IT has taken more than 40 years and countless hours of research and consultation, but Hexham Swamp can now function again as nature intended.
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The historic milestone was reached yesterday when the final two of the eight Ironbark Creek floodgates were opened to the Hunter River.
How things have changed from the late 1960s, when the Newcastle Sun newspaper declared the area a "landmark Newcastle could well do without".
Another article justified the installation of the floodgates - described as an engineering masterpiece - on the basis that the swamp "needed to be cut down to size".
Within two years of the floodgates being installed in 1970, the environmental implications were obvious.
The loss of the estuarine habitat led to the decline of migratory waders and waterbirds. The once abundant Hunter River fish nursery was also mostly destroyed.
Ironically the saltwater mosquitoes, which were meant to be eradicated as the swamp dried, were replaced with freshwater species.
Things remained largely unchanged until the mid 1990s, when the Ironbark Creek management strategy recommended the staged reopening of the gates.
The first gate was opening in 2008, and others in September 2011 after the completion of studies to examine the impact of tidal inundation of low-lying areas.
Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson, who helped open the final floodgate yesterday, said the completed project would bring economic, environmental and social benefits to the region.
"Hexham Swamp is an internationally recognised wetland on the Hunter River flood plain covering 1946 hectares, just 10 kilometres from Newcastle CBD," she said.
