Thread: Gazetted road access in Qld.

Myself and a few others went for a survey recently and found ourselves driving through farmers paddocks. As far as we were concerned if the road exists on the map, and it's not blocked by a locked gate, then it's fair and reasonable to drive.
I guess you need to be happy, or confident you are on the right road, and not doing harm. We left gates as we found them, remained on the track, and didn't do dumb things. If you find the legal answer you are looking for let us know please.

I have noticed a conspiracy between land owners and local councils to close roads that pass through private Property
The council doesn’t want to maintain the old roads and the land owner think it's only there for there use.
I drove up one road that was on the map near Kilcoy the farmer had built a fence across the road and made the track dog leg up his driveway and then turn off. I drove on and was confronted by “squatter mounted on his quad bike” and was bluntly informed it was a private road after politely informing him it was on the map.
I was with the wife and she didn't like the idea any more , you see she would usually want to stop before that, but she saw that it was a road.
Any way we turned around and saw a a road sign that said crest and them I thought he is telling me crap. What farmer would go buy a road sign, a bit of gal pipe and cement it on a private road.
Then I started seeing that the “private road” had white posts with reflectors.
I wonder what he dose when he gets a bush fire. Is he going to go tell the tanker driver to use another road?
My parents once owned a hobby farm which was on old subdivision that was never developed and they had to pay an annual grazing fee to the council because they were using the councils road for farming. I asked the council what I would have to do so I didn't have to pay this fee. They said have the area resurveyed and fenced at your expense and when we can see that you are not using it then we will not charge the fee.And there was not even a trace of a road.
I have read in the UK the land rover clubs have a practice called Greenlaning. They do it so that the old roads will stay open they and they have the right of way. They do it to keep the old roads open. I think that In Australia we need to adopt a similar practice. We need to get the correct legal information whether the roads are Surveyed, Gazetted or Proposed. I am sure this info is avalable from some obscure archive. It needs to be puplished openly and we need to go out and exersize our right of way on the Kings Highway

I am no expert but it is not always simple. There are many road reserves marked on maps but this does not mean that you can legally access them. They must be declared a public road. Your local council will be able to tell you which are and which are not. The other issue is that roads and tracks were often first built where it was easy and this is not always in the road reserve. There are many examples where roads continue to be used that are in fact on private property. Councils will try to fix this by doing a land swap, moving road or buying land if they know about it. Usually they do not bother if nobody is complaining and useage is low. So often locked gates appear on "roads" because somebody finally worked out it is on private land. So just because the map shows a road and even if there is a track there it does not mean you can legally drive it.

I always believed that councils should open all road reserves to public access however our litigious society means this will not happen as the council then must ensure it is safe. Councils simply can't afford the cost and risk.

If you read the UK Land Rover mags - Land Rover Monthly, Land Rover World etc - there are regular features on greenlaning which is/has been a major outlet for Brits to go 'off road' with their Land Rovers, trail bikes, ponies etc. Most are recognisable vehicle tracks and roads and many are incredibly scenic.

However, the continued use of many greenlanes remains contentious and many are being closed by the public authorities to prevent vehicular access - largely due to damage from ill-considered users and abusers, especially in winter. Sounds a bit like home where in the 70s you could still drive through a good bit of the SMA track network around the Brindabellas and Snowy Mountains etc.

On gazetted roads in Oz, we used to have a marked road through one of our farms in the Upper Hunter which we paid a nominal annual fee of $50 for 'grazing and use' rights - it was little more than two wheel ruts in most places and nothing elsewhere. Around 2005 the fee was jacked up to around $300 and soon thereafter it was offered to us for freeholding at around (I seem to recall) $20,000+. We didn't pay it and sold the block soon after - so don't know what happened to it. But basically the Lands Dept was trying to get them off the books and raise some cash in the process. A good many of these roads and tracks are never going to get developed as roads and will likely end up freeholded.

Queensland is bascially broke, despite the mining boom, and I suspect the situation here may go the same way as NSW - there has been a real push to flog off the stock routes and water reserves in recent years.

Despite what it often appears most councils are reasonable and pragmatic. They will often maintain roads on private land if needed for access by other landowners. They may do this as it is often too expensive to move the road or buy land to put in a road reserve. The owner of the land the road is on will often let his neighbors cross his land but is quite within his rights to lock the general public out.

I share every ones frustration about lack of access but just remember we would probably not like somebody to drive their landy through our suburban backyard so we should not expect a rural landowner to be any different

G'day Fellas. Thanks for the interest.The original drivers for my enquiries with Moreton Bay Reg Council, was a combination of the closure of several nearby tracks in patches of state forest and reading about the above mentioned pratice of greenlaning. Reading about the closures in the UK made me realise we could be preserving the same here.
Driving around the area is saw several verges where roads had been diverted and wondered about enjoying some slow technical play and thought Imight check where I stood. no joy so far.
The search continues........
Dave.

In NSW the Dept of Lands are the ones with the answers but getting the right person can be impossible

another thread on the subject When is a road a public road?

Just noticed: Gazetted not Gazzeted
Is that what you call it when Gazz tears up a bush track?!