Moonta Mines volunteers take National Trust battle to Supreme Court
A volunteer group controversially stood down from their decades-long job running an SA mining attraction is taking the National Trust to court. One saying Cornish mining was “in their DNA”.
A Moonta Mines volunteer committee controversially disbanded in February is launching Supreme Court action today after a months-long dispute with the National Trust.
Following the weekend shutdown of the site amid claims of threats to trust staff, the eight-member committee is now pursuing a judicial review of the trust’s decision to suspend the group as site managers of the historic attraction. The group wants to be reinstated with full access to branch funds.
The well-known tourist spot – including a museum, sweet shop, railway and miner’s cottage – would turn over more than $600,000 annually, according to the National Trust.
Sharron Ward – who was chairperson of the committee before the suspension in February –said she would lodge the court documents on Tuesday morning. She claimed their tourism spot has been “trashed” by a “silly” decision by the trust.
“We are the custodians of our history and handing it over to an Adelaide-based person to control is not what we’re prepared to let happen,” Ward said.
“We’re not going to mediate on issues of how it would look when the main [National Trust] office takes over our branch… we wouldn’t even contemplate such a thing.
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“They could solve this problem tomorrow by reinstating the committee and giving us back our bank accounts.”
Strong support from the Copper Coast has meant the group could fund legal fees through fundraising, including almost $5000 raised through a Go Fund Me, selling car bumper stickers that say “volunteers rock the Moonta Mines” and bake sales including the town’s best-known chocolate balls called ‘spuds’.
The legal filing comes after the National Trust announced it was shutting the site on Friday, claiming its staff had received threats. It was the second closure of the site this year, after it was earlier closed for five weeks in February when the trust first disbanded the volunteer committee, its Adelaide head office taking over operations.
“We’re not going to reopen until this current dispute is resolved,” National Trust SA CEO Nicolette Di Lernia told InDaily yesterday.
Di Lernia also said yesterday the National Trust was open to mediation with the group but “it is hard to mediate with someone who won’t meet with you”.
Ward said in response that the committee was advised not to mediate because the trust was not open to the committee being reinstated.
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Ward said “with absolute, 100 per cent certainty” she and her committee members did not engage in any threats after allegations were made that National Trust staff were followed in their cars or screamed at in supermarkets.
“We all need to take a chill pill and settle down and just let processes do its work,” Ward said.
Volunteer group supporter Maggie Dawkins – whose husband John was education minister in the Hawke Labor government, which introduced HECS fees – lives in Moonta and said emotions were high in the town.
“Hostility has been levelled at all sides,” Dawkins said.
“The community in Moonta are seen as custodians of the mine site, it’s in their DNA, they’re descendants of Cornish miners.
“They can’t separate the site from who they are.”
Ward said it would be a “long, hard road back” after a difficult start to the year for the community.
“There are no winners in this situation,” Ward said.
“What we had is a fantastic tourism resort that’s been absolutely trashed by a really silly decision by the National Trust branch.”
Ward said when the Trust disbanded the committee and closed the site for five weeks, it rocked their 110-strong volunteers, including 20 who relied on the volunteer hours for their Centrelink payments.
Copper Coast Council offered affected volunteers positions to support their livelihood and social wellbeing, and Ward said “we would certainly invite any of them who want to come back, to come back and keep on working with us, because they’ve all got some great skills that we love having”.
The National Trust said at the time of the five-week shutdown that the change would “provide essential breathing space for [volunteers] to step back from endless administrative tasks and meetings, and regather their energy to focus on what they enjoy most and what they are uniquely placed to deliver – championing local history and sharing their knowledge and local stories with the thousands of visitors who come here every year.”
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