I do not think that the comparison between broad (very broad in the outback)
acres and living areas is a good one. It certainly does not apply in some
other countries. In Scandinavia there is "everyman's right" to cross open
land. My understanding is that England was the same until 1066 when the
rascally Normans, led by William the Bastard, as he was correctly known,
took away the rights of the commoners. Scotland I believe has no law of
trespass.
I spent 4 years in Oman (one of the Gulf Arab states), and was pleased to
find that other than walled/fenced garden areas I could wander freely.
On holiday in densely populated Bali I was assured that apart from walking
over crops or going into areas around houses I could walk where I liked.
Back home in Australia access is at the whim of owners and managers. Most
of these are perfectly reasonable, some are quite unreasonable. I would
cite the case of a local lessee who held up the completion of the Larapinta
Trail ( a long distance walking track) for many years. The actual area of a
1m wide walking tack probably would not support one cow.
Last weekend's Australian magazine contained an article "Kings of the
Welfare State" which may be relevant. To what extent are we subsidising
pastoralists to keep us off leased Crown land?
No doubt these problems will be with us for a long time yet.
Robert Read.
>
> It is fine to state that "most of the properties up there are in fact
crown
> land on 99yr leases" but why is this the case? Simply because those
living
> in those areas are not entitled to purchase freehold land. If the same
> situation applied to city blocks, we would all be paying to provide
housing
> and gardens etc that we would never own. I know that I wouldn't want
> birders (or anyone else) walking through my yard even if it was leased.
>
> Common courtesy such as obtaining permission to enter even leased land
would
> seem to be the logical answer. In 40 years, I have only been denied
access
> to one small area of one property. I always asked though and kept my
> promise of no shooting, no chasing stock, no driving on wet roads, etc.
>
> Terry Pacey
> TOOWOOMBA QLD 4350
>
>
>
>
> Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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