campaign_1969a_arkaringa

In
1969, the former Sandringham City
Council managed the Crown land
foreshore reserve at Black Rock on behalf of
the Victorian Governement. It proposed to
clear a large area of indigenous coastal
vegetation, at the left of the centre of the
photograph below, to build a paved car park
for a Yachting Regatta that year intended to
be opened by His Majesty, King Bhumibol of
Thailand, a skilled sailor

then. 

The
issue led to the formation – at the
instigation of the Beaumaris Conservation
Society – of a local
conservation organization, the Black

Rock and Sandringham Conservation
Association, which became a
founding Member Organization of the
newly-formed Port Phillip Conservation Council
Inc. Those organizations strongly opposed this
attack on a longstanding natural area that was
greatly loved by many.

The
Black Rock and nearby communities made it
abundantly clear that the short-sighted attack
on our foreshore was deeply resented, and the
Sandringham City Council fortunately responded
to concerns and abandoned the project. It
eventually turned out that King Bhumibol was unable to
attend the event.