Yearly Archives: 2020

NAIDOC Week 2020

National NAIDOC Week 2020 celebrations will be held from the 8-15 November. The postponement from July was aimed at protecting elders and those in our communities with chronic health issues from the disastrous impacts of COVID19. The 2020 NAIDOC theme is Always Was Always Will Be. This year, the NAIDOC Week poster features the artwork […]

Glebe Youth Service Update

The team at Glebe Youth Service (GYS) continue to provide a high level of a support, averaging around 120 boxes of fruit and vegetables per week to around 125 households each week. The food relief program fulfils the dual aims of ensuring food security and providing social connection. When GYS staff and volunteers deliver food, […]

Blackwattle Bay and its creeks

Since Blackwattle Bay is currently threatened with overdevelopment this may be the right moment to look back at a little of its history and that of the creeks that drained into it. A little exploration inland from Sydney Cove when Philip and the ‘First Fleet’ arrived would have brought them to a freshwater creek running […]

A Blackwattle Bay Circular Walk

  There have been calls for many years for a Foreshore Walk around Blackwattle Bay. A circular walk around the whole bay for pedestrians and cyclists would be an attractive and much needed active transport route. We have seen recently the desire of the community to walk, run and cycle and the more attractive that […]

State government putting profit ahead of the public interest and common sense

Message from Glebe Society President, Janet Wahlquist, on 13 June 2020 I am writing to you about the future of Blackwattle Bay and the NSW Government’s plans to ‘revitalise’ it.   The Glebe Society objects to the plan on the following grounds: The proposed 45 storey buildings would tower over the Bay, casting long shadows […]

Born in Glebe: Mothers, Midwives and Medical Men

30 June 2020 Download ORDER FORM Intrigued by a small group of midwives working in the suburb of Glebe in the late nineteenth century, the author sets out to discover the identity of these women and the nature of their midwifery practice. Along the way, investigating those who were present at a number of birth […]

Centipede – can you help?

30 June 2020 Like many organisations, Glebe Public School’s out of school hours care program, Centipede, is facing a cash crisis as a result of COVID-19. A further blow to their bottom line will result from the cancellation (for safety reasons) of the Friends of Centipede annual Soiree, normally held in November. Please read this […]

Glebe Community COVID Souvenir Sing

30 June 2020 Download the lyrics sheet here. Our Bulletin for July 2020, gives details of the wonderful initiative of Liz and Albert Lecoanet. If you’d like more details – check out the Bulletin here.

Progress on the Johnstons Creek Naturalisation Project

Another fox sighting in Glebe

There are occasional reports of foxes being sighted in Sydney, including Glebe. I recently sighted a fox literally in our back yard in Allen St, Glebe. It was 7am two weeks ago (May 2020) when I opened the back door and noticed an animal running from the backyard down our narrow lane. It was light […]

Report of community action on WestConnex

Since 2015, members of the local community and the Glebe Society have been actively involved in fighting WestConnex construction issues that affect our community. It is always very difficult to have wins with State Significant Infrastructure (SSI) sites. The WestConnex plan has moved from its original plan of tunnelling under Glebe/Forest Lodge (University of Sydney […]

Planning scenarios for Blackwattle Bay: revitalisation or overdevelopment?

by Lesley Lynch, Bays and Foreshores Convenor,  June 2020 Two very significant steps in the redevelopment of the Blackwattle Bay foreshores have been made public in the last two weeks. Firstly, Infrastructure NSW released a glossy brochure, ‘Revitalising Blackwattle Bay’, setting out its ‘Blackwattle Bay Precinct Planning Scenarios’, as the basis for an intensive period […]

Valé Jack Mundey: The Builders Labourers’ leader who saved Glebe

by Meredith Burgmann, Bulletin 4/2022 (June)  The true saviour of Glebe and inner-city Sydney, Jack Mundey, died on Sunday 10 May, aged 90. We residents owe our pleasant and convenient lifestyle to Jack and the rank and file members of the NSW Builders Labourers’ Federation (BLF). Sydney would be a very different place if the […]

E-waste collections now kerbside

Did you know that you can order a pick-up from your footpath in Glebe – for your e-waste which is much easier than going to Alexandria. Booking is also pretty simple via the City of Sydney website. The website says that this is what can be picked up in the new e-waste collection: Electronics: TVs, […]

Glebe Island Bridge – Demolition by Neglect

The old Glebe Island Bridge sits at the entrance to Blackwattle Bay, permanently open and looking neglected, with grass growing through the cracks, peeling paint and rotting wood – ignored in the Blackwattle Bay Revitalisation Plan. The Glebe Island Bridge was built in 1903 and is regarded as a twin to Pyrmont Bridge which has […]

Active Transport during COVID-19

The advent of the Covid 19 Crisis has seen a marked increase in active transport. By this I mean walking and cycling. This has seen Inner West Mayors telling residents to avoid walking and cycling in places such as the Bay Run in Leichhardt/Drummoyne. It has seen crowded scenes on our own Foreshore Walk. It […]

Update on new plans for Ernest Pedersen Reserve

The City exhibited its revised plans for Ernest Pedersen Reserve in Ferry Road, which incorporated elements from the original design as the front garden of the adjacent house, Rothwell Lodge.  The community feedback to the City was enthusiastic as the overall design was much improved on last year’s proposals. There was, however, concern about the […]

News from the Blue Wren Subcommittee: Special Johnstons Creek edition (May 2020)

Something to do as you exercise in Glebe during the COVID-19 times of home-stay by Judy Christie I thought I’d pass on a Birdlife Australia webpage with some Birding at Home ideas. I have started doing a regular exercise activity/bird survey based on the Birdlife Australia preferred protocol of recording bird species and numbers for […]

An inspiring local story – Glebe Youth Service response to COVID-19

The April Bulletin had a letter from Keiran Kevans, Coordinator at Glebe Youth Service (GYS), reaching out for community support to pivot their services for vulnerable people in the Glebe community during these pandemic times. Judy Vergison provides an update on the achievements of GYS’s COVID-19 response as GYS adapted their service delivery model and […]

Lord Mayor responds to GTH Community Centre proposal

On Tuesday 28 April 2020 Lord Mayor Cr Clover Moore convened a Zoom meeting to discuss our proposal for a staffed Community Centre at Glebe Town Hall (GTH). Glebe Society President Janet Wahlquist and I also attended, as did City of Sydney (CoS) staff members Mariana Ivantsoff (Policy Officer) Kirsten Woodward (Manager, Social Programs and […]

COVID-19 Pandemic in Glebe & Forest Lodge

All photos by Phil Vergison  

More and better walkways are needed in Glebe

There has been an increase in the number of people walking, running and cycling since the COVID-19 restrictions which allow exercise as one of the reasons to leave home. Exercise has been acknowledged as important for our physical and mental health. On many of the popular walks this has created real issues not just because […]

Bidura, 357 Glebe Point Road – demolition by neglect?

State Heritage listed Bidura is showing the tell-tale signs of neglect. No maintenance or upkeep is evident, which may result in leaks, further dilapidating the building. Left unchecked, Bidura runs the risk of being demolished by neglect. A cursory look at the building and its curtilage has identified the following issues: The front fence, the […]

We remember them: Glebe’s Anzac Day under COVID-19

Anzac Day is commemorated as an inclusive event, with people of all cultural backgrounds and ages encouraged to attend ceremonies to reflect on the momentous history of that fateful morning on the Gallipoli Peninsula 105 years ago. Not so in 2020 however, with the social restrictions imposed as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic being […]

The demise of the Hanson batching plant, May 2020

Demolition of Hansen cement batching plant to make way for the development of the new Sydney Fish Market.

Farewell to Kate Brennan (Glebe TreeHouse)

By Judy Vergison, April 2020 Kate Brennan is planning to move on from her role as Coordinator Glebe TreeHouse, based at Glebe Public School. Those of you who know Kate or have worked with her will be only too well aware of how much she contributed to the Glebe community over many years. The Society […]

City of Sydney Council to consider uses of Glebe Town Hall

Following our submission to the Council of the City of Sydney concerning the concept of transforming Glebe Town Hall into a fully funded and fully staffed community centre some developments have taken place. Cr Jess Scully, following approaches from the Glebe Society President and the Community Subcommittee Convenor, as well as other interested community groups, […]

News from the Blue Wren Subcommittee (April 2020)

Margaret Sheppard Margaret Sheppard, a retired librarian and long-time member of the Society and our Subcommittee, died on 10 March surrounded by her family. A wake to celebrate Margaret’s life and to say thankyou to the community for being so kind to her over the years was held at Rothwell Lodge in Ferry Rd, the […]

Glebe and Forest Lodge responds to COVID-19

COVID-19 and our neighbours In these times of self-isolation and social distancing there may be people in our community, and especially those who live alone, who could do with some friendly neighbourhood assistance. I have heard of two instances where Glebe Society members are checking with elderly and single-dwelling neighbours, offering help with shopping or […]

The Glebe Society 50th Anniversary booklet

Our publication Fifty Years of the Glebe Society has been updated and is being delivered to all members. This 68-page booklet documents the major heritage and conservation battles of the past 50 years, as well as the major successes and positive changes that have occurred in Glebe and Forest Lodge. Most copies will be hand-delivered […]