The Jennings site was singled out in a 2014 Auditor-General’s review of the EPA’s handling of contaminated sites, which queried why the body had still not undertaken an assessment of the site and declared it as significantly contaminated given that it had been aware of the contamination since 1999.

Then-NSW Auditor-General Grant Hehir cited tests taken in 2014 which showed surface water containing arsenic and copper concentrations a thousand times the guideline limits, while zinc levels were a hundred times the limit.

On April 7 this year the EPA declared that the site is contaminated with arsenic significantly enough to warrant regulation under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997. Crown Lands (which now manages the site) has since submitted a voluntary management proposal to the EPA, where it acknowledges that arsenic levels have historically been reported to be above guideline values.

On request from Crown Lands, Tenterfield Shire Council is starting the process to formally close roads within the designated perimetre. This includes part of Gladstone Street between the sealed section and Kings Street, the track in use on the same route, and a portion of the Robinson Street road reserve between King Street and the maintained section of Robinson Street.

The site will be more-securely fenced off to restrict the public, livestock and wildlife from access.

The issue, however, may well extend beyond the fence with the EPA determining that arsenic is likely to exist in a soluble mobile form able to migrate from the land or leach into groundwater, and present risks to human health through skin contact or inhalation of contaminated soil.

Moreover the sediment basin was constructed at half the recommended capacity for a one-in-10 years storm event, posing potential off-site risk should the basin overflow.

Stage 1 of the voluntary management proposal involves consulting nearby residents and other stakeholders, including those who may be running utility services through the area. No date has yet been set for a proposed public meeting and letterbox drop.

A detailed site investigation will follow, to assess the extent of the contamination within the site boundary, to inform subsequent investigation of off-site areas.

A remedial action plan will then be developed, which may include capping selected ground surface areas, upgrading existing contour banks, diversion channels and sediment ponds, and realigning the water course which runs through the site.

Crown Lands undertakes that all activities at the site will be carried out in a manner that prevents or minimises the emission of dust, odour and noise.

In the 1920’s the potential for mining arsenic in the Tenterfield area was considered a coup, given a widening worldwide shortage of the mineral due its use in the manufacture of insecticides for agricultural purposes. 

Contamination concerns surrounding the Jennings site were first raised in 1935 when residents reported ‘poison’ washing down the road following heavy rain storms. At that time council sent a water sample to the Department of Health, who advised that runoff shouldn’t be allowed to enter natural waterways. By 1944 the site was abandoned and ownership reverted to Crown lands, with councillors hoping the Board of Health would take action on health concerns.

More inspecting and reporting was done throughout the 1940’s, anticipating a federal grant would fund the cleanup. The Star reported in 1946 that council was frustrated in its efforts to have the situation addressed.

“Since 1935 the Tenterfield Shire Council has done its best to have the ruin completely demolished and the debris shifted,” the newspaper said.

“Authority after authority has been approached, with no avail, except first-class demonstration of the old departmental industry of ‘passing the buck’.”

That bollocking led to Country Party leader Michael Bruxner raising the matter in parliament, receiving assurances from then-premier William McKell that the health minister would ‘adjust’ the matter. The outcome was the burial of all arsenic-impregnated material onsite, possibly aggravating the problem.

A fence was erected around the site in 1999 to prevent local children using it as a recreational area. Sediment and stormwater controls, capping and vegetation cover were also implemented to contain runoff.

Jennings has been on Crown Lands’ list of high risk contaminated sites since a steering committee was established in 2014. That committee commissioned a site management plan report in 2015 that revealed that site inspections to date had been sporadic and poorly documented.

Now under Crown Lands’ Voluntary Management Proposal, also dated April this year, a community consultation plan and the upgraded fencing (a joint effort by council and Crown Lands) is to be completed by the end of August.

The detailed site investigation is to be completed this year and a draft Remedial Action Plan be developed within 10 weeks of the EPA’s endorsement of the site investigation.