I welcome and support your alternative views about how MEL should progress their activities...particularly any info that relates to the locals and their feelings regarding MEL.
One thing I can't get my head around is your claim that your family have been in the area from the 1820's.
Below is a snippet from a SMH article. Perhaps you can place your family in the context of this information so that we can understand your claim a little better...?
""The first European to discover the mouth of the Richmond River was Captain Henry John Rous who in 1828 identified the mouth of the river as he sailed along the coast from Sydney Town to Moreton Bay. Rous entered the river and sailed about 20 miles (32 km) up river. He subsequently named the river Richmond after the fifth Duke of Richmond. Later that year the explorer Allan Cunningham reached the river by land. Remarkably no one in Sydney seemed terribly interested and it wasn't until 1838 that a group of cedar cutters entered the lower Richmond Valley. It was around this time that Henry Clay and George Stapleton took up land along the Richmond River. Stapleton had cut a path down to the coast from Glen Innes and, with Clay, he purchased cattle. The two men eventually reached the Richmond Valley where they claimed 30,000 acres. They named their property 'Cassino' which was named after the beautiful town of Monte Cassino in Italy.
By 1842 cedar cutters were in the lower reaches of the Richmond Valley near Pelican Creek. Over the next decade the whole of the valley was settled and by 1849 there were more than 20 squatters and a significant number of cedar-cutters who were shipping their timber to Sydney."
Cheers, Blackpete
MEL Price at posting:
13.0¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
