go ahead let's do it the best we possibly can. Let's make this a case study to show mining and agriculture can co-exist.'
The lease has not been renewed.
While claims have been made that the company said it needed the Tarwyn Park floodplain portion of the Andrews property for its coal mine project, a company spokesperson said the Andrews family agreed to waive and surrender rights to a clause in the contract of the property that include an eight year license term in January 2016.
'The Andrews family has declined further license arrangements and their current lease expires July, 31 2016,' a statement said.
'KEPCO ensured the Andrews family were made aware of the company's plan for the property as part of the acquisition process. Mine plans showing the impact of mining and surface infrastructure were also exhibited to the Andrews family prior to the sale of the property.'
Mr Andrews said it was clear mining and agriculture could not co-exist in the Bylong Valley where KEPCO has so far spent more than $600 million to establish a new coal mine, including $400 million to Anglo American in 2010 for the mining lease and coal asset. The KEPCO move on Tarwyn Park is devastating given Rio Tinto's $1 sale of its Blair Athol mine last week to a former manager as thermal coal prices continue to flatline, and the Korean Government in June raising serious questions about whether the Bylong mine will ever go ahead.
Mr Andrews is aware of moves to have the stables heritage listed, but said 'I don't know if people really give a s...'.
He knows some people have and will criticise him for selling the property, but said a sale was inevitable once KEPCO made it clear it needed the property.
"The mining companies are just doing what the rules say they're allowed to do. It's the politicians who don't understand the impacts, on the environment and families and communities, and they don't care," he said.
The company spokesperson said 'KEPCO has designed the project to avoid and minimise direct impacts to local heritage wherever possible'.
'The Tarwyn Park homestead and horse stables will remain. A Historic Heritage Management Plan and Conservation Management Plan will be prepared to guide the management of the Tarwyn Park Complex, including the stables.
'KEPCO is maintaining active farming operations on purchased properties, and has developed farm management plans that will best utilise the land for the life of the project and beyond.'
In October Mudgee-based heritage advisor Barbara Hickson recommended Mid-Western Regional Council liaise with the state government to place an interim heritage order on the property. In her review of the project's environmental impact statement, Ms Hickson said Peter Andrews' work formed part of the property's cultural significance.
Kepco Bylong ends 40 years of Andrews family custodianship of natural sequence farm first appeared in the Newcastle Herald on July 63 .
2017
13 May 2017
Possible heritage listing for Tarwyn Park
The Planning Assessment Commission public hearing on the Bylong Coal Project heard that the Bylong Valley property Tarwyn Park may be granted state significance.
In the opening statement from the chair Brian Gilligan he said Tarwyn Park and adjoining property Iron Tank may qualify for some form of Heritage Listing.
Peter Andrews OAM bought the property in the mid 1970s and put his Natural Sequence Farming theories into practice, the site also has links to the thoroughbred industry.
KEPCO bought the property from the Andrews family in 2014.
The Minister for Heritage received an Interim Heritage Order request for the properties late in 2016 from the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance.
The State Heritage Register resolved in October to request that PAC obtain an independent assessment of the potential state significance of the sites.
A Historic Heritage Impact Assessment (HHIA) was completed for the Bylong Coal Project as part of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which found the Tarwyn Park Farm Complex, including the Natural Sequence Farming area, is of local heritage significance.
In his submission KEPCO Australia's chief operating officer Bill Vatovec said the company recognises the importance of the site.
Natural Sequence Farming centres on restoration of natural water flows - in water course and across the landscape.
The land was contoured to slow down water flow in the creek and across the floodplain - which lays across the aquifer at the head of the valley's groundwater system.
At Tarwyn Park, water flows from the surrounding escarpment. At the top of the floodplain which underlays the pastures, water hits a bank and soaks the ground to maximise aquifer recharge - while trapping soil and distributing nutrients across the pastures.
The creek bed has been converted from a gouged gully into nutrient-distribution systems with erosion control structures - which appear as natural weirs woven with plants.
A greater number and diversity of plants can grow on the banks, which also helps to slow flow and critically, adds yet more nutrients which will spread throughout the system4 .
References