Letters | Kurnell peninsula development, Good Samaritan, pedestrian safety...

A little bit of history first,Thomas Holt the sand mining magnate purchased the peninsula back in 1861.

At that time, the sand dunes were covered with vegetation, until Holt started to clear the headland. Sheep were introduced in 1868, if anyone knows about sheep they just don't graze the grass the roots go also. This opened up the sand dunes. Then Holt introduced cattle and timber gathering, ironbark, blackbutt, mahogany etc.

Dingoes and foot rot took care of the sheep and the cattle, and tree felling finished the job. Now the dunes were exposed, to the point that the sand migrated at the rate of at least eight metres a year.

In 1937 Sutherland Shire Council was offered 720 acres of sand hills at a low price, but the council knocked back. That was the start of the demise of the once fabled sand hills.

Move onto 2024, Holt estate is sucking out what's left, thus the beach is getting smaller. Leave the joint alone for a while, do something for the community, give what's left of the place back to the public.

Dave Plumb, Kurnell

Mankind has known about climate change for about 50 years and, until recently, done very little about it.

An integral part of climate change is the melting of all of the glaciers and ice sheets on the earth this, along with ocean warming, will cause a sea level rise of some 15 metres. The present rate of melt is 3 to 5mm per annum, however this will accelerate considerable as the planet warms. The expected rise by 2100 is 1 metre, accompanied by an increase in ferocity of storms.

The planned housing construction at Boat Harbour ignores future sea level rise and the inability of properties to obtain insurance.

Carl La Riviere

After over 32 years of non stop sandmining by the Holt family , their company Besmaw want to develop the Kurnell peninsula with 2400 homes.

This company made so much money decimating those mountainous sand hills to below sea level they can afford to spend $100 million to widen Capt Cook Drive.

The gridlock that is currently Cronulla looks to continue into the future as high rise suburbia stretches along the once beautiful Bate Bay.

Gordon Roberts, Sylvania

I left my handbag on a Woolies shopping trolley in Caringbah. Thankfully, a very thoughtful person handed it in to the service counter without leaving contact details.

My sincere thanks to the very kind and honest person. Sending hugs from 'the silly lady with the red handbag'.

Janice Davison, Cronulla

Engadine residents have every right to be angry with Sutherland Shire Council (Leader online 23 Feb "MP and Council clash over pedestrian safety").

It takes years to get anything done if you are lucky. The council is reactive rather than pro active and uses carefully crafted bureaucratic language to respond to concerns that have been raised for years and years and years. The council needs a broom put through it and State government MPs need to act.

Paul Stebbing, Cronulla

I refer to the recent email from our local member Mark Speakman - 'Cronulla-e-News Feb 24'

To quote from his note, "I therefore accept the need to ramp up housing supply".

What I find most offensive is the need to RAMP UP housing supply.

Nobody wants this. Nobody wants to see their communities and environment destroyed and replaced by high-rise, high-density housing in the pursuit of a much vaunted "Global City".

It's time politicians started governing in the name and the wishes of the people they are elected to represent, instead of the endless "economic benefits mantra" we constantly hear about, that deliver nothing, in quality of living terms to the ordinary person and family.

Overall, it contributes to the deterioration of our standard of living and will only get worse.

When young Australians can no longer contemplate a life their parents had, and to which they were born, which was to buy a modest home and hopefully raise a loving family, then all is perhaps, sadly, already lost.

We are constantly bombarded with messages about sustainability, yet our elected representatives appear to think that endless migration with the ensuing development and degradation of our environment is the solution. Solution to what is my question?

The Australian population, historically, naturally small, prosperous and wealthy is the epitome of sustainability and the envy of many other nations.

Donald Horne was correct, and perhaps our luck has finally run out.

Scott Williams, Cronulla

When are the police going to walk the mall and do something about kids on bikes and skate boards before someone gets hurt?

Geoff Watts