[Please use the list of articles below to find what is of interest to you and jump directly to the story of interest.. We do not expect you to be interested in everything.]

In this Update:

Invitation to REDWatch Meeting with Minister Keneally – Thursday 5 March 2009 6pm

Indigenous Land Corporation Update throws light on YMCA's role in the NIDC

North Eveleigh Concept Approval Issues

RWA Clarification on the Channel 7 Satellite Dishes DA

Redfern – A Musical?

Aboriginal Involvement in the former Eveleigh Railyards

Eveleigh Railway Heritage Update

Will the Community Safety Plan continue in Redfern Waterloo?

Can Council and the State Government work together?

CoS Redfern Waterloo Community Forum – Thursday 19 March 2009

CoS Darlington Pedestrian, Cycling & Traffic Calming Plan Community Forum – Tuesday 31 March

Amended Plan Approved for Frasers CUB Broadway Site

Fraser’s CUB Site Community Meeting – Wednesday 4^th March 2008 6pm

Broadway University Expansion Plans

Moore Theological College Joins in the Area’s Major Project Redevelopments

What’s New at Redfern Park and Oval?

City of Sydney Grants – Now Open

Training Opportunities for Community Workers and Management Committees

NSW Government response to Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW

Weekly Eveleigh Farmers Market kicks off successfully

RWA Approves ATP Subdivision & Henderson Road tree Removal

RWA Adds Community Links to its Website

ATP 2007/2008 Annual Report

Support for the Syron’s “Keeping Place”

Redfern Waterloo in the Media

South Sydney Herald March 2009

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)

Invitation to REDWatch Meeting with Minister Keneally – Thursday 5 March 2009 6pm

Redfern Waterloo – What will change under New Management? REDWatch invites you to its monthly meeting to hear Kristina Keneally (Minister for Redfern Waterloo) & Roy Wakelin-King (Redfern Waterloo Authority (RWA) CEO). The State Government set up the RWA in 2005 and Minister Keneally has announced it will be wound up by 2011-12. What remains to be done over the next three years? What is the RWA exit strategy? What benefits will the community have in 2012 from this Government intervention? Will outstanding community and Human Services concerns be addressed in the remaining years? Can the outstanding issues be addressed in partnership with the community or will it be more of Government knows best?  Come to The Factory Community Centre, 67 Raglan Street Waterloo at 6pm Thursday 5 March 2009 and meet those responsible for important NSW Government decisions about Redfern Waterloo’s future. You can download a leaflet to advertise the meeting at REDWatch 5 March Meeting with Minister Keneally Poster (55Kb PDF).

Indigenous Land Corporation Update throws light on YMCA's role in the NIDC

The ILC through Tyford Consulting have issued a National Indigenous Development Centre Update - Feb 2009. This update includes a progress report on construction and on the organisations that will occupy the site. In particular it contains the first official information about what will be provided by the YMCA on the site. The update lists the programmes to be provided as: Health & Fitness Programs and Services including cardio and weight training, group fitness, personal training and challenge fitness camps, aquatics programs, sports competitions (futsal, netball, basketball, touch football), gymnastics; Accommodation at the Sydney Urban Camp; Out of School Hours Care and Vacation Care; Leadership Programs (future leaders, youth parliament) and Education and Training Programs.

Since the inception of the RWA it has argued that the area was over serviced and that there is too much duplication and insufficient interagency co-operation. The YMCA’s entry will bring some new programmes to the area, but there is considerable overlap with programs delivered by existing local services. What is not clear is the implications of the YMCA’s entry into Redfern Waterloo for those organisations. In October 2006 we reported RWA Youth Taskforce Meetings Suspended. From what we have been told the RWA has done nothing since then to bring existing youth services together to discuss future directions. Presumably behind the scenes someone has been deciding what is needed in the area and what will be delivered by the YMCA and the new NIDC. Now we wait to see how the new programmes work with, duplicate or compete with existing agencies and programmes running in the area.

North Eveleigh Concept Approval Issues

In the last update Plans for North Eveleigh Approved we provided information on the North Eveleigh approved plans but there was little response to what was approved available at that time. Since then we have received some additional information and seen some reactions to the announcement.

In November 2008 REDWatch wrote to Minister Keneally asking for an Assessment Panel for North Eveleigh and for the Government to consider Sydney University’s interest in the North Eveleigh site, following the determination REDWatch received a response from the Minister. Even though the decision has been made we think worthwhile passing on the key parts of the response as it clarifies why an Assessment Panel was not appointed (at the time the letter was written information about assessment panels was still listed on the DoP website). It also leaves the door open as far as Sydney University’s interest in the site. In part the letter reads:

“The Independent Hearing Assessment Panel provisions of the planning legislation were repealed in October 2008 so such a Panel could not be constituted for this project in this instance. Notwithstanding this, I can advise that the issues and concerns you raised about the redevelopment have been resolved in the assessment by my Department and through specific modifications I have made to the Concept Plan.”

“The interest of the University for the site is being considered by Government. No decision has been made at this stage. As you point out, any alternative proposal will need a separate application, which would be publicly exhibited.”

On the University side there has been some local concern about the impact of the financial crisis on Sydney University and how this might impact on their ability to purchase the site. A recent SMH article Unis learn some hard lessons about their money reported that “Sydney University's billion-dollar endowment fund lost $170 million in value last year, the director of investments and capital management, Greg Fernance, said.” The amount lost is much more that the RWA expected to get for the North Eveleigh site but the University still seems keen to secure the site. The timing of the sale will determine what the government will receive for the site; interestingly the Minister’s approval media statement still said it would go to market in 2009.

Residents, like planner Brue Lay, who live around North Eveleigh are unhappy about what has been approved and this is reflected in the recent City News article Redfern is ‘the new Stalingrad’ and in Bruce Lay’s opinion piece Darlington dudded, again in the March 2009 South Sydney Herald. The SSH also ran a cover report on the approval What next for North Eveleigh?, and in her advertisement Kristina Keneally also covered North Eveleigh.

Another response to the approval has come from some rail heritage people who are questioning the DoP view that the Paintshop “in its current form is structurally unsound and requires considerable improvements to ensure its useability and interpretation of heritage significance”. We have had a couple of people point out that this sounds very much like the line that the Minister and the RWA used to try and get rid of the Large Erecting Shop. In that case we reported the RWA saying that the LES was in very bad repair. Thankfully 3801 Ltd had earlier commissioned its own report on the building that showed there were no significant problems and finally RailCorp accepted that report. We have recently been shown a letter sent from Minister Frank Sartor Opposing LES Federal Listing to the then Federal Minister for the Environment and Water Resources in part stating of the LES that “the structure is in a very poor condition and is subject to industrial contamination issues.” The letter is dated 29 April 2007 which post dates our 3 April 2007 RWIU item RWA at Large in which we reported on RailCorp’s acceptance of the 3801 Ltd adequacy report that showed it was not in the poor condition earlier claimed. Heritage people have been asking if anyone seen any proof this time that the Paintshop really is “structurally unsound” and if there is such an adequacy report that can be publically released?

RWA Clarification on the Channel 7 Satellite Dishes DA

In the last RWIU we raised a number of RWA / ATP Satellite Dishes DA Questions. Since the last update the RWA has responded to clarify some of the issues surrounding this DA for some of those concerned about the development application process. While the RWA has taken the C7 TV Dish DA off exhibition we think it is still useful to make available what we learnt from the correspondence with the RWA as usually this information is not readily available about DAs either as background during exhibition or in the determination. We think it would be useful for consent authorities to provide a little more information for lay people wanting to make a submission about a DA as to what planning rules apply and what the scope for an objection is. We have tried to simplify the issues but if you would like a copy with the relevant Act sections numbers etc we are happy to pass the information on! We appreciate the RWA’s assistance in clarifying these issues even though the exhibition period had finished.

The RWA have advised that the Satellite Dish DA is considered a separate development to the C7 building on which it sits. As the satellite dish development is under $5 million the developer could choose to either modify the approval for the C7 building through the Department of Planning or lodge a separate DA with RWA. The developer chose to lodge with the RWA.

As the C7 building is within a Business Zone -Business Park, satellite dishes are permissible with consent in that zone. The Sydney Regional Environmental Planning Policy (REPP) No. 26 no longer applies to the ATP and hence this DA although it did apply to the original C7 Major Project as that plan was lodged prior to the 30 August 2006 change that removed the application of REPP 26 to the RWA sites.

The height controls for the C7 building in the ATP are for a maximum height of 12 storeys, however, satellite dishes are not included as a "storey" under the definition covering the site. The RWA advise that it “is common practice that communication devices, such as satellite dishes, are excluded from the measurement of "building height".  This is the case with the definition of "height of a building" contained in the City of Sydney LEP and the definition of "building height" in the Standard Instrument (Local Environmental Plans) Order 2006. Accordingly, assessment of the height and appropriateness of the satellite dishes is undertaken on a "merit" basis in accordance with the provisions of Section 79C of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.”  So the bottom line is that to object you had to argue against the “merit” of putting a satellite dish on the top of an already approved TV station.

This DA was made more confusing on exhibition due to several inaccuracies and deficiencies in the Statement of Environmental Effects (SEE) submitted with the DA, particularly with regard to the consideration of SEPP (Major Projects). The RWA has requested the applicant submit an amended SEE, which properly considers all the relevant planning instruments and provides a full assessment of the DA in accordance with relevant section of the Act. The applicant is amending the SEE but as the proposal for the satellite dishes remains unchanged and will not result in additional environmental impacts, re-exhibition of the amended SEE will not occur The RWA say this is in line with the City of Sydney’s Notification DCP, which the RWA uses as a guide in the notification and advertising of development applications.

Redfern – A Musical?

Plans are underway for a collaboration between Blackfella films who recently did the First Australains for SBS and a UK documentary maker who has used a musical documentary format to approach difficult social issues. Over the last few weeks Genevieve Grieves from Blackfella Films has been talking to a wide range of people around Redfern about the project and over the next 3 weeks she is being joined by the UK producer. While they are currently talking to people about the issues, people and stories of the area they will eventually refine the proposal and conduct detailed interviews with some people whose stories will be put to poetry or song for that person to use to tell their part of the Redfern story. The producer tells us that this approach has worked well in the UK and SBS is interested in the production having aired the earlier UK programmes in Australia. If you would like any further information please contact Blackfella Films on (02) 9380 4000. Central recently also ran a story on this as Stories to Sing.

Aboriginal Involvement in the former Eveleigh Railyards

On Friday 27 February Minister Keneally announced the State Heritage Register Thematic Listings program for 2009 – 2010 would focus on four key themes: Aboriginal Heritage; Convicts; Governor Macquarie; and First and Second World Wars. The theme-based listings program is aimed at discovering new places to be nominated for inclusion on the State Heritage Register. Eveleigh is already listed but its significance has often been down-played in recent times as the NSW Government has sought to re-develop the area. Next update we will try to supply some information on its significance during the wars but below we have provided a couple of quotes that underline its importance for Aboriginal Heritage from the CoS wbsite - Barani - Aboriginal Labour in the City:

“The railway workshops at Eveleigh were the biggest employer of Aborigines, particularly during the late nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century. Many Aboriginal people had jobs relying on manual and hard labour. Photos taken of workmen excavating the cable channel for the Darling Street tram in Balmain include Aboriginal men in the gang, providing evidence of an Aboriginal role in the development of infrastructures in and around the city. Aboriginal people worked in the Alexandria goods yard loading trains with kegs and potatoes.”

“Many local Aborigines from Redfern were employed in the dirty work in the foundry, boiler room and workshops. In later years, others arrived from the country seeking work but had to sleep in disused air-raid shelters because the local hotels refused them accommodation - (Australian Railway Historical Society Archives)”

As mentioned in the last RWIU the North Eveleigh Concept Plan approval requires that “Archival or oral historical research together with the local Aboriginal community into the nature and significance of the Aboriginal connections with the railyards as a whole is to be undertaken prior to or during the preparation of an Interpretation Plan for the site”. At the end of this process we would hope that the relationship of Aboriginal people to the Eveleigh railyards should be well documented.

Eveleigh Railway Heritage Update

There were two articles of interest in the February 2009 issue of Trust News Australia. The first item was by The Hon Peter Garrett AM MP Australian Minister for the Environment Heritage on the importance of Heritage Tourism for Australia. Peter Garrett in the article says: “One area I'm keen to encourage more work on is heritage tourism. Domestic and international visitors who participate in cultural and heritage tourism activities stay longer at their destination, travel further and spend more than the average visitor. It's a phenomenon that's happening all over the world, and one we need to better exploit in Australia.” In the second article Eveleigh's Still Hidden Heritage by Graham Quint of National Trust (NSW) he points out that “Some of the finest historic railway engineering workshops in the world are located just south of Sydney's Central Railway Station adjoining Redfern Railway Station (originally called Eveleigh)”. Those who have asked Minister Keneally for a process to establish a robust heritage and tourism strategy for the Former Eveleigh Rail yards to go alongside the redevelopment are simply joining the dots.

Two items from Associate Professor Lucy Taksa PhD, Director - UNSW Industrial Relations Research Centre, University of NSW have been added to the REDWatch website and are worth reading. The first Issues pertaining to absence of attention to the intangible cultural heritage associated with the NSW Eveleigh Railway Workshops covers Dr Taksa’s presentation in October 2008 to heritage groups with a common interest in preserving Eveleigh’s railway heritage. The second article ‘Nostalgia or Nostophobia?: Trends in the interpretation of Australia’s railway industrial heritage’ (87KB PDF) is a paper Dr Lucy Taksa presented at the Interpretation Australia conference in 2007. The paper compares Eveleigh to other workshops around Australia.

We understand that there has still been little movement on how much of the Large Erecting Shop will be used to store equipment from the Paint Shop and hence what area will be available to conduct viable heritage railway operations. One encouraging development is that Powerhouse volunteers have apparently been told that they will be able to stay at the Large until building at Thirlmere is complete. While the Powerhouse remains in Eveleigh there is hope that a heritage rail operation out of the Large which includes the Powerhouse is still possible.

Finally one of the important aspects about operating heritage railways are the opportunities they provide to volunteers. So it was interesting to read Train tragics' heritage project on track in the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader about Engadine resident Steve Rowling and his sons Brett and Todd who are 3801 Ltd volunteers on the Cockatoo Express which operates out of Eveleigh. We also have been told by John Glastonbury from 3801 Ltd that the company has also been successful recently in providing sufficient experience to one young volunteer on their trips for that person to get a food service job. This has encouraged 3801 Ltd to think about how they may be able to use their heritage rail trips to provide for work experience and job training opportunities. If you would like to discuss this possibility further please contact John at 3801 Ltd on 9869-2749.

Will the Community Safety Plan continue in Redfern Waterloo?

In the last RWIU we covered the Redfern-Waterloo Community Safety Plan Evaluation, and the story has been picked up in different ways by City News in Redfern and Waterloo safer and Do you live in a crime hotspot?. Redfern Waterloo residents however are keen to see if the City of Sydney Council will now implement the recommendations from the report to reconvene the Redfern Waterloo Community Safety Taskforce and complete the unfinished work identified in the Community Safety Plan and by the Taskforce. There is concern that without an increase in the CoS community safety budget, the focus will shift to the new Community Safety Plan for Glebe and no further work will be done on the Redfern Waterloo Safety Plan or with its Taskforce. Residents are asking for assurances that CoS will continue with its community safety work in Redfern Waterloo rather than pulling out as if, now that an evaluation has been completed, Redfern-Waterloo is now safe.

Can Council and the State Government work together?

According to Clover Moore’s eNews Local Representation for All Clover says she recently asked the Planning Minister and the Premier to review the continued need for SHFA and the RWA. If Minister Keneally’s 2011-12 timeframe to close the RWA or amalgamate it with the SHFA holds, then the Minister, the RWA and CoS should all be planning at what needs to happen to provide a seamless transition of the RWA area back to CoS control. With Clover Moore taking up the offer for involvement on the board responsible for Barangaroo one step towards a seamless transition would be for the Minister to again offer a position on the RWA Board to someone from the CoS.

On a smaller scale both CoS and Minister Keneally could take up the proposal of Waterloo public housing tenants and hold joint meetings for Waterloo residents where everyone sits around the table and addresses the issue rather than each holding a separate meeting and ducking responsibility for issues. Last year council scheduled two meetings for public tenants, the Lord Mayor turned up to Redfern but could not make Waterloo much to the disappointment of a large group of tenants. On her side Kristina Keneally scheduled a meeting for Redfern tenants on 26^th February 2009 but was unable to attend at the last minute and has a meeting for Waterloo scheduled for 14^th April 2009. If Ms Keneally makes the Waterloo meeting that will mean Redfern and Waterloo will each have met with one politician.

What Waterloo residents have asked for is for both Clover Moore from CoS and local member Kristina Keneally to be involved in the Waterloo meetings, which they would like to see include others not just public tenants. They have proposed alternate chairing of Waterloo meetings by Clover and Kristina but they want both parties at the table. They have also asked that departmental representatives from the RWA Human Services Implementation Senior Officers Group (ISOG) to also be involved. Housing NSW and Police currently attend meetings held by both CoS and the local member but representatives from other major human services departments do not normally attend leaving Housing NSW and Police to respond to issues which are the responsibility of other departments such as Health and DoCS. The idea is to try and avoid blame shifting at such meetings and to get everyone to work together and address the problems that are being experienced by Waterloo residents. The proposal also includes some subgroups to work on issues between the larger meetings. The workings groups proposed are a Community Safety Group; an Employment, Learning, Enterprise Group; a Community Health Focus Group and a Housing Standards Focus Group. You can download further details of the Waterloo Community Engagement Proposal March 2009 (92 KB MSWord).

CoS Redfern Waterloo Community Forum – Thursday 19 March 2009

CoS has put details for the first Community Forums for the year on its website. The forum for Green Square was notified and held since last RWIU but you can get some details from Green Square Community Update or by contacting the CoS contact person named on the website. Council Community Forums are scheduled for Inner South and Inner West in March meaning the bringing of Redfern Waterloo together around its Redfern “hub” has not yet eventuated. West Redfern and Darlington will need to go to Camperdown for their Community Forum on 31 March. Inner South Community Forum covering Redfern and Waterloo will be held at Redfern Town Hall, 73 Pitt St Redfern Thursday 19 March 6pm to 8.30pm.

CoS Darlington Pedestrian, Cycling & Traffic Calming Plan Community Forum – Tuesday 31 March

When the RWA’s North Eveleigh Concept Plan was on exhibition there were major concerns raised about traffic impacts from it and from the University’s expansion. At that time there was no recent council traffic study of the area. It has been delayed due to on in Surry Hills taking longer than expected. CoS is now about to start its study that will cover Darlington. This will follow two studies undertaken for the RWA - RWA BEP 1 Traffic Study (OCR on Scan PDF 3.9 MB) Appendix H - Traffic and Transport Impact Assessment (PDF 3.69 MB) and one currently unsighted study by the Department of Planning made to assess the RWA’s North Eveleigh traffic studies. In addition as Sydney University gets ready for submitting its Abercrombie Street Major Project Application it too will have untaken more work hopefully including the impact of its proposed closure of Butlin Street in its 2020 Masterplan. REDWatch in one of their North Eveleigh submissions specifically concentrated on the traffic issues and you see the concerns raised in REDWatch North Eveleigh Concept Plan Submission - Traffic.

The North Eveleigh Major Project - Minister's Instrument of Approval pages 6-7 requires that a Transport Management and Accessibility Plan (TMAP) is to be prepared prior to or concurrently with the first project application that includes new floor space for North Eveleigh. The approval points out that some aspects of this study will require the concurrence of the City of Sydney Local Traffic Committee. It is hence very important that a robust study be undertaken in the Darlington precinct to try and understand the current and future traffic impacts on the area and to minimise their impact on the surrounding community.

Given that the Inner South has had a Traffic study while Inner West is just about to have its, it does make some sense to keep the two areas separate until the traffic study is completed. After this however we think CoS should consider moving to its 2030 Plan hubs for its Redfern area Community Forums.

The Community Forum for Inner West (which includes the part of Redfern to the west of the Railway line, Erskineville, Newtown and Darlington Pedestrian, Cycling & Traffic Calming Plan) will be held at Rydges, 9 Missenden Rd Camperdown Tuesday 31 March 6pm to 9pm.

Amended Plan Approved for Frasers CUB Broadway Site

NSW Premier Nathan Rees announced on 19 February 2009 the approval of Fraser’s Modified Concept Plan for the former Carlton United Breweries site in Chippendale. The Concept Plan change will deliver more open space for the local community and a much more environmentally friendly redevelopment. In exchange the developer gets increased density along Abercrombie Street and Broadway. Mr Rees said that the $1.3 billion plan has the potential to create 5,500 ongoing jobs and 1,200 construction jobs. The maximum Gross Floor Area (GFA) available for development across the site is 255,500 square metres. No more that 70% of the GFA is to be for residential and no less than 30% is to be for non-residential use. Affordable housing contributions from the CUB site under the RWA Act went to Redfern Waterloo and the CUB redevelopment will increase from $23 million to $32 million the funds available to the RWA for spending on affordable housing.

You can read the text of the NSW Premier’s media release of 19 February 2009 1,200 Construction Jobs in Bigger, Greener Development for Carlton United Breweries and Fraser’s Premier announces approval of concept plan for Frasers Broadway site of the same day. Frasers have also released a Newsletter Five February 2009 (574KB PDF). Media coverage has included AAP Former CUB site gets development tick in the Australian and other places and Central’s Broadway’s blockbuster : Carlton United site green light.

For those who made submissions on the amended Concept Plan and are familiar with Frasers Preferred Project Report for modification 2 which responded to submissions, you will find the Response to Submission Documents on the DOP website CUB Site Modification application 2 of interest. The documents include the assessments of the Design Integrity Panel report - November 2008 MP 06_0171 MOD2 (41 KB), the Director General's report - pages 1 -14 (1.9 MB) pages 15 - 31 (2.1 MB) pages 32 - 37 (2.1 MB) and pages 38 - 53 (1.8 MB) as well as the NSW Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC) report - 22-01-09 on the Director General’s Report (585 KB) and the Revised Statement of Commitments .doc (78 KB). The final determination can be found in MP 06_0171 MOD 2 - Minister's Instrument of approval & modifications_conditions (1.3 MB).

The Coalition Chippendale Community Groups have put out a preliminary analysis of the approval in their CCCG News Update - 1 March 2009 (PDF 671KB) along with information about a number of other Chippendale development proposals. If reading through the details in these document is too much detail we suggest you go along to Fraser’s Community Meeting on Wednesday (revised details below). CCCG is encouraging people to attend the meeting but are warning people to try and “look behind Frasers PR spin”!

Fraser’s CUB Site Community Meeting – Wednesday 4^th March 2008 6pm

Frasers Broadway project team members will be available to present on and answer questions about the approved Concept Plan and upcoming Project Application submissions. Frasers have received DGRs on 26^th November 2008 for CUB Main Park and Related Infrastructure and on 18 February 2009 for Blocks 1 and 4 (cnr Abercrombie / Broadway). Frasers are currently preparing Project Applications for:

• Residential Block 2 (Ateliers Jean Nouvel)
• Commercial Blocks 1 & 4 (Foster + Partners)
• Residential Block 5 (Johnson Pilton Walker)
• Stage 1 Infrastructure Works including the Main Park

The meeting will be held from 6pm to 8pm, Wednesday 4 March 2009 at FraserStudios, 12-14 Kensington Street, Chippendale (off Broadway, near The Clare Hotel). For further information regarding the Community Meeting or the project generally please contact Carlene on 1800 282 909 or email community@frasersgreencliff.com.

Broadway University Expansion Plans

On February 7 2009 the Coalition Chippendale Community Groups reported in their Chippendale News story that Notre Dame University Misleads Community Over Its Expansion. The story was picked up by City news in their article Chippendale to become a “students’ playground”.

Meanwhile University of Technology Sydney continues to explore its Concept Plan 08_0116 and recently received DGRs for Project Application 09_0021 - Student Housing (Building 6). More information on both expansions can be found in CCCG News Update - 1 March 2009 (PDF 671KB).

Moore Theological College Joins in the Area’s Major Project Redevelopments

Moore College owns significant land holdings around the Carillion Ave, City Road and Little Queen Street in Newtown. They have recently lodged plans MP 09-0005 Concept Plan  and MP 09_0007 Stage 1 Library Building with the Department of Planning to redevelop some of their land holdings and received Director General’s Requirements on 4 February 2009.

What’s New at Redfern Park and Oval?

Redfern Park & Oval facilities are slowly getting up and running. South’s Leagues Club will operate the café on the park. The Redfern Oval - Community Room can already be booked through CoS for Monday to Sunday from 7am to 11pm. This new medium sized function room takes approximately 100 people and overlooks the recently redeveloped Redfern Park and Oval. The CoS website says the stylish function room offers polished floors, tea and coffee making facilities (downstairs), lift and stair access. It is suitable for private functions, community meetings, recreation classes, rehearsals, seminars and training sessions. Standard hire fees are $38.00/hr with a refundable bond of $310 or $13.00/hr for local community organisations and charity functions. General enquiries and bookings can be made by Tel: 02 9265 9333 or by online Booking Enquiries.

One recent innovation from CoS, according to City News in Untie your chi for free is the provision of free tai chi classes at parks in several suburbs, including Redfern Park. To join in the new classes contact Jeffrey at CoS on 9265 9489.

The big news of the last month was Souths’ return to Redfern Oval which was covered in the mainstream media including in the Daily Telegraph’s Souths return to Redfern Oval which we chose because of its link to some of the photos of the day - Picture gallery: See snaps from the historic occasion here.

City of Sydney Grants – Now Open

A number of the CoS grants and sponsorships programs are now open. An information session on the various grant and sponsorship programs will be held on 12 March 2009 (Thursday) at 5.30pm Town Hall House, (Southern Function Room) Level 4, 456 Kent Street Sydney. The following grants are currently seeking applications:

• Accommodation Grants Program – City of Sydney assists not-for-profit groups community organizations with accommodation for the provision of services, programs and projects to meet community needs – Closes 16 March 2009.
• Matching Grants Program - The Matching Grants Program supports identified community projects or objectives in the Local Actions Plans by matching with City Resources what is raised in-cash or in-kind by the community.- Closes 23^rd March 2009
• Business Support Program - (over $5,000) The Business Support Program provides grants to non-profit business organisations that seek to revitalise and enhance local commercial and retail precincts.- Closes 20^th April 2009
• Community Services Grants Program (over $5,000) - Grants over $5,000 are awarded to non-profit organisations based in, or providing services or projects of benefit to the City of Sydney community. - Closes 20^th April 2009
• Cultural Grants and Sponsorships Program (over $5,000) - The City of Sydney encourages and supports cultural development through grants and sponsorship support for major and smaller cultural events and organisations - Closes 20^th April 2009
• Environmental Grants Program (over $5,000) - Grants over $5,000 are awarded to non-profit organisations based in, or providing services or projects of benefit to the City of Sydney community - Closes 20^th April 2009
• Heritage Grants Program (matched funding up to $10,000) - The City of Sydney provides support for individuals and groups whose activities and initiatives aim to improve the quality of the City’s heritage and built environment - Closes 20^th April 2009
• Local Community Grants Program (up to $5,000) (biannual, second round will open in August 2009) - The City offers grants to non-profit community organisations for community projects, events, activities, services and resources that help build strong, healthy and vibrant local communities.- Closes 20^th April 2009

Training Opportunities for Community Workers and Management Committees

1) Currently the City of Sydney is running free community training and networking opportunities for community workers and community management committee members to build their skills in a range of community management areas including: 

• Making your meetings more effective - 10 March 2009 (Tue)  1:00pm to 4:30pm (light lunch included) at Redfern Town Hall, L 2 / 73 Pitt Street, Redfern
• Cross-Cultural Awareness - 2 April 2009 (Thursday) 9:30am to 12:30pm (light lunch included) Level 3, Redfern Community Centre, 29 – 53 Hugo Street, Redfern
• Conflict and how to solve it? - 6 April (Monday) 9:30am to 1:00pm (lunch included) Glebe Youth Service, 84 Glebe Point Road Glebe
• City of Sydney Community Profile, Population Forecast and Specific Census Information Session - A training workshop to enable you to access and use the City of Sydney online community profile, population forecast information and access Census information about specific communities within the City of Sydney local government area. This workshop will be held mid-year, if you are interested in this training please complete the expression of interest form.

Number are limited, if you’d like to attend any of the above Connect Sydney training and networking opportunities, please contact Michelle Thomas, Super V Multicultural Volunteer Program at the City Of Sydney Tel: 9246 7878 or email mithomas@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. The training is being delivered by Our Communities P/L www.ourcommunity.com.au  

2) SDN Children's Services and Connect Redfern have organised for Parentshop to provide free training for community workers to help manage children aged 2-12. Registration closes 9th April 2009. This training licenses community workers to train parents in the 1-2-3 Magic and Emotion Coaching method. Each participant will leave with a comprehensive training manual and a personalised slide show presentation that they can use to teach parenting groups or to show to individuals.

NSW Government response to Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW

Pam Marsh Executive Officer, Inner Sydney Regional Council for Social Development advises that the NSW Government has released its response to the recommendations made by the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW headed by Justice James Wood.  The report entitled Keep them safe: a shared approach to child wellbeing listed 115 recommendations most of which the Government has adopted. The Government response to the report can be accessed at http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/about_us/keep_them_safe.html. There appears to be no mention of the Community Services Grants Program, but that is not so surprising as the program was not included in any detail in the report or the recommendations. Agencies will need to put time and effort into developing an action plan to ensure that it is included in the State budget. We now await a report from NCOSS and other peaks.

Weekly Eveleigh Farmers Market kicks off successfully

The Eveleigh Farmers Market started on Saturday 28^th February 2009 with a good crowd. They will now occur weekly at the old Blacksmith shop opposite CarriageWorks at Eveleigh. Prices on fruit and vegetables were much more reasonable than at the market before Christmas but shoppers said you had to be careful when buying as weights were not given on some items defined by volume which can be a bit of a trap. There was a good range of premium specialty food products. Public housing tenants will probably not be flocking there, but it is sure to be attractive to those living in Darlington and Newtown. We happened across a number of locals using the markets and we see great potential for the markets as a community focus that will bring many people who live around North Eveleigh together. In contrast there was a disappointing turn up of both artisans and patrons for the monthly Artisans Markets which kicked off at the same venue on Sunday March 1 2009. Hopefully some promotional work will be done before the next month to draw the crowd needed to sustain an ongoing artisans Market. Prior to the markets kicking off the RWA / ATP put out the following media release Eveleigh Market is bursting with Fresh Food and Artistic Flair and more information about the markets can be found at www.eveleighmarkets.com.au.

RWA Approves ATP Subdivision & Henderson Road tree Removal

The RWA has posted two new DA approvals from 13 February 2009 on its website. Details of the approvals and conditions can be down loaded from the links below:

• Henderson Road, Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Development: Removal of existing trees along the ATP southern boundary and provision of replacement trees DA 038-10-08 (203 KB PDF)
• Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Development: Land subdivision at the Australian Technology Park. DA 037-10-08 (146 PDF)

The subdivision of the ATP makes it possible for the 99 year leases, announced in the state mini-budget, to be sold over parts of the park as an alternative to selling a single 99 year lease over the entire ATP.

RWA Adds Community Links to its Website

The RWA has added links to local organisations and government departments to its website including a link to the REDWatch website. The RWA had, under earlier management, declined to provide a link to the REDWatch website arguing that it was political in a way that the Redfern Waterloo Chamber of Commerce who they carried a link for was not. You can see the new links at www.redfernwaterloo.nsw.gov.au/links/index.html.

ATP 2007/2008 Annual Report

When we reported last year on the RWA Annual Report the report for the ATP was not available in electronic form. The ATP Annual Report 2007/2008 went up soon after our report and can now be downloaded Annual Report 07/08 but be warned if you are on dial up that it is a 4.7 MB PDF!

Support for the Syron’s “Keeping Place”

Gordon and Elaine Syron and their collection of over 1300 paintings and thousands of photographs and artefacts have been given more time by the RWA to negotiate a new, hopefully permanent, home for the collection following a recent meeting with Minister Keneally.

The collection was bought to Redfern for cataloguing with support from the RWA. After months of hard work by Gordon and Elaine, UNILINC Ltd, Redfern Residents for Reconciliation and many other volunteers the cataloguing of the paintings and their valuation are near completion. An invitation to meet Kristina Keneally the Minister for Redfern Waterloo coincided with plans for a gathering in support of the collection.

On the eve of first anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s apology, Wilson Street rocked to a large turnout from the local and wider Aboriginal communities, the art world, the reconciliation movement and supporters of Gordon and Elaine’s “Keeping Place”. While the event started at 6pm many arrived late and stayed until the early hours of the next morning keen to show their moral and material support.

The evening was organised by a committee of Indigenous professionals which has been established to bring Gordon and Elaine’s dream of publically accessible keeping place for the collection to fruition. Gordon Syron paid tribute to Chicka Dixon who is the official patron of “The Keeping Place” during the evening.

John Morse the ex-head of Tourism Australia joined those making recorded statements of support while Aboriginal activist Lyle Munro, Aboriginal Art Curator Djon Mundine, Sydney Heritage Society’s Andrew Woodhouse and Geoff Turnbull from REDWatch spoke in support on the open mike. A minutes silence was also held for those killed in the Victorian bushfires.

Josephine Cashman was the MC for the evening which started in language with actor and linguist Richard Green. Activist Ken Canning read a poem called "Nameless People" while Keeping Place Chair Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor recited  "Spirit Man" her poem about Gordon Syron. Adam Hill played a didgeridoo signed and played by many Aboriginal musical greats which he then donated to the Keeping Place collection. Nadeena Dixon sang "Aboriginal Land" accompanied by some wonderful dancers. To finish off the entertainment hip-hop artists, Wire MC and Choo Choo performed with little 'Little Gee' and ‘The Last Kinection’ DJ Jaytee.

Around $1100 was raised to help support Gordon and Elaine. A good time was had by those attending however some nearby neighbours concerned by the volume of the entertainment invited the “boys in blue” who arrived just as the entertainment was coming to an end.

Geoff also put this item in for the latest SSH. You can find out more about the committee and their proposal for the Keeping Place Presentation made by UNILINC to a national library conference late last year. You can see some of Gordon Syron’s paintings at www.gordonsyron.com and www.blackfellasdreaming.com.au.

Redfern Waterloo in the Media

One of the big events of the last month was the “Black Friday Aboriginal boxing, basketball and culture event – a Night of Black Stars” to raise funds for the Indigenous Sporting Academy and Indigenous Boxing Academy. The event was well covered in the media including Sydney Morning Herald’s Mundine spoils for a stronger apology, the Central’s Black Stars in a First for the Block, City News’ Night of the Black Stars lights up The Block and Night of the Black Stars rocks the Block. Another successful Family Day on the Block was held but without any media coverage as far as we could see.

Well worth a read was Alan Madden featuring in The Sun Herald Extras Welcome to our land in which Mr Madden talked, as a descendent of one of the area’s original inhabitants, about Aboriginal Sydney before the arrival of the Europeans. The rally to mark the anniversary of TJ’s death was covered in Justice for TJ!

Redfern got a mention in News.com.au’s Builders oust bankers in Australia's posh suburbs, while blue-collar areas move upmarket as one of the changing suburbs – “In 2001, adults earning more than $52,000 a year made up 16 per cent of Redfern’s working population. By 2006, that proportion had grown to 25 per cent.”

City News highlighted the absurdity of Wilson Street’s western bike lane by pointing out that no cyclist can legally exit it in Cyclists’ choice: risk it or rot and Central picked up on Hillsong comments about a fresh move to achieve their new facility in Rosebery in Unholy row to erupt again?. We also learnt from the ABC Sydney to host Edinburgh Military Tattoo that the replica Edinburgh Castle is stored in Redfern!

South Sydney Herald March 2009

You can download the entire copy of the South Sydney Herald for March 2009 as soon as their site is back up again at www.southsydneyherald.com.au. Articles from the March 2009 issue of the South Sydney Herald that relate to Redfern Waterloo have been placed on the REDWatch website and include three items looking at the North Eveleigh Concept Plan approval including the news item What next for North Eveleigh?, Bruce Lays opinion piece Darlington dudded, again and Kristina Keneally’s advertisement Kristina Keneally on North Eveleigh. Blaming Redfern looks at how Redfern’s image related to the way police stories are reported, Roller shutters blight streetscapes looks at a major issue of concern to Redfern and Waterloo while Inner-city happiness investigates if the inner-city is really as unhappy as recent research suggested.

The SSH reported on community Support for the Keeping Place proposed by Gordon and Elaine Syron, on the The National Apology – one year on as well as on Michael O’Loughlin’s visit in Swans star meets kids at Darlo School. 

The SSH interviews the Redfern “Run, Rabbit, Run”, and “Parramatta Girls” playwright in Arranging Elderflowers – An interview with playwright Alana Valentine. Sydney’s first Lebanese restaurant Wilsons of Pitt Street Redfern gets covered by the SSH, Journey towards a dream – Reader profile Pamela Neville starts a new section in the paper while Vale – Peter Symon remembers a valued member of the Chippendale-Darlington Community for Peace Group.

Trevor Davies covers Frasers/CUB site in Chippendale – some movement; Public housing in the inner city continues to be sold off; A night with Gordon and Elaine in Wilson Street uncovers real local talent; Some advice for Hillsong; The RWA has a new Boss and Farewell Angelina in Have you heard? - The fast news with Trevor Davies – March 2009.

There is also an update on More trouble for Yiu Ming temple and Additional Affordable Housing for Green Square and Ultimo looks at affordable housing provider City West.

Have your say – Summary of Current Consultations

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

• Frasers – CUB Site Community Meeting Wednesday 4 March 2009 - FraserStudio 12-14 Kensington Street 6-8pm
• Community Forum - Inner South - Venue: Redfern Town Hall, 73 Pitt St Redfern Thursday 19 March 6pm to 8.30pm
• Community Forum - Inner West (includes Erskineville, Newtown and Darlington Pedestrian, Cycling & Traffic Calming Plan) Venue: Rydges, 9 Missenden Rd Camperdown Tuesday 31 March 6pm to 9pm
• Sydney University consultation on Abercrombie Street Major Project Application has been delayed.
• CoS - DA Notifications by Suburb View as Map
• CoS - Free Home Composting & Worm Farming Workshops - Book online.