Marie Rushton has spent three years trying to gather facts about Bolivia Hill and said she believed there was a “cover up” at work on a number of fronts.

Ms Rushton’s grandson Luke was killed in an accident on the stretch of road on July 27, 2010.

Contact with NSW Minister Duncan Gay has fuelled her determination to seek answers.

“I’ve spoken with Duncan Gay and he told me that they’ve only kept records since 1995,” Ms Rushton said.

”I think there is more truth than what people have been saying.

“Someone has been removing crosses from the area.

“I’ve spoken to a woman in Wallangarra who also lost someone up there and she has told me she has seen a pile of crosses that have been removed from the roadside.

“She said it would indicate around 30 people had been killed not the 11 or 12 they say now.

“I’ve spoken to an undertaker in Tenterfield who has told me he believes the number could maybe be closer to 50,” she said.

“The landowners and government obviously don’t want people to know how bad the area really is.”

Further investigating on Ms Rushton’s part led to what she has called a “disgusting” discovery.

On February 21 of this year, 76-year-old Stanthorpe man Fred Le Roux was killed on impact when his car hit a rock face, five metres from where Ms Rushton’s grandson was killed.

“We went up there a little while after it happened and we discovered Fred’s belongings had been left there or thrown down the hill,” she said.

Business cards with his name on them, bank receipts, a tackle box, cutlery, and a hairbrush were among the things left behind at the scene.

Ms Rushton said the site where her grandson died has been turned into a rubbish tip.

“It’s a dumping site up there, when we went up there the whole area smelt of death,” she said.

A further visit revealed cow limbs, beds, a car, a truck, bottles, cans, tyres, and a bloodied scarf had all been dumped just 10 metres from memorials left to remember Luke Rushton and Fred Le Roux.

“I am going to approach the Roads and Maritime Services and if they deny knowing anything about it then I will go to the Tenterfield Shire Council and then the landowners,” Ms Rushton said.

Last month, the federal government announced $80 million in funding for realignment work on Bolivia Hill but it could be too little too late, according to Ms Rushton.

“They’re saying the work will be complete by 2020, there’s going to be quite a lot of deaths between now and then,” she said.

“A few minor repairs and people could have been saved in the past.”

She said better signing and speed reductions would go a long way.

“There are no signs at the top, I constantly see near misses.”

Ms Rushton said she was angry about a comment made by Tenterfield Shire mayor Peter Petty that “I perhaps would have preferred the money had gone to the bypass, Bolivia Hill isn’t so much of a direct issue right now”.

“I couldn’t believe he said that,” she said.

“What’s going on here in Tenterfield is not killing people, but it is up there.”

Tenterfield Shire Council didn’t respond to our inquiries before deadline.

Ms Rushton said she would continue her search for answers.