LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Leader reported on April 17, under the heading "Mangroves blocking drains", a council spokeswoman noting that "in some areas water logging is the result of mangrove growth restricting water flow further downstream of stormwater outlets" and that "council employs a pro-active and re-active approach to cleaning stormwater drains with regular inspections."
No details of council's re-active approach were provided however the mere fact that the spokesperson alluded to water logging being "the result of mangrove growth restricting water flow" should be ringing warning bells to all those who view the mangroves adjoining Captain Cook Drive and the Shark City development as an environmental treasure that must be retained as one of the Shire's greatest assets.
Developers and some property owners living adjacent to the Mangroves would very much like to see large areas of mangroves removed to create beaches with direct access to Botany Bay. Those people look for any reason to achieve their desire for a "clean" beachfront rather than the mangroves.
If one does not already exist maybe it is time for lovers of the mangrove areas in Botany Bay to form a pro-active and re-active committee that will hold council to account for any planned removal of any part of the mangroves before such plans are activated.
I feel sure that representatives from a wide background of the community including fishermen, scientists, engineers, environmentalists, opposition members, boating organisations etc will be interested in participating in such a committee. Please write to the Leader and let us have your thoughts.
Hank Laan AM, Cronulla
KIRRAWEE WEATHER STATION
The Kirrawee Weather Station website recently closed. I just wanted to say thank you very much to the person or people involved in this website for all your work over the last 20 years. We used it daily for years and found it very useful.
Belinda Munro, Kareela
PERYMAN SQUARE
The council spends so much money and time making the square beautiful with planting and lighting at night,
The trouble is garbage bins at the start of the square take all that hard work away.
There is a area of the square that is never used and the bins could be moved into this area (with a slight alteration)
Sam, Cronulla
FROM MOUTHS OF TEENAGERS
It was a peaceful and calm American September 11, 2001. Here it was about 10 in the evening our time, when I was watching television with my teenage daughter, a proud graduate of St John Bosco primary and high schools, Engadine, when catastrophe imposed itself upon us without a hint of invitation. A plane piloted by terrorists crashed into one of the Two Twin Towers in Manhattan, New York.
Trying to rationalise the situation as best I could, I told her that this sort of thing happened every day in the Second World War. Her measured and mature response: "Yes, Dad, but that was expected. What we just saw tonight was not."
Her statement was so accurately perceptive that it coalesced with a comment by one of the witnesses at the Bondi Junction stabbing: "You see it here, but you don't expect it here".
My daughter left Bosco to attend Sydney University, securing a degree with honours in Sociology. Not sure if she used me as a case study.
Paul Hunt, Engadine
WALKING DOG AT NIGHT UNSAFE
I was walking my dog on a lead on the Esplanade at south Cronulla at 9.30pm when an e-bike travelling at speed came towards me.
I told the rider, who was around 25-years-old, to slow down and received some expletives in reply.
The signs say NO bikes.
I'm 74. Is the council waiting till someone is seriously injured? Fines for dogs off lead are common.
Andre Sokolowski, Cronulla
MONTEVIDEO MARU
Twelve months ago, the Leader reported the finding of the wreck of the WW2 hellship, the Montevideo Maru, in the South China Sea, off the north west coast of The Philippines, on 18 April 2023.
About 1000 Australians died when the Japanese POW transportation ship, the Montevideo Maru, was sunk by the American submarine, USS Sturgeon, on July 1, 1942.
Six were from the St George area. Five were soldiers:
- Neill Callaghan, who was born in Bexley. He was the great uncle of Andrew Hastie, the present Shadow Minister for Defence.
- Richard Grimshaw, who was born in Kogarah, Sydney.
- Frederick Hopkins, who was born in Rockdale on 25 April 1915.
- John Manyon, who was born in Hurstville.
- Henry Wyatt, who was born in Carlton.
- John Poole, a Methodist clergyman and missionary, born in Hurstville.
My father's cousin, Lloyd Sibraa also died. He was in the Number 1 Independent Company, Australia's first commando unit raised during WW2, with Frederick Hopkins of Rockdale. The other soldiers from the St George area were in Lark Force.
More information: montevideo-maru.org
Patrick Bourke, Cronulla
