Brian Fuller, Convenor Heritage Subcommittee, from Bulletin 7/2019 September
Membership
Members of the Heritage Subcommittee are: Lydia Bushell, Fiona Campbell, Margaret Cody, Lyn Collingwood, Peter Crawshaw, Brian Fuller, Rodney Hammett, Robert Hannan, Allan Hogan, Joseph King, Ted McKeown and Jude Paul.
During the year Ted relinquished the role of convenor and the Subcommittee is indebted to his dedication and expertise, both as convenor and as a continuing member of the group.
Andrew Botros recently relocated to New York. We know he will be very successful in the Big Apple and we thank him for his valuable contribution to the Society. We welcome new member Joseph King.
I wish to express my appreciation to all Subcommittee members for their passion, dedication and collaboration together with their welcoming spirit. They contribute wholeheartedly to what we do to the extent that it makes the role of convenor a much more enjoyable one.
Given the success of the entire Festival, the Subcommittee is looking to enter it into a category of the National Trust Awards 2020.
50th anniversary Festival
There is no doubt that the 50th Birthday celebrations absorbed much of our focus during the past year, particularly for the working party within the Subcommittee.
The working party curated over 120 prints, paintings, maps and illustrations of Glebe and Forest Lodge, some of which had not been previously displayed in publicly. . We produced Villas Glebe & Forest Lodge pre-1870, a beautiful 44-page book that catalogued the significance of many early buildings in Glebe and Forest Lodge. Regrettably some of those buildings have not been saved. We printed 600 copies, sold 479 and gave another 29 to dignitaries and donating institutions. We are still selling!!
An exceptional one-hour documentary video gave an appreciation of the changes that have occurred in Glebe Point Rd between 1991 and now. On the surface it may look the same, but it has changed considerably.
History and Heritage was also presented via two stage productions; The Mayoral Procession and Glebe’s Colourful Characters A to Z – both sold out performances.
The calibre of these productions and presentations is a result of the talents and persistence of some very special people. They know who they are and we are exceptionally privileged to have them.
The working party worked closely with the 50th Steering Group, and all of us are so indebted to that Steering Group of Virginia Simpson-Young, Judy Vergison and Dorothy Davis. These three people raised the bar and we applaud them.
Given the success of the entire Festival, the Subcommittee is looking to enter it into a category of the National Trust Awards 2020.
Reinstatement of the WW1 Tramsheds Memorial
On 8 November 2018 a dedication ceremony was held at The Tramshed gardens to mark the occasion of the return of the WWI Memorial Statue to its rightful place. Ted McKeown officiated as Master of Ceremonies, with speeches by Max Solling, Rev Father Dominic Murphy, Pastor Ray Minniecon and Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
The ceremony was the culmination of many Society members working together, and with the City of Sydney, to bring the Memorial Statue back.
The Subcommittee has requested that the City list the statue as a local Heritage item. It will take the City a good 12 months or more to process the listing.
Some may recall that the DA for the Tramsheds required that the original Water Tower be reinstated. It is conspicuous by its absence and we are chasing the developer for a response and call to action on this issue.
Office of NSW Minister for Heritage
The State Government announced that it was closing the Office of Environment and Heritage with effect from 1 July 2019 and that it would be restructured in some form and potentially fall within the control of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.
Notwithstanding that move, the Minister responsible for Heritage is not the Premier, but The Hon Don Harwin MLC, Special Minister of State, Minister for the Public Service and Employee Relations, Aboriginal Affairs, and the Arts.
The President has written to the Minister seeking clarification, and until a response demonstrates otherwise, it would appear that the administration of Heritage in NSW, both at Departmental and Ministerial level, does not have a cohesive approach.
In an environment of zealous approaches to new infrastructure and developments, the protection of Heritage assets now requires greater vigilance.
We await a meeting with the Minister to seek a satisfactory outcome.
Community Engagement
The Subcommittee continues to work with the community, be they local or relatives of locals past or present. In the past year we have processed some 55 enquiries from the community seeking information on earlier generations of current families and/or of the homes they may have lived in.
Some enquiries are readily answerable, whilst others bring forward new information that assists our historians, Lyn and Rodney, to add to the already significant data base of local history.
Our task is to collate all the information we have, index it for future reference and store it digitally.
Future Glebe
To quote the Historic Houses Association, ‘Our heritage is about our future as well as our past’.
I recently attended the Sydney 2050 Conversation Day sponsored by the City of Sydney, and in a previous report within the Bulletin, highlighted the issues facing Sydney, and by implication Glebe and Forest Lodge, as we head towards 2050.
The impact of a growing population on infrastructure, affordable housing, suburban economies and climate change will have an undeniable pressure on the heritage assets that we are privileged to have within Glebe and Forest Lodge. This means there is much work to do.
One significant issue is the revitalisation of Glebe Point Rd retail. This has been the subject of an earlier Glebe Point Rd Study in 1991, now out-of-date. The Subcommittee has commenced a review of all retail properties between Parramatta Rd and Bridge Rd, capturing heritage value, current condition and usage. The Subcommittee monitors DA activity to record trends in change of use.
Numerous vacant shops are appearing, many in heritage value buildings, and whilst within the local conservation area these are best-preserved if occupied with sustainable usage before they succumb to either demolition by neglect or demolition by developers.
Broadway Shopping Centre and The Tramsheds are successful retail alternatives to shopping on Glebe Point Rd. Together with Internet shopping, the degree of retailing along Glebe Point Rd as we know it is changing.
The challenge is how do we maintain these valuable buildings and under what circumstances? It’s early days, but discussions are commencing with Sydney City Councillor(s) and the local Chamber of Commerce.
Shared Issues
Modern life is not siloed, and occasionally neither are the activities of a Subcommittee. Areas of shared concern with other Subcommittees and like-minded groups have included the following:
Ernest Pedersen Reserve
The City of Sydney recently released plans to upgrade this reserve, located on Ferry Rd and adjacent to State Heritage listed Rothwell Lodge. There are three areas of concern to the local community and the Blue Wrens and Heritage Subcommittees.
The local community is exceptionally upset that the reserve is to extend the playground offer for children up to eight years of age, notwithstanding that the existing patronage is by residents of all ages. The community seeks a more intuitive and creative design approach for the benefit of all users of the reserve.
The Blue Wren Subcommittee has worked for many years with the Ferry Rd Bushcare group to establish native flora and birdlife within the park. Their efforts are paying dividends and they are understandably very concerned about the proposed introduction of new and additional unnatural surfaces to the reserve.
If the Council were to observe the controls contained in its own LEP and Heritage DCP, the design proposals so far fail to conserve the heritage significance of a heritage item (Rothwell Lodge) and of a heritage conservation area, including associated fabric, settings and views.
The two Subcommittees have worked together, with the City of Sydney committing to undertake another review of their proposals.
Fish Market
All Subcommittees have expressed their opposition to the relocation of the Fish Market. The Society’s policy statement that acknowledges, amongst other things, that the Fish Market does require redevelopment, and that we adhere to the Society’s constitution in relation to ‘achieving public access, both pedestrian and cycle, to the entire waterfront of Glebe’ essentially confines the Society’s fight to the current site, preserving the water front and Wentworth Park amenities and heritage value for all.
Paddington Society, Millers Point Residents’ Association and the Glebe Society
The Heritage groups within each organisation are united in the common initiative that the City of Sydney take a leading role in educating the owners of heritage properties and developers in best practice in maintaining, altering or adaptively reusing those properties, and assisting them in choosing appropriate materials and finding (without recommending anyone in particular) relevant experts and tradespeople.
Despite a quasi-early commitment from Council, budget priorities have slowed the initiative considerably. Nonetheless we remain optimistic that the Council will re-prioritise the initiative within 12 to 18 months.
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