Images of Strait to be Displayed in Spain

Images of the Great Sandy Strait by local photographer Stewart Riddell will soon be heading to Spain as part of a Mary River campaign 'Homage' display at the 2008 International Zaragosa Expo 'Water and Sustainable Development'.

The battle to stop the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam is expected to be the only Australian issue to win a place at the expo. Project manager Wayne Cameron, of the Brisbane-based Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee, said until his project was nominated, Australia was not represented among the 100 nations involved in the expo which carries the theme 'Water and Sustainable Development'.

“We got in at the last minute, and we have had our professional team approved by the international body, and while our collaborators are all highly regarded in their own right, we are participating with Nobel Prize winners from some of these countries."

And like everything in this ground roots campaign to stop a predicted environmental disaster in South-East Queensland, Australia, it is being presented by volunteers.

“Ours is the only country which has not secured government support or funding at any level for our representation at this most important expo,” Mr Cameron said.

Expo Zaragoza 2008 will run from June 14-September 14 in the Spanish city. It is an International Exposition regulated by the International Expositions Bureau, and the first of these was held in London in 1851. Since its success, numerous expositions have been held all over the world, including the Paris Exposition of 1889, which gave birth to the Eiffel Tower.

Roberto Epple is the executive director of the European Rivers Network, which is collaborating with the Zaragoza-based Foundation for a New Water Culture (FNCA) to invite international non-government organisations to participate in a multi-media exhibit entitled “Homage to the Affected of Water Policies”, which will form the centrepiece of the Pavilion of Citizens Initiatives. The project “Mary River Catchment – Traveston Dam Proposal” has been approved for entry along with 21 international case studies.

ERN and FNCA are collaborating to provide partial seed funding to assist the production of the 'Homage' which will use writing, photography and film to capture the human rights issues of both the affected Mary River community and environmental effects on the catchment and its immediate region.

It is planned the “Homage” presentation will participate in other expositions in big cities all around the world after the closing of the three months Zaragoza exposition.