Picture the Scenic Hills 30 years or so from now and no matter how hard you try they look very different from today.
The hills are still there in 2050 but there’s houses on them as far as the eye can see.
There’s also smart looking, low level employment hubs, offering jobs within walking distances of most of the people who work there.
I don’t think St Gregorys College is still there, unless my eyes deceive me.
What I can say for certain today after driving to Gregory Hills on the new link road from Badgally Road is that I have seen the future of the Scenic Hills and there isn’t one.
Not as we know them, virtually unchanged for thousands of years, including the past 230 years of European settlement.
Back on the new road, which does offer some spectacular views, especially near the top of the Scenic Hills, it does lead to just one conclusion; their days as a natural habitat are surely numbered.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying this new road is what will ruin the Scenic Hills.
But when you drive over it, you can’t help but marvel about its incredible position high up in the Hills, with beautiful bushland on either side.
It almost feels like a pioneering road and the opening up of a new place.
And then it hits you: there’s no way nothing else will be built along this picturesque link between Campbelltown and Camden’s new suburbs.
Before you get upset, remember that this is just a gut feeling for me, and I have my Nostradamus hat on.
And you know what sort of a forecaster that fellow was – his predictions so vague and general he never missed.
Of course I’d like to think what I picture of the Scenic Hills is partly the result of knowing we find it hard to stop developing land into roads, houses, factories, rail lines, schools, airports, a list as long as your arm.
Maybe you should take the drive up Badgally Road on the weekend and see what thoughts come into your head about what the future may look like.
