The long road to Jappoon, 1978

The long road to Jappoon, 1978. This map of Queensland, inset on the Japanese flag, appeared on the cover of the independent Brisbane newspaper the Semper in April 1978. This was just weeks before the Queensland Government was set to legislate allowing the twenty thousand acre multi-million dollar Iwasaki Project to go ahead. The article that appeared in the paper was highly critical of the dealings over the Iwasaki Project in Queensland. The paper reported, ‘Notwithstanding Iwasaki’s ploughing unauthorised roads through Crown Land in Yeppoon, Mr. Bjeke-Petersen in support of him says he is “one of the greatest conservationists in the world” and that he has “planted a million trees.”’  The article noted that the Yeppoon Resort was set to be used by wealthy Japanese holidaymakers and that ‘in Tokyo Yeppoon is known as Nippon Costa’. The Semper, 12 April 1978, Collection of the Fryer Library