Thread: Bendethra vandalised.... again.

Terrible.
Would it be less likely to happen if there were more rangers to keep an eye on these areas?

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Terrible.
Would it be less likely to happen if there were more rangers to keep an eye on these areas?

Sadly no. These sorts of people will wait and do it once the ranger is out of the way. The one a few years ago they were doing the circle work while that camping area was half full of campers.
This is what causes the places to be locked off as the only way the rangers can be certain it won't happen is if they escort the group during the visit.

Forget about fines, I would "export" these subjects to Somalia

Yes .... you're probably right. I recall not long ago, someone hacked down some trees at Chowder Bay (I think about 8 of them), which fell into Sydney Harbour ... I remember NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service being able to fine the accused up to $110,000 or seek a jail sentence of up to six months.... don't know if they ever caught the culprits though ... and of course, if they would actually be fined the maximum amount ... probably doubtful! Having said that, another Sydney bloke was fined $65,000 by the Land and Environment Court after he cut down trees to improve his Harbour view ... In any case, I hope they catch them and throw the book at them, so to speak!

Originally Posted by Chucaro

Forget about fines, I would "export" these subjects to Somalia

We could get onto the UN and swap them for some refugees who actually want to be here and be good citizens.
In the old tribal days they'd have been booted out of the camp and speared if they came back.

Originally Posted by George130

Sadly no. These sorts of people will wait and do it once the ranger is out of the way. The one a few years ago they were doing the circle work while that camping area was half full of campers.
This is what causes the places to be locked off as the only way the rangers can be certain it won't happen is if they escort the group during the visit.

George130, sadly we, Allan (VNX-205), Khos (Disco Owner) and I didn't see any of this vandalism happening. Allan, Pandora (Panda) and I were down Bendethra a week before last long weekend, the so called "hill climb" with the damaged silt traps was damaged then, so it had been done at least a week earlier.
The Info hut/signboard had not been damaged then.
Khos and I arrived around 5pm Friday arvo (start of long w/e), the road (Sugarloaf) was blocked by fallen trees, as it was the previous week, 'cept this time we had to clear a few logs to get through.
The Info board was flattened when we got there, so it had been damaged sometime between the previous weekend and the Friday of the long weekend.
I think someone has a grudge against NPWS in the area, I have seen many NPWS signs that have been cut down to ground level with a chainsaw in the mountains behind Moruya and not just cut down, but chopped up into small pieces so nothing could be salvaged.
I don't think NPWS had been down to Bendethra for at least a few weeks as the damage has occurred over that period, there are even Cattle grazing in the end clearing and they have done some damage to the bank of the river.
Our local paper had a story a number of weeks back that NPWS working with Police were installing hidden remote cameras to catch Vandals and unregistered bike riders. I hope they had them installed for the long weekend, but I doubt it. I don't know how many Rangers NPWS have, but it would be wise for them to put in an appearance and maybe hand out "how to behave" pamphlets at least on long weekends.I'm not knocking NPWS rangers, but the brain dead bastards that did this damage need to know that there is a NPWS or Police presence. The local police have 4WD's and are only 1 1/2 hours from Bendethra, maybe they need to show the flag, it would make the Majority 4WD users feel better and it may deter the brain dead bastards from coming to "our" camping area.
I would ask anyone who got some pics of these mongrels stuffing it up for the rest of us to contact or anonymously send the pics to NPWS, if they don't get caught it will come back to bite us all that appreciate Bendethra, Regards Frank.