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You are here: Home / UrbanGrowth, SMDA & RWA Plans & Activities / Eveleigh Rail Heritage / Heritage Overview of the Former Eveleigh Railway Yards – September 2008

Heritage Overview of the Former Eveleigh Railway Yards – September 2008

Following the Campaign to save the Heritage Blacksmith at the ATP there has been a lot of interest in the site and the heritage issues around the site. Geoffrey Turnbull from REDWatch has provided below a quick heritage overview which sets out the issues as he sees them at the end of September 2008.

ATP Precinct

The Large Erecting Shop (LES)

CarriageWorks & Central North Eveleigh Precinct

North Eveleigh (Balance)

Redfern Railway Station

An Overall Heritage Interpretation Strategy

 

ATP Precinct

The Blacksmith Shop Campaign and the resultant lease has refocused the heritage issues here back to the consents given when the Australian Technology Park (APT) was established and the heritage study and plan that went with it. The task on this part of the site is to get this material much more public and to campaign for the ATP to fulfil its heritage obligations across the ATP controlled area. The Blacksmith Shop will remain in active heritage use within the ATP at least for now.

Specific players in this part of the site still are RWA / ATP & Minister Kristina Keneally as Redfern Waterloo Minister. The four Universities have an interest in the New Locomotive Workshop.

The Large Erecting Shop (LES)

Management of the LES looks set to stay with RailCorp at least for a few years until the endeavour Centre is surplus to requirements. The 12 storey planning control developed by the RWA will continue to hang over it should it become surplus to RailCorp requirements.

The Government still continues to deny any Heritage Act provision to provide assessment of what is occurring at Eveleigh even though it is on the State Heritage Register. The National Trust & the Friends of Eveleigh have active applications for heritage protection at a Federal Government level and are waiting on a response from Minister Garrett. This LES has no protection and getting this has to be a priority.

The campaign at the moment has to be to minimise damage from RWA / RailCorp core sampling through the building floor and to maintain active heritage uses in the building.

The main threat to this precinct currently is that RailCorp will try and force out active rail heritage from the LES and instead use it to store the carriages they have to move from North Eveleigh. Once it becomes a storage shed active rail use will be dead at this location. The building, its rail heritage use, the skills and the benefits that this rail workshop can bring to an important heritage site like Eveleigh, is still at high risk of being lost to the NSW public forever.

There has been no worthwhile response from any of the Ministers although the National Trust has identified the Large Erecting Shop as of high heritage significance in its working condition for some two years now.  The LES needs protection as a working railway heritage workshop in perpetuity.

Specific players are the current users / occupants (3801 Ltd and Powerhouse Museum), volunteers for both organisations, Friends of Eveleigh, National Trust (NSW), Federal and State Heritage bodies, Unions interested in apprentice training, Office of Rail Heritage, Minister for Transport David Campbell & Minister Volunteering Graham West.. 

CarriageWorks & Central North Eveleigh Precinct

This has already been determined by the CarriageWorks (Arts NSW) and North Eveleigh Blacksmith’s (RWA/ATP) DA proposals and heritage reports. The RWA’s North Eveleigh Concept Plan Heritage Interpretation Strategy should link this central area with rest of site that also has an rail heritage arts potential.

Specific players are CarriageWorks Ltd and its tenants,  Premier Rees who visited recently as Minister for the Arts and minister Assisting the Minister of the Arts Virginia Judge. On the Blacksmith shop it is the RWA with market administration through ATP.

North Eveleigh (Balance)

The future of this site was determined initially by the government’s earlier decision not to use the site for a rail museum and now by RailCorp to divest the site and put the income towards the refurbishment of a Redfern Station upgrade. The first heritage issue following from this is the requirement to move all mobile rail heritage items from the site (currently in the Paint Shop) prior to sale of the bulk of the site by the RWA.

Currently there is concern about where movable heritage items might go and how this might impact active heritage operations at the LES.

The future of the heritage buildings are being determined by RWA’s Concept Plan, the heritage study that was part of it and a currently non public Heritage Interpretation Strategy which the RWA says will lay down principles for those that buy the site to use in developing their Heritage Interpretation Strategies.

The future of built heritage on this site is being determined by the RWA’s Preferred Concept Plan (being finalised) and the Department’s Approval conditions for the Concept Plan.

The buyers of the site will need to put forward their own detailed proposals for the site including their Heritage Interpretation Strategy. Provided they keep within the envelope approved any approvals on the Concept Plan will flow through automatically to this stage. The University may be one of these buyers.

Specific players in this area include Heritage Rail volunteers in the paint shop, and other site tenants, surrounding residents, RailCorp, RWA, The Department of Planning, Kristina Keneally as Minister responsible for Planning, Redfern Waterloo and Heritage and possibly Minister Volunteering Graham West (Paint Shop volunteers) and City of Sydney who would take over public domain following redevelopment.

Redfern Railway Station

It was NSW’s oldest public convenience on platform 1 at Redfern that was used by Minister Sartor to argue the need for the RWA’s powers to be able to override the Heritage Act. It supposedly stands in the way of the upgrade of Redfern Station. Funds from sale of North Eveleigh will go towards the station Upgrade. A lot of work has happened on this but options and plans have not been made public. RailCorp is currently working up the business case for funding to top up what the North Eveleigh sale contributes. Plans will not become public until cabinet signs off on proposal and funding is allocated.

Specific players include, RailCorp, RWA, RTA, DoP, Cabinet, Kristina Keneally and surrounding businesses, residents and University of Sydney whose students and staff are major users of the station.

An Overall Heritage Interpretation Strategy

A Heritage Interpretation Strategy that links all the old rail yards together would seem to be a broader objective so we do not have a number of disparate heritage interpretation strategies. This is also important for promoting heritage walks and tourism of the active heritage areas that survive “urban renewal”. The RWA call their proposed pedestrian and bicycle bridge between North Eveleigh and the ATP the “Heritage Walk” but currently there is no overall Heritage Plan for how all the elements fit together. Dr Lucy Taksa proposal for a workers wall based on the Eveleigh Employee register could also fit into such a strategy.

Specific players RWA, ATP, RailCorp and whoever buys into the North Eveleigh site and Kristina Keneally as Minister for Redfern Waterloo and Minister responsible for the Heritage Office.