Background

This page provides background on the design areas for the 2010 EWB Challenge. Resources for each design area can be found at the link below:

EWB Challenge Design Area Resources

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Bendee Downs Redevelopment Plan

It is the KTOAI’s vision that all their people will be able to return to Kooma Country at any time and be housed. To enable this to occur it is necessary to develop a thriving community which has industry and purpose. There is currently no overall redevelopment plan to bring about this transition for the Bendee downs site. This redevelopment plan will need to consider all of the contextual issues outlined in the design brief. An integrated solution which incorporates each of these aspects is required. The most critical aspect of this solution will be the creation of livelihoods from any businesses that are proposed. These proposals need to be financially viable to ensure that Kooma people are able to return to country and remain there long term.

EWB and KTOAI invite you to consider one or more of the following design projects:

• Integrated site Bendee Downs site redevelopment
• Business Case for site development (including eco-tourism, education and accommodation)

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Building Design

The current site was previously a shearing shed and accommodation for shearers. Due to the surrounding area being declared a nature reserve the site is no longer in use. Temperatures within the building can reach above 50^oC in summer and below freezing in winter. There are no active or passive forms of cooling or heating as part of the building design. The building is also in some disrepair. The existing floor boards, eight of the structural roof beams and 25% of the roof need to be replaced. There will be a requirement for locally sourced appropriate building materials to redevelop the site. The site has a large clearing that KTOAI suggest could be used as a camp site, however infrastructure such as power and amenities will be required.

Part of the KTOAI vision is that each clan, of which there are sixteen, will have their own house. These houses will be built in line with the community’s requirements of suitability and environmentally friendly materials. Conventional urban housing is designed for the nuclear family of two parents and a number of children. Within Indigenous communities the family size is much larger. Current statistics show that the average Indigenous house is approximately 2 bedrooms too small for the average family. Proposals need to be designed for a 5 to 7 bedroom house to address the space requirements of large family groups.

EWB and KTOAI invite you to consider one or more of the following design projects:

• Modified building design for the shearing shed on Bendee Downs
• Appropriate housing for the Kooma family clans
• Low cost insulation for the Bendee Downs Shearing Shed
• Appropriate heating or cooling technologies for the Bendee Downs Shearing Shed

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Transportation

An effective method of transporting people to Bendee Downs and around the Bendee Downs site is required. Bendee Downs is located in a remote area of Queensland, 120 km away from the nearest town, Cunnamulla.  Transportation is a major challenge due to the area’s isolated location.  The Bendee Downs property airstrip and hanger have not been used since the property was acquired by the ILC in 1998. Before 1998 the frequency that the airstrip was used is unknown. An upgrade of the airstrip is required and will allow for easy access to the property in times of emergency. It is understood by community members that the airstrip was used by the royal flying doctors in the past.

Travel by road is currently the only cheap means of visiting the site. The Bendee Downs site is a ten hour car trip from Brisbane, the closest city with a major airport. The main access for Bendee Downs is via the Murra Murra Road off the Balonne Highway. The Murra Murra road travels north-south running beside the Nebine Creek. Bendee Downs can also be accessed further west via the Munda Munda Road and east via Fernlee Road. These dirt roads are generally in poor to fair condition.

Access to the Bendee Downs site requires vehicles to travel across the Nebine Creek. The road is a simple dirt track which becomes impassable during the wet season. The width of the river is approximately 20 m.  Any proposed upgrades must consider the cultural significance of the Nebine Creek.

In terms of internal transportation, limited resources make maintaining the vast land property very difficult. Management tracks on the property vary from very good condition to overgrown and completely impassable to four wheel drive vehicles. Generally, they are in good condition in the areas that have been under sub-lease or agistment since the KTOAI took possession in 2000 and poor in the areas not commercially grazed. Most of the nature refuge area on Bendee Downs has not been grazed commercially since KTOAI’s occupation and consequently tracks have not been maintained.

EWB and KTOAI invite you to consider one or more of the following design projects:

• Improve the road grade of the Murra Murra Rd to enable access to the Bendee Downs site
• Develop a long term road maintenance plan
• Developing the existing air strip on Bendee Downs
• Designing a bridge to cross the Nebine River
• Design an appropriate low cost fence to prevent stock from the pastoral leases crossing into the nature reserve
• Design a low cost and appropriate pathway that will not require significant maintenance to the Ephemeral lake near the Bendee Downs Shearing Shed
• Developing other modes of transport to site
• Develop a cost effective road base that is sourced locally and will not have a long term negative impact on the environment.
• Develop a remote sensing system to detect when gates have been left open, fences are broken or water troughs have run dry. This system would commonly use HF or UHF radio equipment.

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Water Supply and Sanitation System

Water Sources

There are many water bodies available on Bendee Downs. These water bodies can be categorised into two groups:

• Ground water
• Surface water

Ground Water

Bendee Downs overlays a large rock formation that is part of the Great Artesian Basin. Most of the water below the ground is believed to have originated from rainfall in the Great Dividing Range near the east coast, occurring many centuries ago when the climate was much wetter. The great extractions from bores to date appear to be lowering pressure and are unsustainable.

The main bore at the Bendee Downs house accesses the Hurray Sandstone Formation (550m). This bore is under greater pressure than the other property bores and the water is fresher. It has been used for human consumption since the bores were drilled over a century ago. The dreamtime of the region refers to an Indigenous community called the “hairless ones”. This community was known to drink the bore water, which may present a barrier to its use as an ongoing water supply.

Bore water can also be accessed from local underground aquifers which are recharged by rainfall on the property. The bores that do not access the Hurray Sandstone Formation access a shallow rock formation called the Wyandra Formation. Water is under less pressure causing flows to be quite weak and in some cases requiring wind mills and small dams to access the water. These bores are commonly used for agricultural purposes.

Water quality from the Wyandra Formation is generally not suitable for human consumption. This water is saltier than surface water and contains other minerals which if relied on long term may impact the soil and garden productivity. This has been the case with other properties in the region where continued use (and probably excessive watering) over many years has degraded the land so that the garden/orchard has been abandoned. The productivity and sustainability of the property could be maximised in the long term by alternating between bore water and surface water and utilising water efficient gardening methods (promoted by the permaculture movement).

The current fresh water supply for Bendee Downs is from the Great Artesian Basin. However, a more sustainable source of water is required with the potential for increased people visiting and living on the site.

Surface Water

Surface water at Bendee Downs is limited to:

• The Nebine Creek (also an ephemeral creek). This creek/river only flows following rain in the upper catchment. It is dry for most of the year.

• An extensive system of shallow ephemeral lakes. The lakes are generally less than 1.5 meters in depth and are generally dry. They fill during the wet season.

 

Sanitation

In 2003 an effective high grade sewage system was installed by Q Build for the Murra Murra homestead. The system is suitable for use by large numbers of people. Visitor numbers of between twenty and thirty people have been resident for over a week at Murra Murra without difficulty. This system services both the homestead and the cottage.  Bore water is held in two 5,000 gal tanks (the common storage for all bore water). The tanks are plumbed into the two houses including the three toilets in the homestead and one toilet in the cottage. Waste is transported to two buried polyurethane septic tanks. These septic tanks move and mix the waste by an electric motor which also pushes the then liquefied effluent through a buried pipeline under the road in front of the houses then sprays the effluent across a large grassy paddock. The effluent is then evaporated and sterilised by the sun and ground bacteria.  The existing Bendee Downs site has a small septic system but needs to be replaced with a larger sanitation system for the proposed fifty to one hundred visitors per day.

Recently, there have been problems with the sprayed effluent pooling in a natural ephemeral wetland (a small depression) very close to the houses on Murra Murra. This was causing unpleasant odours, degrading the wetland and creating a disease threat should children or adults walk or play in the area.  In February 2007, volunteer Kooma people extended the pipeline a further 80 meters into the paddock which has effectively dealt with this problem.

A creative solution to handle sanitation waste is required for the Bendee Downs site. An effective sanitation system is particularly important due to the risk of contamination to the natural wetlands (located approximately 50 meters from the current site) and the bore water supply under Bendee Downs. To model the bore water aquifer and potential contamination would be very difficult. Students should consider how they can design a sanitation system to prevent this being an issue.

EWB and KTOAI invite you to consider one or more of the following water and sanitation design projects:

• Cost effective rainwater capture and storage system
• Grey and black water recycling
• Water consumption efficiency measures
• Low cost water pumping devices
• Toilet waste treatment systems e.g. waste Biodigester systems
• System for cooling the bore water for hot and cold applications
• Determine a method to distil the bore water for consumption

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Energy

Murra Murra and Bendee Downs are connected to the main grid power. Current energy bills for the properties are extremely high. The last quarterly electricity bill for Murra Murra was close to $6,000 and Bendee Downs bill is similar. With little current financial income, Bendee Downs is in need of a sustainable energy source to lower the cost of proposed infrastructure. The climate and location limit the energy source options. The KTOAI vision for their properties includes the adoption of an alternative environmentally-friendly energy supply system or a complimentary system to reduce the amount of energy sourced from the main power grid.

The remoteness of the Kooma community means a reliable power source is required. If there is a fault in the energy system, outside maintenance assistance is far away and repair visits are expensive. Designs must also consider the wide temperature fluctuations, dusty conditions and lightning strikes.

There are periods of both high winds and large water flows throughout the year. Neither source is a reliable energy for Bendee Downs. However the periods of high energy production may align with peak demands from the region when there are large numbers of tourists travelling in south -western Queensland.

In September 2009, EWB and KTOAI commissioned solar panels for the Bendee Downs Homestead to meet the current electricity demand onsite. Development of the shearing shed will increase demand for power.

EWB and KTOAI invite you to consider one or more of the following design projects:

• Solar energy
• Wind Energy
• Water Energy from the Nebine River
• Building Energy Efficiency
• Alterative cooking systems
• Bio-digesters

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Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) for Educational Activities

Current communications for Bendee Downs are reliant on satellite technology and are unable to carry broadband. Kooma people at Bendee Downs only have access to dial up internet which is very slow and unsuitable for expanding facilities. The current internet system at Murra Murra can provide service to a maximum of one or two people at a time. A new dish installed in 2008 provides only 512 kb/sec band width. If Bendee Downs plans to become a centre for education, training, and business facilities it must improve communication to provide for this expansion. An effective and reliable method of communicating with the outside world is required to enable day to day communication and to use online education resources on site. Accessing resources via this media is of great importance. A total of ten computers will be installed at Bendee Downs for use by visitors for cultural exchange activities and by local staff and Kooma people to undertake vocational training programs.

EWB and KTOAI invite you to consider one or more of the following design projects:

• Cost effective internet and communication system
• Software for educational games relating to Indigenous history, culture and development
• Software for educational games relating to primary and secondary education
• Hardware for interactive educational games
• Interactive software program that explains the history of the Kooma nation from dreamtime through to white settlement, including the relative magnitude of each of these periods of history.
• Develop a cost effective radio transmitter to linked to repeater stations to enable communication throughout the property. Utilised to locate missing people or vehicles and improve safety.

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Waste Management

EWB volunteers visited Murra Murra in April 2007 to assess the site and develop a plan for the property. EWB is currently working in partnership with KTOAI to clean up old rubbish dumps at Murra Murra and Bendee Downs in accordance with the plan developed by these volunteers. In May 2007, at Murra Murra, KTOAI hosted a Green School to discuss conservation of the Murray Darling Basin. Green School participants, supported by EWB, assisted with cleaning up the rubbish dump and began to implement a waste management system.

Due to its remote location, Bendee Downs does not have access to a conventional waste management system that would normally occur in urban areas. The current practice on site is to burn any waste. Opportunities to prevent waste production, reduce consumption, reuse waste and recycle should be considered, including any wastes that are brought to site by visiting tourists. There are opportunities to link waste management with other design proposals such as energy production and building insulation.

EWB and KTOAI invite you to consider one or more of the following design projects:

• Integrated waste management systems including recycling and reuse opportunities
• Composting system for household waste
• Waste collection devices
• Waste reduction and management education
• Alternative packaging materials to plastics and foam

 

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