Ubran to Wild Country & Sea edge

1. Before the spruik of this latest urban commerce project, atop the Mountain all things were not fine. Certainly, sitting fine, bold (pun
unintended) and robust are the big timeless hulk of subsurface rock, its bouldered interface with the weather elements and the deep
memory that mystically resides therein. Alas, there exists still a gnarly adhoc vehicular impost that had slowly grown beyond good taste
and with it some loss of ancient creaturely & vegetative finesse, excused by demand and the bold stoney host; easily notable other
constructions arose also. This status quo is used by the spruikers to argue more of the same but better. Increment by increment we may
find a delightful alpine urban village sitting on something wild & precious. We find the same with Hobart’s lost Hunter Island, in a smaller
less rare, less magnificent, way. Social urgency, blind foresight and poor taste are some of the causes. The ‘land-use’ causes to date
have not been urban commerce, except for argument that anything supportive
of tourism is urban commerce, so the point is to date no monetary exchange
atop the mountain. Mentalities are easily impacted by such things. They are
social blinkers just like highway defining lines, posts, signs, lamps and the
four corniced corners in our rooms. Over time we may think we grow immune,
and so our children, but the touchstone of ‘Thylacine Bluff’ we find a present,
sobering treasure.
For Hobartians and Tasmanians, the access by car is rare and precious; I hope
it will forever remain socio-politically vogue, good taste for our embrace. And
something at which Thylacine Bluff doesn’t bark; until now. There is an exma
itch in the balded patches. It is handy leverage for the commercial spruiker.
It’s plain to all, the contrast between central city in towntime-mentality and
Thylacine Bluff stone touching the waft of the Indian Ocean, from Madagascar
via Port Davey; some acquaintance with Everest too in wild-country
timelessness. In town, parking, cachinka silent cash card, stock goodies,
people tapestried with some greenery but not enough to quash the need to get
away. Be careful not to take it with you. We can’t bring the mountain back, it’s
just like more greenery; except for some snow on your bonnet. The cars we
take atop the mountain have become too much. Unlike the greenery in town,
the presence of cars on the mountain destinations indisputably must be
limited.
Crowded destination is like over-population. It is ‘the’ problem; aside from
some human natures. The commercial spruiker can’t get enough customers. The organised politick, land-use rules, ensure already a
deserved immunity for Thylacine Bluff including some global classification. Proposal after proposal, which part of ‘no’ is it that the
proposers don’t understand, the n or the o. Technology, commerce, attitudes change. New arguments arise. Courageously and in this
case with a million in government funding land-use politick is seen as a challenge to be conquered. Sharpen the pencils, update the
politick, too late, unfunded people fight on the backfoot; is there room in the politick to evaluate their emotion. Council discretions, the
power of the people, social division, democracy often is wrong. The lease is granted. The State may somehow over-ride; Project of State
Significance. The subject land-us rules are already drawn for a project of state significance. The state of the cultural land-use
preferences of the Tasmania Islands has long been hewn in argument, evaluation and creative potential. It is honourable to exclude an
off-the-cuff over-ride of the rules in the case of a clear-cut winner for Tasmania, as is the cherishly replenished and untouched Thylacine
Bluff (whatever the entity may be named). A fair call to be so bombastic may be one of pragmatic urgency, such as establishment of the
first Hobart dock. The quotient evaluation of economic gain against the emotive existence of both the challenged entity and the land-use
EXTRACT
STREETWALKERS (unpublished)
DICTIONARY
Thylacine Bluff: Suggested name for a celebrated kunanyi-
Mt Wellington cliff face (remaining as The Organ Pipes) with
unnamed rockslide above, rockfall below & flanking forms, all
of which form Thylacine Bluff, an aspect of what is known as
The Pinnacle. Other names suggested incl. Wild Edge Precipice,
Wedgetails Awe, Sistines Sister & Commonwealth Bank Corner.
The feature commands respect for its evocation of the wild
country it backs up and that once it overlooked but still sees
through ancient pre-human eyes between and under our urban
wonder; it sees it in kunanyi’s toenails there atthe Battery Point
shores, in the river & coastal forms, across Kingston,
Glenorchy, Rosny Hill, the Meehans, Single Hill with Seven Mile;
all largely taken for granted and not yet extinct. Thylacine Bluff
evokes unarguable togetherness in a single place from wide
whence it can be seen even tiny afar but especially in our
Greater Hobart zone. Not worship but ceremonial honour it
deserves Tasmanian Parliament respect like special buildings
just as the tenor of all pertinent town planning documents
dictate specifically Organ Pipes & its associations. Healthy
psychology it fosters in its wild country delight; under threat it
stands from a counter psychology abounding like our global
woes.
CULTURAL CONQUEST or
WISE EVEN SHREWED EMBRACE
The politics of commercial colonisation of some wild country, here dubbed, ‘Thylacine Bluff’;
An emoted complement toward wholistic box-ticking in the
Tasmanian cultural assessment of, in particular, that known as
‘The Cable Car Project’.
A response to City of Hobart public comment request due 22/6/21.

2. guidelines that are made to evoke developer confidence, clearly fails. Yet the highest monetarily empowered legalese would win or in fact
potentially any coercive persuasion to either proponent or opponent would win. Something ridiculous here. Such things have been known
to be resolved by the loudest passion expressions, often shouting. That is
politics. Hence this emotional communication is made that the loudest ticks can
be put into sanest boxes. Let the legalese fight be not allowed; lest much
sadness overcomes enough of our populace to pale any deemed economic
advantage in commercially colonising the Mountain.
∑ in other words
Please don’t touch me there!
If not ‘a’, ‘the’, heart of the, “Wellington Park Cable Car Commerce & Infrastructure” development
proposal with the Council, is understanding clarity for one particular geographic aspect – Thylacine
Bluff.
"If we can revise some of the attitudes to the land under our feet, if we can accept the role of
steward and depart from the role of conqueror, if we can accept the view that man and nature are in
several parts of the unified whole, then Tasmania can be a shining beacon in the dull, uniform, and
largely artificial world." Olegas Truchanas
Think twice, thrice. Cut once. But don't touch me there!!
It is a matter, to assume a resource, endeavour to exploit it,
justify the intent and enjoy prospect of financial gain, especially
where exploratory funds are politically provided. It is brave
venture only in brave circumstance.
It is another matter to rise from bed at 3am unfunded and busy
elsewhere to defend some countryland that is valued not as resource but as friend; also a brave venture only in
brave circumstance.
These two matters are today a common feature globally. The friend often is oppressed even suffocated by urban
expansion – pragmatic desperation, thoughtless, greedy, hopeful or delightful.
At the interface of these two matters, backyards, loungeroom windows, cityscape, emotion, mentality,
commerce, lifestyle, indigenuity and urbanity are affected by developers, politics and human nature – good bad
ugly beautiful and lawyers. The exploiter we see variously pronounces or constructs as allowed impending
doom for a globe and a backyard; this is what happens by population growth and or tough luck.
Lawyers and bean counters cannot represent mental and physical health, heart, creative mentality, passion or
emotion, taste or aesthetics. Communication among indigenous, deep urban and edge urban people is foiled
with incompleteness. Planning schemes, treaties & politicians endeavour to resolve. Blind or careless of the
poor and the home-stayers; the deep deep urbanite hopes to or drives or wings out on dollar power’s easy
reach, to nourish the need for urban country, town country, camp country and wilderness country.
Thus any deep-urbanite is likely to expand suffocating urbanity; just as the British didn’t think twice about
suffocating Hobart’s rivulet and the delightful little island where they first made dock – there was plenty more
lovely country and shore within easy reach. Our hindsight could have informed better action.
From my domestic yard I call that little island (Hunter Island) kunanyi-wellington’s ‘little toe’. And this
morning for your ease, I am calling kunanyi-wellington’s pinnacle Thylacine Bluff –friend, a beautiful deep
deep wilderness country creature suffocated to extinction at the urban-country interface. There had come to be
no more ‘within any reach’. Illustrative of ecological concerns shouted far and wide today and for near half a
century.
Increment by increment creeping sprawl knows no edge no boundary no discipline and in these times this is
appalling. Just ask the dieing kunanyi $doller-saur us coming but couldn't get away just like the blackfellas.
Latte viewing .. pppthhh!! I spew you out; Mt Nelson does well enough anyway.
EXTRACT
STREETWALKERS (unpublished)
DICTIONARY
Quality Quotient: The assessment as to whether a proposal
is reasonable can businesswise be answered only by
professional calculation. And, even then, neither readily nor
indisputably supremely accurately. The quality of a proposal
could be, maybe crudely, measured by giving value weighting
to each aspect. The sum of the weighting on all the aspects is
the goal - a reasonably perfect land-use for Thylacine Bluff. We
say perfect rather than optimum lest we settle for only best
possible in poor circumstances. The Quality Quotient will be a
fraction of the total weightings. For example, an aspect of
consideration is the ‘impact on immediate local endemic flora
& fauna’ factor. Best score would be, weighted at 10 say, for
no undesirable impact at all. An improvement, perhaps by
removal of weeds & soil contamination, may bring a score of,
say, 12 out of 10. Another aspect is the ‘impact on community
of aesthetic presence’. This is less important; weight it at 6.
The prospective developer isn’t all that happy but has
conceded; the score may be 2 out of 6. Now, there are quite a
few aspects to consider, maybe 10, or even 500 if we go into
deep detail. We can simplify by taking the more general, not so
deep, view. For example, the ‘endemic ecology’ factor can be
considered in the same basket as the ‘global ecology’ factor
etc; giving a more general quality quotient. A version of this
quality quotient measure is conveyed for non-residential
building by a firm called CRS architects in a book (ebook too),
‘Architecture by Team’ W W Caudill.

3. Lutruwita-tasmania island(s) has become known globally as a place of special character in wilderness country,
creative intelligence, ‘green’ health lifestyle, well blown at the bottom of the world like Aotearoa glistening like
a pearl. Quickly it is soaking into numbing globalism – corner shop extinct to the same supermarkets that
delivered heart disease to the Chatham Islanders by replacing fresh fish and coconuts. Global eradication of
local culture is happening in many ways. An in-principle over-arching politic is needed on protection for the
local burger shop along with land-use & iconic landscape. Local identity and cultural continuum is healthy for
the kids. Exotic assimilations are healthy but not at the cost of tradition.
A Sorell family climbing the mountain as their Irish-Lutrawitan forebears had done several generations & times
in their lives; a ripper springtime 2hr jaunt into from Lenah Valley. Minds mutually humming on wildflower,
birds, in-depth scrub, trees, some muddy spots, they emerge from the shadowy air into the altitude, not so many
birds, quiet, still, the track is fantastic, hands in feeling ancient rock, sun warming a bit, on the organpipes
track, a rainbow below them like in a plane, a noise of motor, mechanical jolts, rattles, a shadow breaks the
rainbow. It’s a large boof bus-like thing, dark glass, very close, people waving at them, some shouts to the
rainbow, The same thing swiftly repeated in reverse. They sat for a thermos and vegemite; mid-bite it happened
again. An appalling assault like an impolite rumble at a string quartet performance in the Town Hall, depleting
others whilst it goes its way. There is so much difference between weekly Murray Street and rare Thylacine
Bluff halfway in their journey; the big boofy buses would be quite fun down in town. The passengers were in
that place downtown, a long way from warming dolerite under the child’s hand but right there with vinyl under
theirs, thinking they had the shot of the rainbow or as good as you can through the dark glass or crowded
veranda. One wonders of evening trips & inevitable midnight party bookings, pokey bars, lights would be added
to the full moonlight. Those exotic interiors, rooms sprinkled with tradition nostalgia, which externally would be
cosmetically assumed, stepping up Thylacine brow with beautifully optimised proudly Tasmanian (… while
testing the modern Lutrawitan) place-sensitive design totally in a no-go place, justified by warm interior, tea,
scones, whisky, beer, views; in a no-go place, a no-go place plainly paining more than hundreds of South &
west Hobart lounge windows day after day. High Moderate Low visual impact; a fly around your face is
undesirable whether large medium or tiny. Nothing sensitive about the cable tower founded in the skull of
Thylacine Bluff, a mechanical annoyance that doesn’t depart like a bus does.
As is said, we are not in Switzerland. In our 42 southern west raw we are more uluru, Three Sisters, and Everest
but just not quite. We are blessed to be at the wilderness edge with a beautifully designed natural unfunded
urban artwork right there in our backyard front yard – Thylacine Bluff and its Kunanyington setting.
The below is by necessity ‘patch, cut and run’.
PROPOSAL:
City of Hobart, CITY VISION – “It feels like a city built for people, a city where our tallest landmark is kunanyi
/ Mt Wellington and the River Derwent draws much of our boundaries.”
Mount McDonald no. Kunanyington without its eye blinded is most beneficial for State well-being (including the
wallet and mentality) as raw wild country with a soft embrace by our city. We need not a log in its eye. Rather
we need a memorial park for raw Tasmania and firstly its first peoples who received more in the eye. Do we still
embrace the theodolite over ‘country’?
We have a pearl. It is an
ADJACENCY OF EXTREMES;
The strongest most significant and unique aspect of Wellington’s character of place is its antithesis to deep
urbia, of Elizabeth city carpark. It is the austerity of isolation, mystique of inaccessibility and harsh conditions
offered at the Thark / Pinnacle/Thylacine Bluff locale that is invaluable. That isolation is from the city hub and
its curtilage of urban concentration and the islands highways. It along with each - the Cove, the Derwent and
the she-oak shores is a fundamental 'natural edifice'. They/it as an over-riding harmonic, underpin the
character of the greater city. This is a hugely popular assumed yet seldom articulated character.
The closeness of these two extreme places,
pinnacle and city hub,
provides a spark of vitality, refreshment and wealth for the people and visitors.
[Some want to enjoy this spark at close quarters (some enjoy it at distance). Others can't see the spark so dont
mind it being sat on by a coffee saucer placed where the drinker can best see a 'view'. The last place we want it

4. to land though is where the lookout sits but of course that is the most appealing place for the poor crosseyed
opportunists. It becomes of course politic as we are many and varied, ill and well, adaptable and firm. Should
the saga begin and a cablecar go in there eventually will be some various both nefarious and stupendous
architectural amenities adjoining that coffeed saucer so that in a few years the sparks thereunder will be as
vague a memory as the sparkling babbling brook buried under the Elizabeth mall. Life would go on but with the
usual lesser intimacy of endemics and genus locii. and these are very important to people.]
These two extreme contrasting places can be characterised:
Warm blue sky pure air ancient moss wind whistled erosion industrial silence ::as to:: Collins/Murray
intersection in a rush and North Hobart Central at ease.
THE Mountain is backed up by the island’s famous southwest ‘wilderness’:: the urban centrals are backed up
by peoples doings everywhere.
THE Sea to the shore; let’s not pollute the sea for the seas doesn’t pollute the shore. The sea here is the
wilderness behind this edge of organ song.
More than an asset, it’s a necessity of our sane future. Mount Franchise no. For me today called
‘Kunanyington’, it’s most beneficial for ALL well-being, wallet, future and mentality as raw creatured country
with a soft embrace by its locals. We need not a log in its eye. We need a memorial park for raw Tasmania and
firstly its first peoples as they were then, who received more in the eye. Do we still embrace the theodolite over
people & ‘country’?
I suggest to the Ministry of State Character, this be identified clearly as a character aspect worthy of clear
definition and firm conservation.
And the example be followed for very special places about our terrific archipelago.
We can manage a road (the scar) for limited personal vehicles as a very Hobart specialty, a walkers’ hut and
any pragmatic fair-go such as the huge existing concrete comtower (I’d almost remove that suggesting it’s day
is up and accept the dreaded cable buses). The personal vehicles can be maximised using carshelter of place-
sensitive design totally in a go-go place; deck on top, lookout 360degrees great idea, a la Tasmani; max bus 12
seats, electronic car quotaing, walkers encouraged from Elizabeth Mall among several other setouts, signing
setting a wild-country wilderness edge character to our hospitality enthused visitors (delete the word ‘tourist’
from our economic dictionary).
Population demands ‘rational limited access’ to conserve this delight for balanced character of place - social economy, recreation, mental
health and inspiration.
We don't need road buses nor cable buses, with doors, loaded with mammon clickers blotting our precious pre-
existing urban delight. No matter how mild the visual impact, which is particularly ghastly from up top, it looms
big because as science says about our vision, our intelligence informs most of what we see.
What is proposed is huge increase, bringing the citycentre commercial commodity urban vibe to the, call it, the
precious unique wild zen back room to Hobart - so special.
No point in saving carbon if it destroys best quality of life. Not that I think carbon can be calculated in such
circumstance as when you try to assess the reactionary responses of depressed people driving off to deeper wild
spots, this one having been given over to indecency.
“Mt Wellington Cable Car seems to me there is something unreasonably bombastic, bullying, coercively persuasive, anxious, desperate and discourteous if not illegal to be
encouraging proponentary submissions to Council when your submission is already made.
To top it off you are using craft and commercial interest muscle to quash the efforts of respectable dissenters (to whom you disrespectably dissent) who diversely act from
variably limited both resource and ready organised response.
Poor social taste indeed I say to each of you specific individuals. Exceedingly poor urban character taste too; well that depends on your perspective of course, while yours is
looking a bit going down with the world.” quote out of context.
Yours Truly,
John Latham 20/6/21 0447651420 debogeo @ outlook.com