Sad photos of empty Aussie town after foreign investors buy 13,000 hectares
The old church is hardly used, the general store shuttered its doors and its petrol pumps are rusting. At least 13,000 hectares of what were mostly small family farms in Australia's Bylong Valley were bought up by South Korean energy giant Kepco after it purchased a coal mining lease in the area.
But Kepco's plans to build a mine on its leasehold, west of Newcastle, were rejected by the NSW Independent Planning Commission in 2019 due to environmental concerns, and a request for the High Court to hear its appeal was dismissed two years later. With no clear avenue to proceed, the town sits in limbo and locals are mystified by what its plans are.
Local farmer Phil Kennedy said the company's presence has 'ripped the spirit out of the Bylong Valley'. Speaking with Yahoo News, he said the general store needs repairs and its closure has affected residents who remained in the town. 'There's nowhere to buy your paper or bread," he said, adding the closest place to get petrol is 55km away. "That's a good half-hour to 45 minute drive,' he said.
After it was bought out by Kepco, the general store closed in 2021. The company told Yahoo it is 'actively' seeking an operator, but with the valley now quiet, no one has been game to rent the shop even at a measly $13,200 per annum.
Kennedy saw his region dramatically change after Kepco purchased the lease in 2010, and its subsequent farmland buyout depopulated the valley by almost half. Today, the land has been leased out to a large cattle company and that's brought some life back to the area, but he'd like to see it sold off again as smaller family farms.
What Kepco plans to do now remains unclear. Locals had thought the company would leave the area but in a surprise move it was revealed this week, the lease was quietly renewed in December last year. The company, which is majority-owned by South Korea's government, declined to answer questions from Yahoo News about whether it had plans to sell the land.
Asked if it still hoped to somehow build a mine it said, 'We are unable to provide any comments on the strategic matters you have raised.'
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Lock the Gate Alliance advocates for the rights of landholders when mining companies take out leases on their land. Spokesperson Nick Clyde said a leasehold never should have been granted over the region because of its importance as an agricultural food bowl.
'After Kepco's coal mine proposal was rejected emphatically by the Independent Planning Commission, the NSW Land and Environment Court, and then the High Court, their exploration licences should have been immediately extinguished,' he said.
'Instead, locals are still living with uncertainty.'
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