BERNADETTE O’Sullivan hopes a uniquely interactive experience will inspire more people to take an interest in our major waterway.
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Mrs Sullivan will welcome dozens of canoe and kayak paddlers through the gates of the family home at Pee Dee Station on Sunday.
There, participants in the Paddle on the Macleay will have access to a stretch of the river that forms the boundary of the O’Sullivans’ 1820ha (4500 acre) property.
It will be the starting point of a leisurely downriver trip to Bellbrook.
“We did a dry run three weeks ago, and it took us about three-and-a-half hours,” Mrs Sullivan said.
“The idea is really a positive event to celebrate the Macleay in the hope that by experiencing the river people realise how important it is and get interested in how to protect it.”
Mrs O’Sullivan, a committee member of the Save Our Macleay River group, pitched the idea at one of its meetings earlier this year.
It met with an enthusiastic response.
Like many residents in the Upper Macleay, Mrs O’Sullivan is concerned at the potential impact of antimony mining further upriver.
There are fears the Macleay will be contaminated with toxic waste, with dire environmental consequences and threats to public health.
“I’m not anti-mining, I understand that it’s coming and I accept that,” she said.
“It’s about holding mining companies to account.
“We want to ensure that environmental impacts of mines are given full priority.
“There seems to be a pattern with the NSW government that agriculture and the environment is under more pressure from mining.”
Mrs O’Sullivan said she wanted to avoid organising anything “too preachy” so participants would not be turned off by the message.
NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham is the only politician to have accepted an invitation to the event, and will make a brief address.
Local state and federal members Andrew Stoner and Luke Hartsuyker were also invited, but are unavailable.
Mrs O’Sullivan also tried to persuade the operators of Hillgrove Mine to set up a stall at the event, as an opportunity to engage with the community.
She said they had declined to do that, but told her they would send some people along.
Five-year-old Patrick O’Sullivan will signal the start of the paddle on Sunday, with the gates to Pee Dee Station closing at 8.30am sharp, so be there before then.
Participants must fill out an event registration form, available at saveourmacleayriver. com, and hand it in before the paddle.
