{"id":366047,"date":"2025-10-24T20:26:41","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=366047"},"modified":"2025-11-22T00:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T14:21:16","slug":"residents-angered-by-clearfelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2025\/10\/24\/residents-angered-by-clearfelling\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents Angered By Clearfelling"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
A bulldozer pushes a marked tree into a temporary stack beside Kingaroy-Burrandowan Road on Thursday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

October 24, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

The clearfelling of an area of heavily timbered land near the corner of Boonenne-Ellesmere and Kingaroy-Burrandowan roads has left local residents dismayed but Council has admitted there is nothing they can do to stop the work.<\/p>\n

Protests erupted on social media earlier this week when two bulldozers began knocking over trees and piling up the fallen timber into large stacks on the Taabinga site.<\/p>\n

Residents say the area is koala habitat, and that displaced koalas have been found beside nearby roads.<\/p>\n

A Change.org petition<\/a><\/strong> against the clearing, started by local resident Felicia Heirdsfield, had attracted 1259 signatures by 4:30pm on Friday.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Local residents met with Council representatives on Friday morning at the Kingaroy Council Chambers.<\/p>\n

South Burnett Mayor Kathy Duff then called a public meeting on site at Boonenne-Ellesmere Road on Friday afternoon to explain Council’s position.<\/p>\n

More than 60 people attended, including Mayor Duff, five councillors, SBRC general manager infrastructure Aaron Meehan, property manager Leanne Petersen and general manager finance and liveability Kerri Anderson.<\/em><\/p>\n

Three police officers also watched on from a distance.<\/p>\n

southburnett.com.au understands police have been called to the block several times over the past week after reports of trespassers on the block.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mayor Duff told the meeting there had been a lot of misinformation on Facebook which she wanted to clear up.<\/p>\n

Council staff members distributed vegetation maps to the residents (see below) to explain what was happening.<\/p>\n

She said the land being cleared was in the exempt “white” area on the maps, and this was being monitored by satellite imaging by the Department of Natural Resources.<\/p>\n

“Council had no reason to go in there and no authority to go in there,” Mayor Duff said.<\/p>\n

And no Development Application had been lodged over the land.<\/p>\n

“At the moment it is just a person with freehold land having the absolute right to do the clearing,” Mayor Duff said.<\/p>\n

“We have absolutely no jurisdiction over it …<\/p>\n

“I wish that they hadn’t clearfelled it. If they are going to do a potential Development Application further down the track you would have had beautiful big trees and just take the regrowth, but for some reason they have decided to clearfell it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“To me, I just think it’s wrong but I have no control over it. Council has no control over it.”<\/p>\n

Mayor Duff said Council had sought legal advice which confirmed this.<\/p>\n

One resident apologised to Mayor Duff for calling her a “koala killer” on social media but said it was “in the heat of the moment after seeing koalas being killed and squashed under trees”.<\/p>\n

Ray Chambers, from Koala Rescue Queensland, was outspoken at the public meeting, calling for action to be taken against the owner of the land.<\/p>\n

He also urged police to allow him to search the block for dead or injured animals.<\/p>\n

This prompted a general warning from the police officers present that people could be charged with trespassing for entering private land.<\/p>\n

southburnett.com.au<\/strong> understands the block is within “Koala District C” of the State Government’s Koala Conservation Plan where koala density is considered low.<\/p>\n

Footnote: southburnett.com.au has sought comment from Luke Fryer, from the Longhorn group of companies. Rumours have circulated that Mr Fryer wants to sub-divide the block into either 5 acre or 1 acre lots. NB. Mr Fryer and his companies are not linked to Longhorn Constructions, trading as the Longhorn Group, from Burleigh Heads.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

UPDATE November 19: Cr Jane Erkens said Council had received a letter from the Department of Natural Resources which confirmed no illegal activity had occurred on the block.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Concerned residents at Friday’s public meeting studied maps explaining the “white” and “green” areas on the site … the maps (see below) were provided by the South Burnett Regional Council<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Mayor Kathy Duff addressed the crowd at the public meeting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Ray Chambers, from Koala Rescue Queensland, claimed the clearing “broke the Koala Conservation Act rule” and said he wanted to check the block for dead or injured animals<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Police have been called several times to the block over the past few days … on Friday, they observed the public meeting from a distance before warning the assembled crowd that they risked breaking the law if they trespassed on to private property<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Protesters quizzed Mayor Duff on why Council had not stopped the clearing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Another tree is pushed down on Thursday afternoon … most of the clearing of the “white” area on the map had been completed by Friday afternoon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The fallen timber has been pushed into large stacks … residents have questioned whether these stacks are going to be burned<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Mayor Kathy Duff said she would have liked the large trees to have been left standing but she had no power to stop the clearing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Council staff will review its options over the access way cut into the site off Boonenne-Ellesmere Road as no permit had been sought to remove the vegetation on the Council-controlled road reserve, however Mayor Duff said if a permit had been sought, it would probably have been granted as Council has no right to block access to properties<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The black boundary delineates the area in question … the area in white is able to be cleared<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The clearfelling of an area of heavily timbered land near the corner of Boonenne-Ellesmere and Kingaroy-Burrandowan roads has left local residents dismayed but Council has admitted there is nothing they can do to stop the work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":366048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,16,3],"tags":[21,145],"yoast_head":"\nResidents Angered By Clearfelling - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The clearfelling of an area of heavily timbered land near the corner of Boonenne-Ellesmere and Kingaroy-Burrandowan roads has left local residents dismayed but Council has admitted there is nothing they can do to stop the work.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2025\/10\/24\/residents-angered-by-clearfelling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Residents Angered By Clearfelling - 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