Ballina Shire Council (BSC) has supported a motion from Greens councillor Kiri Dicker to explore a buy-back of farmland in the Tuckean Swamp area. The aim is to improve the health of the Richmond River — referred to in the motion as “Maamang,” which Cr Dicker said is a Bundjalung name for the waterway.
The motion adds momentum to a broader catchment-wide effort already underway through the Richmond Watershed Initiative, led by Rous County Council, which has identified Tuckean as a critical site in the river’s long-term recovery. Council staff confirmed that land acquisition in the area is already being explored through that initiative.
Cr Simon Kinny, an independent C Ward councillor elected last year on Mayor Sharon Cadwallader’s ticket, moved amendments to remove the reference to “Maamang” and to more directly align the proposal with the Watershed Initiative. Both amendments were defeated. Cr Kinny also questioned the cost and effectiveness of Ballina Council pursuing a buy-back, noting that roughly half of the swamp lies within Lismore’s local government area.
Cr Dicker argued that now was the right time to act, citing environmental urgency, low land values, and shifting demographics in farming communities.
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“This land is not as high-value as some of the other properties typically targeted in buy-back schemes,” she told the chamber. “Around 90 per cent of the Richmond River floodplain is privately owned. And while some landowners are doing great work, private interests haven’t always served the river well.”
She said many families in the Tuckean area face succession challenges, and that some of the land is becoming less productive — making the prospect of voluntary acquisition more viable.
The motion also pointed to blackwater runoff from flood-prone land in the Tuckean Swamp as a major contributor to recent fish kills in the Richmond River. These events, particularly following Cyclone Alfred, have highlighted the need for large-scale floodplain restoration and water quality management.
Supporting the motion, OzFish founder Craig Copeland addressed council and described the ecological collapse of the Tuckean Swamp as both stark and avoidable. He recounted the swamp’s former richness;
“The Tuckean swamps were teeming with wild duck and water fowl of nearly every known species. It was nothing to see ducks rise from a pool in such clouds as to throw a deep shadow covering 10 acres and with a sound like rumbling of thunder or the rushing of water over the precipice. Areas of open water were as clear as crystal. And far down the depths, you can see enormous eels and mullet and perch in shoals and of immense size, three times greater than ever became in the rivers,” Mr Copeland said, quoting the journal of an early European explorer.
“What we have now is a shadow of that. But the potential is still there — for the environment, for tourism, for commercial and recreational fishing, and even for the local landholders. This could become ‘the Kakadu of the South’, the greatest eco tourism opportunity that Ballina Council will ever have.”
While the motion does not bind BSC to purchase land directly, it sets a clear direction for future planning and collaboration with Rous County Council. The reference to “Maamang” now formally appears in the council’s records, despite debate over its accuracy and relevance.
Cr Dicker did not provide further explanation of the name’s origin, and questions remain about its recognition across the different Bundjalung-speaking communities along the river.
PICTURE: Pristine wetlands at Kakadu. Could this be the future for the Tuckean Swamp?
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