While the Mayor’s piece is long and erudire it seems to me to miss the core of the problem and to dwell too much on topics which can be of only marginal interest to ratepayers. Mr.Hassall;s letter is short and to the point and contains the seeds of a possible solution. 

Our forefathers named the Great Divided as the best way of describing the most important topographical and hydrological boundary in the whole continent. I believe we can best solve the local problem of shore amalgamation by looking at all the activities which spill off from part of the Divide which directly affects us. 

The Divide is crossed half way between Bungendore and Braidwood. These communities are economically, environmentally, and socially distinct. Bungendore is a rural village which for better or worse is undergoing a rapid process of dormitorisation, i.e. it is now a little sister if Queanbeyan (and by implication Canberra.)

Braidwood remains what it has always been - a very small outback town and service centre for a range of conventional and transitional rural activities, plus a centre of trade for five gold rushes. Its designation as a Heritage Town is an official recognition of all this. 

Ant amalgamation of either community with a large urban centre cannot hope to succeed unless the people who live outside that centre are satisfied that sufficient attention is going to be paid to their problems and routine needs.  I cannot speak for Bungendore, but I cannot see this ever happening between Queanbeyan and Braidwood; they are just too disparate on every front. Between them and Braidwood there is not only a Great Divide, but a Great Gulf Fixed. 

This is where Mr Hassall’s proposal gets relevant. Goulburn is a genuine small city, accustomed to serving a large rural hinterland. Goulburn us much easier to reach from Braidwood than Queanbeyan or Moruya/ Eurobodalla, and involved the minimum driving  time on Hoodlum’s Alley (The Kings Kighway). 

Now I maybe a members of that splendid tribe called the Disabled and Frail Elderly , but I still drive c. 12,000km a year and I keep a vehicle logbook. For last financial year I find: - 

Visits by Private Motor Vehicle to : - Queanbeyan/ Canberra 14, Batemans Bay/Moruya 3, Goulburn 25. 

I have close relatives in Canberra but none in the other two. 

Mr Hassall’s case should be investigated further. Listen to what the Great Divide tells us. 

A Shepherd.

Braidwood