Tarwyn Park stud owner Stuart Andrews is the vice-president of the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance, which is fighting Korean giant KEPCO's plans for a coalmine in the Bylong Valley. Picture: Gary Graham Source: The Australian
THE pastures of NSW's Bylong Valley has produced thoroughbred champions as well as the Walers that carried the Light Horse Brigades of World War I, but a Korean power giant has moved a step closer to turning it into an open-cut coalmine.
KEPCO has acquired Bylong Park from Richard and Christine Johnston who in 2004 bought the 678ha stud that produced champions Mosheen and Driefontein.
It is one of several properties acquired by KEPCO and the second major horsebreeding stud.
Bylong Valley Protection Alliance secretary Craig Shaw believed KEPCO had acquired about 40 per cent of the privately held land within its lease, while the neighbouring Mount Penny Coal had acquired 70 per cent of the land in its lease.
The valley has been a famous horsebreeding area since the mid-1850s, not long after it was settled by Europeans. Bylong produced many of the Walers that served in the Beersheba and Magdhaba cavalry charges in the Middle East campaign against the Turks and hauled supplies on the Western Front.
The Walers were bred to carry loads of up to 130kg and could go without water for more than two days at a time.
The Australian
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