In this Update:

CarriageWorks Open Weekend – 20 & 21 January 2007

Community Consultation for National Indigenous Development Centre

Exodus Foundation will Start Tutorial Programme at Belmont Street

Redfern Waterloo gets Community Bus link to RPA, Glebe and Broadway Shopping Centre

Heritage Rail Carriages removed from The Large Erecting Workshop

Mentors Needed for StAMP Program expansion into Redfern Waterloo

RWA Decline Railz Hotel Extension of Hours DA

St Andrews Cathedral School proposed (Redfern) Gawura Campus

The City of Sydney Draft Homeless Strategy – Until Friday 26^th January 2007 [CoS Advise should have been 26th February]

REDWatch February Meeting – Wednesday 7^th February 2007 6pm

Newtown Neighbourhood Meet the Marrickville Candidates – 7^th February 2007 7pm

‘Day of Reckoning’ Protest Sunday 11^th February 2007

Have your say – Summary of Current Consultations

Coming Events (look at the new local events entered on the REDWatch website that are not covered here)

Each year things seem to start just a little earlier …

CarriageWorks Open Weekend – 20 & 21 January 2007

This is an opportunity to come and have a look at the new Contemporary Arts theatre / performance spaces at the CarriageWorks in 245 Wilson Street Eveleigh (Darlington side) between 11am and 4pm. Guided tours of the theatre spaces, rehearsal rooms and scenery construction workshops will be held each day at 11am and 2pm. There will be forums and free performances. You can explore the building’s history at the Trains of Treasure audio-visual display in Bay 19 or, if you worked on the site during its years as a railway carriage workshop, you can record your story at the Testimonial Booth.

Four forums are being held over the weekend in Bay 20:

• 12pm Saturday 21 January 2007: Rail heritage of the CarriageWorks site featuring Bill Casley (former Workshop Manager and CarriageWorks consultant), Ian Brady (former President Australian Railway Historical Society), Richard Butcher (author of The Great Eveleigh Railway Workshops), Tom Paine (former Train (Lighting) Equipment Section Redfern), Garry Hingle (former carriage builder).
• 1pm Saturday 21 January 2007: Adaptive re-use of the space with speakers including TZG architect Tim Greer and Lucy Taksa, Eveleigh Historian.
• 12pm Sunday 22 January 2007: The artists’ vision for CarriageWorks with speakers including artists from ERTH and STALKER.
• 1pm Sunday 22 January 2007: Contemporary dance with speakers including artists from the Sydney Festival.

Free performances will include:

• ROSIE DENNIS Sydney performance artist will be showing her new work, 'Hitting a Brick Wall Since 1984' before it tours to the UK
• LEGS ON THE WALL This interactive workshop with aerial and physical theatre artists will teach visitors how to fly in a harness
• ERTH Watch rehearsals of their new show Gondwana
• AERIALIZE Watch aerial acrobats train on the trapeze, silks, lyre and Spanish web
• PERFORMANCE SPACE Installation by artists Sam James and Zara Akmed

More details on the CarriageWorks and coming performances can be found at www.carriageworks.com.au and a recent background article from Arts Hub can be found Carriageworks... Or will it? For information about what is planned in the area surrounding the CarriageWorks read the SMH article Business and flats will follow arts to Eveleigh.

The RWA has also determined the Amendments to the City of Sydney Operational Consent for the CarriageWorks. The number of Major / Special events of full capacity has been increased from 5 days to 10 days per calendar year. Finishing times have been amended to allow performances to finish after 11pm any night, provided all patrons vacate the site by 12 midnight. Outdoor events must now cease at 8pm rather than sunset. The RWA reserves the right to review the hours of operation should complaints be received during the 12 month trial period. The requirement for off-site parking at the ATP for special events has been made more flexible, so the requirement is now only that it must be within reasonable proximity rather than at the ATP. The shuttle bus provisions to off-site parking and Redfern Station remain for special events. Residents can download the determination DA 013-10-06 (PDF 1.5 Mb) from the RWA website.

The RWA currently has the CarriageWorks application regarding the installation of signage on exhibition. It includes the implementation of a signage strategy for directions to the venue and promotional purposes.

Community Consultation for National Indigenous Development Centre

The Indigenous Land Corporation has engaged Twyford Consulting to manage the community consultation for the design and development of the National Indigenous Development Centre at the old Redfern Public School site. Twyford Consulting will be working with stakeholders, community organisations and residents to ensure they are informed and have an opportunity to provide feedback. If you would like to comment on the project, be kept informed or be involved in future consultation activities please contact Stuart Waters at Twyford Consulting. Phone 1800 11 00 55. Email Twyford@twyford.com.au.

Exodus Foundation will Start Tutorial Programme at Belmont Street

The Exodus Foundation will not be waiting for the ILC to finish its work on the Former Redfern School site to start its programme for Redfern Waterloo. Bill Crews has negotiated an arrangement with the South Sydney Uniting Church Parish for the use of part of their Belmont Street premises so Exodus can start its programme this year. The Belmont Street premises is close to the Alexandria Park Public School.

Redfern Waterloo gets Community Bus link to RPA, Glebe and Broadway Shopping Centre

A free bus service for City of Sydney residents will run from Poets Corner to Broadway via RPA Hospital and Glebe. The new service will be provided by South Sydney Community Transport with the support of the City of Sydney. Initially it will provide three round trips on Thursdays and Fridays. The bus will enable people to move between public housing estates in Redfern, Waterloo and Glebe It will also enable easy access to banking, Redfern Railway Station, RPA Hospital, Glebe Library and Broadway shops.

The new service will be launched Thursday 1st February 10:30am with the first shuttle starting on Friday 2^nd February. The bus stops for the service will be at:

• Poets Corner, Morehead Street, Redfern
• The Fact Tree Youth Centre
• Wellington Street Waterloo
• Matavai & Turanga, 3 Phillip Street Waterloo
• Redfern Bank, Redfern Street Redfern
• Redfern Station, Lawson Street
• RPA Hospital, Missenden Road Camperdown
• Joanna O’Dea building, Lyons Road
• Glebe Library, Glebe Point Road
• Broadway shops, Francis Street, Glebe

This service should be warmly welcomed as the need for such a link has been raised at numerous consultations over the years, especially to enable people to get from Redfern Waterloo to the hospital. It will allow people to make either local one stop trips or the longer trips to Glebe or the hospital. It is to be hoped that over time it can grow to supply a regular service throughout the week. The leaflet with the initial bus timetable can be downloaded from the REDWatch website at the Village to Village Bus link Time Table (561 Kb PDF) or call South Sydney Community Transport on 9319 4439.

Heritage Rail Carriages removed from The Large Erecting Workshop

With Locomotive 3801 being moved from the Large Erecting Workshop to Rail Transport Museum (RTM) at Thirlmere in December, the post-Christmas issues have revolved around the heritage carriages. 3801 Ltd issued a newsletter 3801 Ltd Update on Tours and the Large Erecting Shop in which it announced it would continue to provide heritage rail tours and that it’s use of the Large would continue until 2008.

On January 3^rd 2007 RailCorp’s Office of Rail Heritage wrote to 3801 Ltd advising that 8 heritage carriages used by 3801 Ltd were to be transferred to RTM on 9^th January 2007. Some of the carriages were to be used in 3801 Ltd’s just released tour schedule. The Friends of Eveleigh (FOE) quickly put out a media release RailCorp to Move Heritage carriages from the Large Erecting Shop and contacted politicians as the carriages formed part of the National Heritage Listing application along with the Large. The FOE were particularly concerned that the heritage carriages were being removed “from a safe, secure and enclosed Heritage building where they have been successfully kept for over 20 years and leave them in an unprotected outdoor environment”. Following a visit to RTM Thirlmere, which confirmed that there was no suitable place to store the carriages, the FOE issued another media release Mr. Premier - This is your responsibility which highlighted that the move was putting heritage rail carriages at risk. The carriages did not move on 9^th January as initially planned and the move was rumoured to have been delayed until 16^th January 2007. FOE continued their pressure by writing to a number of Ministers concerning the move. In the end RTM collected 6 carriages on 15^th January and the balance 2 carriages will be handed over after they are used by 3801 Ltd on their tour to Kandos on Sunday 4^th February. The manner of the removal of the carriages raises a number of issues about the role of the Office of Rail Heritage in looking after the state’s rail heritage, as well as if and how it will promote co-operation between RTM and 3801 Ltd as called for by the O'Rourke Committee Report to RailCorp on 3801 and RTM (96 Kb PDF).

There are also concerns that these removals are the start of a move to shift all heritage carriages from the Large so its heritage use can be stopped in 2008 for the RWA redevelopment. Clover Moore’s Letter to Morris Iemma of 27 November 2006 concerning the future of the Large has been referred by the Premier’s office to Minister Sartor’s office.

Those interested in the future of the Large may also be interested to known that Railpage now has a thread on “The Large Erecting Shop - It's future” – you can view the posts at http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11325321.htm . Details of planned trips by 3801 Ltd can be found at http://www.3801limited.com.au/3801_schedule.htm and RTM’s trips can be found at http://www.nswrtm.org/3801/ .

Mentors Needed for StAMP Program expansion into Redfern Waterloo

The Community Restorative Centre (CRC) is a post release support agency for ex prisoners, funded by Marrickville Council and the City of Sydney Council. CRC has embarked upon an innovative project to support ex prisoners who live in Marrickville and City of Sydney Local Government Areas. 

The project recruits local volunteers as mentors to assist ex prisoners in their transition back to community life.   Becoming a mentor assists in the process of creating safer and more supportive communities. 

When first released, ex-prisoners face many barriers such as: stigma, financial hardship, family breakdown, lack of significant emotional supports, lack of affordable housing and lack of employment opportunities.  Building positive relationships with people that have recently been released from gaol can help reduce self destructive behaviours such as suicide, substance misuse, re-offending and isolation. 

The StAMP Program assists to matching people with a supportive local mentor. Mentors spend around 2 hours per week with their mentee, providing practical assistance. Through their mentors, mentees have engaged in education, recreational courses and have become aware of services available in their community. Most importantly, the mentors provide the mentees with someone who genuinely cares about their goals, progress and future.

Community members who wish to become mentors are offered free training, but they must be willing to have regular supervision and ongoing training.

If you are interested in becoming a mentor, have clients who you believe may benefit from having a mentor, or for other information about the StAMP mentoring programme  call: Claudia Vidal StAMP Project Coordinator or Don Clark Aboriginal StAMP Project Officer (Monday to Wednesday) on 9288 8700. Some background on StAMP can also be found in the 2005 presentation at http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/2005-cp/collyer.html .

RWA Decline Railz Hotel Extension of Hours DA

The RWA determined a number of DAs prior to Christmas but they have just posted them on their site in the New Year. The RWA has responded to community feed back and Notices of Determination now have the most recent approvals at the top of the page. Also they now include in the summary if the application has been approved or refused.

The Railz DA for a 24 hour licence for all but a few hours a week is the first DA refused by the RWA. The reasons for the refusal were given in determination DA 012-10-06 (PDF 108 Kb) as:

1. The information supplied with the application is inadequate in respect of the likely social impacts of the proposal.

2. The application is considered unacceptable pursuant to the provisions of Section 79C (1)(a)(i) in that the proposal is inconsistent with objective (e) of the Business-Commercial Core Zone contained in Clause 9 , Part 5 , Schedule 3 of the Major Projects SEPP 2005.

3. The application is considered unacceptable pursuant to the provisions of Section79C (1)(b) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 in that the proposal may Have a detrimental social impact on the locality.

4. The application is considered unacceptable pursuant to the provisions of Section79C (1)(d)(e) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 in that the extension of trading hours is not in the public interest

Other determinations prior to Christmas included:

DA 013-10-06 (PDF 1.5 Mb)- 245 Wilson Street, Darlington (North Eveleigh) to amend conditions of the operational consent issued on 1 June 2005 (D/2003/977) for the use of the former Carriage Workshops and Blacksmith’s Shop (North Eveleigh) as the Contemporary Performing Arts Centre

DA 016-11-06 (PDF 645 Kb)- Building D, 13 Garden Street Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh for occupation and fit out of levels 3, 4 & 5 and part of basement of Building D, for office and research purposes

DA 015-11-06 (PDF 254 Kb)- Former Redfern Public School 160-220 George Street Redfern for use of temporary fences around three existing community buildings on the  site

MOD 006-04-06 (01)  (PDF 168 Kb)S96 Modification - 255 Wilson Street Darlington (North Eveleigh) to replace ten (10) stanchions with five (5) hollow section posts and swap disabled parking and loading bay areas

DA 014-11-06 (PDF 467 Kb)- Biomedical Building, 1 Central Avenue Australian Technology Park Eveleigh for upgrade and modification of the existing mobile phone network telecommunications facility at the Biomedical Building

St Andrews Cathedral School proposed (Redfern) Gawura Campus

One of the organisations that got off to an early start in 2007 was St Andrew’s Cathedral School who held a second community meeting on 9^th January 2007 (while their DA was still on exhibition) about their proposed Gawura Campus (the name is a local aboriginal word for whale). While the exhibition stage has now closed St Andrews is still looking for comment from the local community. While feelings were expressed both for and against the proposal on cultural and educational grounds, the greatest area of agreement was the objection to the exclusive use by a private organisation of about a part of the Redfern Community Centre. 

The City of Sydney Draft Homeless Strategy – Until Friday 26^th January 2007 [CoS advise that this should be 26th February]

The City of Sydney has put its Draft Homelessness Strategy 2007-2012 on exhibition. This wasn’t on their website when we did the last Update but as it is only on exhibition until 26 January 2007, we are bringing people’s attention to it. While the strategy deals with the whole of the LGA, it has relevance to Redfern and Waterloo and meshes with the Council’s Street Drinking Strategy which has only recently gone off exhibition. More information can be obtained from the Council website on the Draft Homelessness Strategy.

REDWatch February Meeting – Wednesday 7^th February 2007 6pm

The next REDWatch meeting will finalise REDWatch’s programme for the lead up to the NSW State Election. A draft “Agenda for Redfern Waterloo Changes in 2007 – State Election Issues” has been prepared for consideration at the meeting. A questionnaire for candidates and the schedule for the running of candidates’ forums will also be circulated for comment to be finalised at the meeting. REDWatch will also decide what should be part of its submission on the Draft RWA Affordable Housing Contributions Plan. REDWatch meets downstairs at The Factory, 67 Raglan Street Waterloo.

Newtown Neighbourhood Meet the Marrickville Candidates – 7^th February 2007 7pm

The Newtown Neighbourhood Centre is holding a “Meet Your Local Candidates Forum” at the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, 1 Bedford St Newtown (opp Newtown Station) on Wednesday 7^th February 2007 between 7.00pm to 9.00pm (Note - there is no easy access for people with mobility issues at the Centre. Please phone the centre on 9516 4755 if this affects you).

The forum will be hosted by well known community activist and academic Eva Cox and the Marrickville candidates known to be attending the evening are:

• Carmel Tebbutt - Labour Party
• Fiona Byrne - The Greens
• Pip Hinman - Socialist Alliance.

The NSW state election will be on 24^th March 2007. Following the redistribution the seat of Marrickville it now includes Darlington and the part of Redfern west of the railway line and up to Cleveland Street.

The redistribution also extended the seat of Heffron north to Cleveland St taking in the eastern side of Redfern. Bligh is pushed north of Cleveland St and is now called Sydney. A small map of Changes in State Electoral Boundaries for 2007 Election  (JPG 94 Kb) can be found on the REDWatch website.

‘Day of Reckoning’ Protest Sunday 11^th February 2007

You may have noticed the article in the Sydney Morning Herald of December 30, 2006 When push comes to shove landowners stand up for their rights about some of the groups that are coming together for a rally organised for 11am February 11^th 2007 in Hyde Park near the Archibald Fountain followed by a march to Parliament House.

The first protest held by these groups was held on 14^th November 2006. The aim is to get more groups involved this time round. As the article explains much of the impetus comes from those affected by planning decisions in western Sydney, rural communities and some urban groups like CAPO at Putney. The issues that underlie the proposition “the State Government's long-running assault on democracy and private property” are a fair way removed from the main issues of Redfern Waterloo. Although the Aboriginal Housing Company has found common ground with those organising the protests and will be participating, REDWatch did not participate formally in the previous protest and is unlikely to participate this time round. REDWatch has worked hard to maintain a diverse party political membership, so is particularly careful to ensure that that cross party co-operation in the lead up to the NSW Election is maintained. If you would like more information about the Protest please contact the AHC or CAPO on 0407900615 or email capo.rrcs@optusnet.com.au.

Have your say – Summary of Current Consultations

Below we have listed consultations currently open for community input and provided a link for further information: 

• CoS Development Contributions Plan 2006 – Until Sunday 21 January 2007.
• CoS Draft Homelessness Strategy – Until Friday 26 January 2007 [CoS advise this should be 26 February]
• CoS Councillors’ Expenses Policy - Until Monday 29 January 2007.
• CoS Draft Open Space & Recreation Needs Study – Until Friday 2 February 2007.
• RWA Draft Affordable Housing Contributions Plan 2006 - Until Monday 12 February 2007
• CoS Draft Safe City Strategy – Until Monday 26 February 2007.
• CoS Draft Oxford Street Safety Strategy – Until Monday 26 February 2007.