Chinese developer, locals on Keswick Island clash over lease holders’ rights

Days after news.com.au wrote about a Chinese developer kicking Aussies off a Whitsundays beach, locals say the clash has sunk to petty new lows.

Locals who have called picturesque Keswick Island home for years claim a Chinese developer who owns the island’s main lease has resorted to increasingly petty tactics in a war over the Whitsundays paradise.

News.com.au spoke to Keswick Island land owners last week after it emerged wealthy developer, Hong-Kong-based China Bloom, had closed beaches, shut off parts of the national park, removed access to the airstrip and banned short term accommodation and rentals.

The tiny island in the Coral Sea, 30km from Mackay, is being controlled by the developer after it signed a lease until 2096-year for 117 hectares with plans to develop a tourist resort to accommodate 3000 people.

The small community that calls the 530 hectares of Keswick Island home has been banned from accessing large parts of public land, including the national park (which accounts for 400 hectares). The track to beautiful Basil Bay is blocked with rocks and “permit only” signs.

Beautiful Keswick Island.

It got worse over the weekend, locals say. A woman who lives on the island told news.com.au on Monday she is convinced the developer removed a pine tree that locals had been using as a community Christmas tree for 12 years – a tree they decorated with ornaments each year.

“Just a thing I did every year,” the woman said. “Nurtured it along from 1-2m high over the past 12 years. At Christmas I decorated it for all to enjoy on the corner – a place where locals, friends, passing boaties, and visitors from around the world would gather to watch the sunset over the mainland Mackay and Hay Point.”

She said a resident who lives down the hill saw the island truck pass her place on Friday “with just one tree in it and thought it was a bit strange”.

“Island management know we all get so much enjoyment from that gathering place.”

Pictures show the tree decorated in 2019 and the stump where it once stood.

Before.

After.

On Facebook, the woman wrote that the tree was removed as “retaliation” and “pathetic retribution to the locals on Keswick”.

It comes after Northern Beaches local Deb Lawson organised a “peaceful protest” at Basil Bay for Australia Day. Her protest will include a “flotilla of boats” at the beach where the Queensland Government told news.com.au locals are not allowed to go “past the high tide line”.

“I thought, being a boating community (Mackay), what better way to do that than get a flotilla of boats, let’s get out to Keswick Island,” she told 7 News.

“China Bloom don’t have ownership below the high tide mark. So, technically, they can’t stop us getting on to the beach.”

The member for Whitsundays, Amanda Camm, told reporters this week: “This is not Communist China, this is Australia. This is Queensland and this is the Whitsundays.”

Whitsunday MP Amanda Camm's open letter to Minister for Natural Resources Mines and Energy Dr Anthony Lynham regarding Keswick Island. Picture: Facebook

She wrote a letter about the “urgent issue” to the Minister for Natural Resources Mines and Energy, Dr Anthony Lynham, over the weekend.

News.com.au approached Mackay Regional Council about the issue last week. They refused to comment on the grounds that “the long-term lease is between them and China Bloom”.

A Queensland Government spokesman told news.com.au the developer was being urged to do the right thing.

“(We are) working with China Bloom to ensure all relevant activities are in accordance with the terms of the lease, particularly as China Bloom works to upgrade the island’s roads, boat ramps, jetties and marine infrastructure,” a Department of Resources spokesman said.

On the matter of public access being denied to Basil Bay, the government offered only this:

“In areas of Keswick Island where a lease is held adjacent to the beach, the public can access the beach up to where the tide goes up to (the high tide mark).”

Keswick Island from above. Picture: Jewel Zee

China Bloom issued a statement on Monday afternoon, addressing the concerns of locals and recent media coverage.

The company claims all national park areas are open and accessible and that they are “implementing changes to the island’s operation to ensure compliance with the regulations set out in the headlease agreement”.

China Bloom claims it is working to “increase visitation and access to the island for both tourists, current and future residents” but the work is being interfered with by a group of residents who it claims “have indicated they are anti-development for many years and are actively working to undermine the progress of any future development of the island”.

The developer says it is working to build houses, a hotel, a new boat ramp and jetty and a boat marina and that “previous island management failed to manage operations to the standard required”.

China Bloom also claims that contrary to claims made by several residents about a lack of communication from the developer, they are meeting “with sublessees on a regular basis, including providing monthly updates on the progress of works and other issues”.

Locals are fighting for their rights on Keswick Island. Picture: Salty Summits