Thread: Rabbit Flat Closed

For those going up the Tanami in the future be advised that as of today Rabbit Flats is closed.



paul

Originally Posted by PhilipA

It also has a great camping area with a very clean long drop which is not harassed by locals at 1 AM doing donuts as I understand are some other campsites. ( due to concrete filled 200 l drums, with only one empty to enter the camsite)

I hope that they keep the campsite open.

AFAIK the reason for closure is that NT insists on them supplying only OPAL fuel which must be supplied ex Darwin versus currently ex Wyndham at much greater cost.
Regard s Philip A

Might also be that Bruce & Jacqui have finally decided to move to something resembling a "normal" life. They've been out there a few years now. I first met them in '86 and they had already been there for quite a few years by that time. I was working at The Granites when the mine and camp were first being built, and spent 5 years out there all up.

But I suppose political correctness and red tape has finally claimed another Australian icon - in today's "politically correct" environment, we should no longer be surprised.

Rabbit Flat was previously at risk of closure in the late '80's. The land that the roadhouse and camping ground stands on was an "exclusion" to native title, as was the nearby Tanami Gold Mine leases. The Central Land Council lodged an appeal to this "exclusion" in the late '80's and very nearly won their case - their aim was to take over ownership of the roadhouse (all this was about the same time they got control of the successful "Mongrel Downs" cattle station, re-named it "Tanami Downs" and promptly de-stocked it and ran it to the ruins that it has been ever since.

Had they got control of Rabbit Flat at the time, Bruce's plan was to return it in the same condition it was in when he first moved there - and he had an ample stock of explosives on hand to achieve this goal.

If you want to see the next example of how government bureaucracy is ruining these Australian icons, read up on Mt Hart Wilderness Lodge in the King Leopold Ranges in the Kimberley - and how DECWA is refusing to renew the lease of Taffy Abbotts, the man who has built the place up from nothing to what it is today - all because they've had a better "offer" from the big end of town.

And they wonder why those of us who live in the bush hold some of these petty bureaucrats and greenies in nothing but utter contempt.