This is an update on the following important Eveleigh Issues which was prepared for railway heritage people but is equally relevant to local residents concerned about heritage:
RWA Heritage Taskforce Established
ATP Conservation Management Plan (CMP) Consultation – 7th December 2009
ATP S170 Heritage Register Overview Report & Moveable Heritage at ATP
ATP - Channel 7 Building Community Information Meeting - Tuesday 15th December 6-8pm
RWA Heritage Taskforce Established
The Minister has approved the establishment of the Heritage Taskforce that was requested from the meeting of heritage people on 28th October 2008. The first meeting for that Taskforce is scheduled for 8th December 2009.
The Taskforce that is being established is a little different from what we requested in that it will deal with a wide range of Redfern Waterloo Heritage issues and not just with the Eveleigh Railyards. Underneath the Taskforce it is proposed to establish a number of working groups which will work on particular projects such as a workers wall proposal or documenting Aboriginal involvement in the Eveleigh site or the formation of Aboriginal organisations in Redfern Waterloo. This structure will enable a wide range of people to become involved in working on projects of interest to them.
The “core” Taskforce will be made up of representatives from the RWA, RailCorp, Heritage Office, Tourism NSW, Housing NSW and the City of Sydney. There will be four community representatives, Mary Lynne Pidcock (President of the Redfern Waterloo Chamber of Commerce) and myself as well as two Aboriginal representatives from an expression of interest process. Regrettably there is no non government specialist heritage person on the Taskforce. As the writer of the letter requesting the Taskforce I am seen as a conduit for this input but I am uncomfortable with this role and have indicated that I believe there should be a specialist non government heritage person on the Taskforce.
While the Terms of Reference for the Taskforce have been signed off by the Minister they will also go to the first Taskforce meeting for adoption. As soon as the Terms of Reference are available and there is an indication from the first meeting on what will be the next steps for working groups I will send out another email.
Godden Mackay Logan have called a Public Information Session / Consultation as part of the revision of the CMP for the ATP site.
The session will be held on site on Monday, 7 December 2009, from 4-6pm in meeting room 6A, Level 1, Bay 6 Locomotive Workshops (please enter via Bay 8). If you would like to attend the information session could you please respond to Jane Vernon at Godden Mackay Logan by phone on 02 9319 4811 between 9am and 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.
The letter of invitation circulated says:
It has been a number of years since a Conservation Management Plan was prepared for the site and previous plans have addressed the Locomotive Workshops building only. This new Conservation Management Plan would address the Australian Technology Park site as a whole, including its significant machinery, and would take into account the changes that have occurred to the site since most railway operations at Eveleigh closed in 1988.
This session provides an opportunity for stakeholders, interested parties and local community members to reflect on the significance of the former Eveleigh locomotive workshops and the changes that have occurred to the site over the past 20 years.
The information session would also provide an opportunity for stakeholders and the local community to raise issues they have regarding the site's management
If you are not able to attend the workshop, you may provide feedback by filling out a form which is available from Godden Mackay Logan at 78 George Street Redfern, NSW 2016.
The current 1996 CMP can be found at www.atp.com.au/heritage-and-history
Recently some “Australian Technology Park Surplus Heritage Item … Identified for Disposal” tags and pink crosses appeared on some of the outdoor moveable heritage equipment at the ATP. This was the first that people were aware that decisions had been made about the moveable heritage which it was expected would be dealt with under the CMP.
You can see the two media articles about this at Australian rail heritage ‘travesty’ and Concern over future of heritage railway machinery . Attached you will find a statement by the ATP in which they state that “No heritage equipment has or is being thrown out”.
Following the discovery of the tags I have been informed that back in 2008 the RWA / ATP engaged Dr Maclaren North of Futurepast Heritage Consulting P/L to undertake a Section 170 review of the RWA and ATP Heritage Holdings. Government agencies have responsibilities under Section 170 of the Heritage Act 1977 (NSW) to identify, conserve and manage heritage assets owned, occupied or managed by that agency.
Included in Dr North’s study was a review of the ATP’s moveable heritage management. This had previous been covered by the Godden McKay Eveleigh Workshops Management Plan for Moveable Items and Social History in 1996. The Section 170 report by Dr North was endorsed by the Heritage Office in November 2008 and the ATP advise it “has been publically available from the NSW Heritage Office since that time”.
I have sighted an extract of the section from the September 2008 Australian Technology Park Section 170 Register Overview Report that deals with items recommended for ‘disposal’. The labelling of the equipment at ATP seems in accordance with the recommendations of this section of the report.
I have posted the extract on the REDWatch site so people can see the recommendations. The original 1996 Management Plan for Moveable Items is also on the REDWatch website at so you can access the original inventory sheets for the thirteen items from the 1996 plan that have been recommended for disposal. If I can get an electronic version of the full report I will also post that on the website. These documents can be seen under ATP Eveleigh Moveable Items
In my view this report should have been placed on the ATP’s website when it was approved and there should have been some notification made to interested parties that the report was being / had been prepared. Over the last year it should have been known to those concerned about the equipment and heritage on the site that a new instrument was guiding ATP’s heritage management. I have requested that the report be added to the ATP website.
In fairness to Mr Wakelin King this study would have been completed and approved by the Heritage Office before he came to the RWA / ATP.
Hopefully the information above provides some background on the arrangements currently covering Moveable Heritage at the ATP that will be useful if you attend the CMP Information / Consultation session which is also dealing with “significant machinery”.
The Channel 7 building, 8 Central Ave in the Australian Technology Park is in its final stages of completion. Channel 7, Pacific Magazines and Global Television will relocate their offices to the new site in early 2010.
A community information meeting is being held so that local residents, ATP tenants and businesses can find out about the arrival of Channel 7 and its partner companies, and how the building and surrounding area will operate. The meeting is organised by the RWA & ATP.
The Meeting will be held in Room 6B, Bay 8 Locomotive Street Australian Technology Park from 6-8pm on Tuesday 15th December 2009. Everyone is welcome.
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