Owning property in one of the most spectacular natural settings is both a blessing and a curse and no one knows that better than residents of The Falls with properties adjoining the Condamine River Road.
For the SDRC, the conundrum is whether to promote a particularly attractive tourist magnet or side with fed-up residents and try to prevent the road being used as a 4WD wonderland. While council is no longer promoting the road as a tourist attraction, it may have more capabilities that it is not using around speed limits.
There is not universal agreement in the community. Many residents whose properties adjoin the roughly 15-kilometre stretch of natural beauty are sick to death of weekend warriors, 4WD owners, and illegal campers abusing the road and the river crossings, using the river to wash the undersides of their vehicles, dumping rubbish on the verges, causing accidents, making noise and generally making life fairly unbearable.
Nevertheless, the national popularity of the road attracts welcome tourists and their dollars to the Killarney area. For instance, the Killarney Area Promotions Association promotes the Condamine Gorge as “a place of great natural beauty” with a link to the SDRC road closure update site. There are hipcamp operations on the gorge, including Wynola Country Cousins, which advertises as “one of the best Hipcamps to visit in 2024” and is “located in the ’14 river crossings’ Cambanoora Gorge’ with “4WD access only’. There is also Booyong Camping which promotes itself as “335 acres of undulating rainforest and eucalyptus forest bordering the Condamine River within the Cambanoora Gorge. 4WD access required.”
Even some of the most heated anti-4WD proponents have considered investing in tourism. Justine Hankin, who spoke at length to The Town & Country Journal, says that she wanted to start a glamping venture during Tracy Dobie’s term as SDRC mayor and later started short-term accommodation but had to close it “because there are 20 cars parked in front of the place and people are smashing through the river; people were being harassed. I can’t run a business here.”
Indeed, even the most cursory internet search finds that any number of websites across Australia promote the Condamine River Road. Given the reputation and wide-spread promotion of the road, it is hard to see what can now be done to stop it, if that becomes the goal at all.
It is certainly the goal of Ms Hankin and some of her like-minded neighbours who have been soliciting this council and the last one to help alleviate the chaos on the road.
An SDRC spokesperson confirmed that “a number of affected residents requested that all references to the area be removed from Council’s tourism collateral, and Council has respected this request.”
Council also says they meet “regularly with residents of Condamine River Road to try and address challenges with road closures after heavy rain and road maintenance, and we thank the residents for their ongoing engagement with Council and working proactively to address these challenges.”
One solution would be to cut the speed limit on the Condamine River Road right down to a crawl and heavily enforce it until the road becomes unappealing to weekend warriors wanting to wreak a little havoc.
Council says that they have “liaised extensively with the Department of Main Roads around speed limits for the road, but there is no legislative ability to post a lower speed limit on the Condamine River Road as it is an unsealed road.”
However, The Town & Country Journal approached Transport and Main Roads and received a reply that seems to contradict that.
A TMR spokesperson said “as this road is managed by local government, SDRC is the road authority responsible for setting of speed limits on this road. If SDRC wishes to impose a speed limit on Condamine River Road, there is a formal process in place which reviews the function of the road and the safety of all road users. It also ensures speed limits are realistic, consistent and encourages voluntary compliance."
Council can submit a request to the local Speed Management Committee for endorsement.
“We advise residents impacted by 4WD activity on the Condamine River Road to raise their concerns directly with SDRC, as the responsible road authority”.
According to sources, TMR advised the SDRC about speed limits on the road, but the results of those discussions are unclear.
Council has, it claims, sought legal advice about whether the road can be for residents only, or whether a fee can be imposed on recreational users, “but neither of these options are legally available in Queensland for a public road”.
Destruction of natural habitat, polluting the waters with runoff from “car washing” in the river, are, of course, a concern to council and residents alike.
Meanwhile, Justine says life is unbearable for the private property owners along the road.
“The water from the Condamine River is used for drinking water, crops, livestock, wildlife (including platypus), reptiles. Children swim in a waterholes which are toxic brown soup of chemicals, while dozens of aggressive 4WDs smash through the Condamine River just metres from them”.
SDRC Mayor Melissa Hamilton says she is listening and “our continued engagement with the resident groups shows we don’t shy away from challenging issues. Balancing competing needs of residents, tourism operators and visitors is very difficult in this location, but we will continue to work together with the residents to try and find a consensus position on the way forward.”
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