Chap off the old Block is pushing hard for the new

Mick Mundine, brother of boxer Tony and uncle to world boxing champ Anthony "Choc" Mundine, has decided it's the make-or-break year. Give us our $60 million housing development - Pemulwuy - or we're off to court, says the chief executive of the Redfern Aboriginal Housing Company.

The battle with the NSW Government has exhausted all sides. They have been negotiating for nine years, and the concept plan has failed to meet the Department of Planning's approval. The vision is to have affordable housing for Aborigines, which they own and which will provide a safe environment for the next generation of children.

On the whiteboard in the company's boardroom are the must-dos for the year ahead, including "remove the needle van" and "destroy The Block".

"Destroy" seems an aggressive statement for the people who own and love this small patch of land, but it says a lot about what has been and what is to come. Half of The Block has been bulldozed: 54 of the old Victorian terraces are demolished, and just 21 houses are left on the estate.

The Pemulwuy project includes 62 units with a mix of one to four bedrooms. It promises city views and state-of-the-art living quarters for people who have lasted through the clean-up and the vicious cycles that have beset the community.

Mick and Tony Mundine, from the Bundjalung people, arrived in Redfern from Grafton in the 1960s. It was a familiar pilgrimage for many country Aborigines seeking a future in the city. Tony was training for the Rabbitohs when Ernie McQuillan spotted his boxing technique and turned him into a world champion. Mick did odd jobs and tried to stay out of trouble. He became a sort of street missionary.

Mundine's lucky break was when Charlie Perkins, the late Aboriginal leader, came to his rescue. "I was in this car, the police suspected it was stolen and chased us. I'd just come to town and all my mates got out of the car and said 'run' and I said 'Why should I run? I got no reason to."' After his arrest, Perkins posted the security. Mundine was later found not guilty of any offence.

Many years later Perkins came to the rescue in a much bigger way as the secretary of the federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs. The department oversaw the purchase of the nearby Railway View Hotel, the tenants' direct link to alcohol, and the source of many problems. The housing company took the building over. Mundine started as a painter and eventually became its chief executive.

The company's upstairs office is a meeting ground for those left living on The Block's infamous Eveleigh Street. Mundine gave up the grog decades ago, and became a saviour to many street Aborigines in Redfern, helping them off the drink. He lives a personal style of Christianity, "do a good deed, show some love". He's had to pray a lot as tragedy and death has circled his family constantly.

In a corner of the office is a small memorial to the son he lost last year. Although pneumonia killed him, Mundine says the true cause of his son's death was "alcohol". He was 40. Another son also died a few years ago at the age of 35.

From a policing point of view, The Block is on the mend. The change came during Catherine Burn's stint as Redfern's police superintendent from 2005-06. She is now assistant commissioner and regional commander for the metropolitan area that includes Redfern.

"Without a doubt The Block has turned around," she says. "What I tried to do was get a focus on a couple of things. The two issues they wanted dealt with was controlling domestic violence and bringing the barriers down between police and the community.

"I worked closely with Mick - I really feel he wants to make a difference. He wants it to be recognised for what it is - a good community."

If anyone should know about The Block from a non-resident's position, it is Frank Sartor. The former Sydney lord mayor was on the advisory committee to the housing company in the mid-'80s and he was The Block's ward alderman on Sydney City Council. Twenty years later he was the Carr government minister overseeing the planned redevelopment. The housing company says he became the biggest stumbling block to the Pemulwuy project.

In the 20 years since he advised the company he feels "nothing had changed, nothing had improved". The Carr government was never going to rush headlong into a housing development, considering the history of problems in Redfern.

"None of my cabinet colleagues approved of the development, not even the lefties," Sartor says. "We decided there had to be change to the governance of that precinct.

"I was always eager to enter into a process to agree on common goals and come out with a solution. But [the housing company] whinged and moaned every time something came up."

Sartor wanted to broaden the range of uses at The Block. He was against the size of the project and would have supported more units, just not all built on The Block.

His relationship with Mundine was unpredictable and frustrating. "Mick's an icon; he's a bit of an untouchable. We had a relaxed and cordial relationship, but for some reason there was always this discontinuity.

"I decided it was not an issue I could force - I could if I wanted to - but I didn't. They claimed we were taking their land, which was untrue; they claimed we didn't want Aborigines there, which wasn't true.

Sartor wanted to change the way the estate was run - a change to the structure, personnel and skills used to run the estate, which has assets worth more than $40 million.

Then there was the famous comment Sartor made on Koori radio in 2005, urging Mundine to bring his "black arse" down to his ministerial office to resolve the dispute. Sartor says he was using the slang of the Mundines. "Look, I made a mistake. Micky genuinely accepted my apology," says Sartor, who believes "he was pressured by others to make a big deal of it".

Sartor predicts that the housing company will eventually get approval for the project, and probably go cap in hand to the Federal Government for funding. Federal authorities have always appreciated the significance of The Block. In November 2000 it was listed on the National Estate. The then chairman of the Heritage Commission, Peter King, said: "It is significant to Aboriginal people throughout Australia. The importance of The Block transcends individual buildings."

Peter Valilis joined the Pemulwuy project as manager about five years ago. He is responding to the list of objections forwarded by the Planning Department. One of the 17 objections asks if Pemulwuy will turn into a ghetto again.

"That's not even a permissible development objection," he says. Everyone is on tenterhooks waiting to see how the Planning Minister, Kristina Keneally, will deal with Pemulwuy. She hasn't returned calls so far.

Valilis works closely with Mundine and has seen how it has worn him down. "But he's like a pit bull - as soon as he latches on to something he doesn't let go."

Source: www.smh.com.au/national/chap-off-the-old-block-is-pushing-hard-for-the-new-20090517-b7es.html