PREAMBLE In 1985 the residents and ‘friends’ of Durras determined to gain the attention of governments at all levels in order to address their concerns for their community and the Australian environmental heritage. The Friends of Durras was formed and has sustained a high level of activity over 13 years to protect Durras Lake and improve the integrity and long term viability of Murramarang National Park. The enclosed chronology of work by the Friends of Durras includes the outlines of an exceptional public campaign which, against great odds, saw the purchase of a vital piece of private land for inclusion in Murramarang National Park in 1993. The Friends of Durras contributed $113,000 to this purchase. Only once before in Australia’s history, has anything like this been achieved when Miles Dunphy and his group of bushwalkers raised money for the purchase of the Blue Gum Forest, now in the heart of the Blue Mountains National Park (and possibly soon to become a World Heritage Area). Ironically, it was Miles Dunphy and the same group of bushwalkers who instigated the creation of the Murramarang National Park. Doubtless they would be proud and pleased to see our commitment to, and love of this special place transformed into active work to protect it for all Australians, forever. Now Friends of Durras has once again galvanised to deal with the final threat to our vision. Almost unbelievably, this threat takes the form of a public process of ‘forest assessment’ which has so far ignored several crucial matters –
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