The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 4

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 1997 Fight over wetland dam plan stepped up GRIFFITH fivebough Jswamp Leeton "Narrandera WAGGA WAGGAO Film bathes in afterglow of Shine The world premiere of the Australian film Blackrock is generating considerable enthusiasm at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival in Utah. The story of the rape and murder of a teenage girl at a surf club party in a small coastal town, Blackrock is benefiting from a new wave of interest in "coming of age" stories at the festival. Mr Gary Hamilton, the general manager of the company responsible for the film's American sale, Beyond Films, said "Americans are very keen on these films. Ours has this incredibly powerful script so I expect a big response." Written by Nick Enright, Blackrock stars Laurence Bruels, Simon Lyndon and Linda Cropper. The young actors accompanied the film to Utah.

"It is not an adaptation," said the film's producer, David Elfick, referring to the play, which ran at the Sydney Theatre Company last year. "Nick wrote the film separately." The Sundance festival, started by Redford 12 years ago, has grown into the premiere launching pad for non-studio films. Last year, the award-winning film Shine had its world premiere there. Showing in the section called. Premieres, Blackrock is not eligible for a prize.

But thanks to an invasion of Hollywood executives, Blackrock is poised to benefit from any competition for American rights to the film. PAGE 10: Sundance grows up. A TiTfrffrrl By NATHAN VASS A battle brewing in Leeton over moves to dam a wetland rich in bird life will receive international attention as the plan's opponents step up pressure to halt the creation of an artificial lake. The World Wide Fund for Nature will use World Wetlands Day next Sunday to highlight a controversial proposal to dam part of Five-bough Swamp near Leeton, in southern NSW. Fivebough is regarded internationally as a vital feeding and roosting site for threatened waterbird species.

The Leeton Council is examining a plan to create a recreational lake on Five-bough by flooding 40 hectares of the ankle-deep wetland to a depth of three metres. Supporters of the $1.5 million project say it will help rejuvenate Leeton after the township lost 300 full-time and 1,000 seasonal jobs three years ago when its cannery closed down. They also say the lake will be important to the management of the wetland. But fauna experts argue that the plan is foolish because wetlands in the basin in three categories: most waterbird species (65), most threatened species (six), and most species protected by international treaties with Japan and China (16). "This is the worst place to locate the lake in terms of environmental sensitivity.

This is an area that really shouldn't be fooled around with," Dr Hutchison said. The local newspaper, the Murrumbidgee Irrigator, has received letters of protest from people in Japan and Hong Kong who are concerned about the development's impact on the bird life protected by international treaties. The World Wide Fund for Nature's nature conservation manager, Mr Jamie Pittock, said the -Murray-Darling Basin wetlands would be included in a list of 200 of the most important ecological regions in the world that needed to be saved. He said Fivebough was the fourth most important wetland in Australia for wading birds. "The NSW Government should step in immediately to save the swamp," Mr Pittock said.

The chairman of Leeton Council's lake committee, Councillor George Weston, said an environmental impact statement had found Jhat the proposal could go ahead without significantly disturbing the fauna. "This is an important project for a small town which has lost 300 jobs when the cannery closed down. This is something that can help us to claw our way back," Cr Weston said. "More moderate greenies can see that if it is done properly, there are great opportunities for eco-tourism and to enhance the wetlands and bird life." A public meeting will be held in Leeton on February 10 to discuss the proposal before the council votes on the issue later in the year. A spokesman for the Minister for the Environment, Ms Allan, said the National Parks and Wildlife Service would watch the development carefully if it proceeded to ensure it had no impact on the threatened species and their habitat.

Li i o. V. 'Fivebough is home to up to 50,000 waterbirds, including 16 species protected under international treaties, and is the most important of 360 wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin. Ornithologist Dr Michael Hutchison, who has undertaken a three-year survey of the 360 wetlands, has concluded that Fivebough is one of the most important small wetlands in the State. His studies have ranked it the most important of the Roaring success expected Sunny Millar and Cliff Valentine try out a lion costume in preparation for next month's celebrations.

Photograph by adam pretty $100,000 to ensure dazzling Chinese New Year festival By MATTHEW RUSSELL Forget Christmas the big gest holiday in Asia, Chinese New Year, is to become a Sydney-wide festival attract ing tourists from interstate and throughout Asia. Until now, the celebrations starting this year on Febru ary 5, with the new year on February 8 mostly have been confined to small gatherings within the 50-odd community groups in Chinatown. But this year Sydney City with stalls selling flowers during the evenings throughout Chinatown from February 5. Sedan races along the track of the light rail in Haymarketw outdoor concerts in Martin Place, lion dances to chase away bad luck, sword dances, and colourful lanterns will dominate the street festival for the first few days. Banners in Hyde Park, performances by the NSW Police Band and Chinese opera groups, food parades, drum dances and the final dragon dance will also be features of the festival.

Similar but smaller-scale celebrations will be held at Cabra-matta, Chatswood, Ashfield, Parramatta and Bankstown. The week-long festival will see the Year of the Rat give way to the Year of the Ox. Chinese years were named after the 12 animals that were supposedly called together by Buddha, Mr Fong said. The rat arrived first and the ox second. aging community groups to work together at times like this when Pauline Hanson is saying we are dividing the nation," he said.

The festival will be boosted by an influx of tourists from Asia. Their number soars by 45 per cent over the new year period, with the number of travellers from Hong Kong alone increasing by 84 per cent, according to the Australian Tourism Commission. Flights throughout Asia and to Australia are fully booked from the beginning of February to the new year and for weeks afterwards. Many of the visitors who arrive from cities such as Hong Kong go away to avoid the expense of giving gifts to members of increasingly affluent extended families, according to the president of the Chinese New Year steering committee, Mr King Fong. The celebrations will start with a three-day flower market, Council has donated more than $100,000 to the celebra tions and organisers are working to transform it into a large, sponsored festival.

The Deputy Lord Mavor, Councillor Henry Tsang, described the new focus for the Chinese New Year as one that would include all of Svd- ney's ethnic groups FIE HER AUSTRALIA A ft Jt "I think it is a great thing to be celebrating Chinese New Year as part of the city's cultural calendar and encour Sydney Uni on the way back: vice-chancellor By LUIS M. GARCIA Higher Education Writer After four or five years of shaky enrolments, plummeting cut-off marks for some of its once-prestigious courses and negative publicity, the University of Sydney has begun the long climb back to the top spot it occupied for generations. That is the view of Professor Gavin Brown, who took over as vice-chancellor ot Australia's oldest and best known university a little over six months ago after an international search. As a member of the so-called sandstone club, it will find it easier to attract private benefactors as well as business corporations reasonably happy to invest in a professorial chair or to sponsor research. Having substantial real estate holdings and some cash reserves also helps.

Thus, while other universities have been announcing cuts in staff numbers and the closure of entire faculties, Sydney has managed to balance its budget this year without resorting to what Professor Brown has described as "slash and He is confident it will do well next year, too, when all higher education institutions will be allowed to offer undergraduate places to local students who are willing or able to pay full fees. Professor Brown says staff morale is also improving after the settlement two weeks ago of a long and bitter industrial dispute over a 1 9 per cent pay claim by academics and administrative staff. enrolling in science courses, Sydney has been forced to increase its tertiary entrance rank cut-off mark from 60 to 65 because of a growth in demand. "Judging by the press, there was a perception around in the past that the University of Sydney was more complacent than other universities," Professor Brown said. "I think we are turning that perception around.

"We have spent a considerable amount of time and effort talking to students in schools and to their teachers about what we are doing in science, for example. Obviously, taking that message out to students is beginning to pay dividends. "And we are pretty confident the University of Sydney will continue to improve we are taking a very bullish view of our future." In these days of funding cuts and deregulation, Sydney University is better placed to survive or even thrive than many of its younger, less established counterparts. With almost palpable delight, Professor Brown said his univer sity had bucked the national trend of shrinking enrolments and offered an extra 300 places this year. Sydney still had vacancies in some areas, such as agriculture and nursing, but overall the number of applications from school-leavers was up 10 per cent this year, with increased demand in most courses.

While most universities are desperately short of students POW memorial appeal '-nam 'L mmSBStVSS mttmt An appeal for Sandakan prisoner-of-war camp memorabilia began yesterday, the 52nd anniversary of the infamous Sandakan to Renau death marches, for a memorial the Federal Government plans to build at the campsite. Veterans Affairs Minister, Mr Scott, said the marches were often described as the worst war atrocity committed against Australians. In October 1943, about 2,390 Allied prisoners were held at Sandakan and from January 26, 1945, the prisoners began a torturous 256-kilometre march to Renau. Only six POWs survived. Private Keith Botterill, the last of the Sandakan survivors, died in Concord Hospital yesterday, aged 72.

"It is imperative that we, and the generations to follow, never forget the story of Sandakan," Mr Scott said. In the last Budget the Government pledged $750,000 for a small museum and visitor centre at Sandakan, in North Borneo (now part of Malaysia) to honour the Australian and British POWs. Mr Scott said his department's Office of Australian War Graves recently received a box of memorabilia belonging to POW Ronald Coghlan who died at Sandakan. Anyone wishing to submit memorabilia should write to the Director of the Office of Australian War Graves, PO Box 21, Woden, ACT..