OUR HERITAGE AT RISK - NEW SOUTH WALES - 2009
MOST AT RISK
PLACES:
Place: Newcastle Government House & Domain
Threat: Destruction
Description of Risk:
The former Military Hospital and Barracks are a substantially intact example of a Military Hospital/Barracks deliberately located within a
military barracks compound. Designed by the Commanding Royal Engineer, Major George Barney, these buildings belong to a series of austere
Colonial Georgian buildings designed to accommodate the military in Sydney and in Newcastle, built during the late 1830s and 1840s.
It is one of only two military hospitals/barracks to substantially retain its
internal and external configuration and its relationship to the barracks buildings and the parade ground despite various institutional uses since
1851. Newcastle CBD development/relocation of services threatens unsympathetic redevelopment and loss of movable heritage to the site. The recent
demolition of Kirkwood House by a Government authority without prior warning confirms the urgency in protecting this historic site. Current
heritage listing does not adequately address the significance of its convictism and coal mining history.
Desired Outcome / Vision:
A master plan for potential adaptive re-use of the NSW Government House and Domain and the James Fletcher Hospital should be prepared using the
NSW Department of Commerce 2004 Conservation Management Plan as the basis for setting parameters for future development. The Master Plan needs to
address the site as a whole and the individual buildings, groups of buildings, archaeology and movable heritage that make up the
place.
Place: Ku-ring-gai Town Centres and the Jim McDougall House
Threat: Destruction
Description of Risk:
The McDougall House is a representative example of the threat to Ku-ring-gai town centres from development and changes to planning laws. The
McDougall house and its grounds containing critically endangered Blue Gum High Forest face demolition for a six-storey residential development.
This property and the threat that it faces is symptomatic of heritage items throughout the five proposed town centres which are facing
unsympathetic rezonings, loss of settings and demolition.
The five town centres are within National Trust listed Urban Conservation Areas
that possess streetscape integrity due to their development during one period and the excellent state of preservation of the houses and gardens.
The areas have a uniformity of housing style including colour, form and architectural detail that gives an harmonious appearance. The
predominance of the 1920s bungalow type illustrates the important influence of American housing ideals and styles on Australia.
A number of heritage listed places have already been demolished affecting the
heritage character of Ku-ring-gai. McDougall House itself is of considerable heritage significance with archeological, ecolgical, aethetic,
historic, scientific, social, representativeness, authenticicity, and rarity values.
Desired Outcome / Vision:
The McDougall home and its setting should be conserved, the home restored and second story addition removed and it should remain a home with a
sympathetic new owner or tenant. The Town Centres should be listed as statutory conservation areas, individual heritage items and their settings
protected and new developments designed sensitively to complement the character and identity of the conservation areas.
Place: Hartley Valley Landscape
Threat: Devaluation
Description of Risk:
The Hartley Valley Landscape is a colonial period rural landscape of high visual quality set against a dramatic background of escarpements,
and containing historic towns, buildings, cemeteries, industrial sites and roads from the earliest days of settlement west of the Blue Mountains.
The historic villages and individual colonial period properties are enhanced by their intact rural setting. Even the existing Great Western
Highway is a relatively low key, undulating road that does not detract from the scenic character of the Valley. However plans to upgrade the
Great Western Highway through the Valley threatens its character and heritage values. Four alternate corridors have impacts on the broader
landscape,the setting of colonial period places and/or the Blue Mountains National Park and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage
Area.
Place: Hartley Valley Landscape
Threat: Devaluation
Description of Risk:
The Hartley Valley Landscape is a colonial period rural landscape of high visual quality set against a dramatic background of escarpements,
and containing historic towns, buildings, cemeteries, industrial sites and roads from the earliest days of settlement west of the Blue
Mountains.
The historic villages and individual colonial period properties are enhanced by
their intact rural setting. Even the existing Great Western Highway is a relatively low key, undulating road that does not detract from the
scenic character of the Valley. However plans to upgrade the Great Western Highway through the Valley threatens its character and heritage
values.
Four alternate corridors have impacts on the broader landscape,the setting of
colonial period places and/or the Blue Mountains National Park and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
Desired Outcome / Vision:
The desired outcome/vision is that:
• the significance of the Blue Mountains National Park and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area is protected and
• the historic, scenic, social and scientific values of the Hartley Valley and its individual historic sites and their settings is conserved
• through the careful siting and construction of any Great Western Highway upgrade,particularly so as not to divide off or isolate parts of the
Valley
• or that alternative means of transport of goods via the existing railway system be put in place.
The desired outcome/vision is that:
• the significance of the Blue Mountains National Park and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area is protected and
• the historic, scenic, social and scientific values of the Hartley Valley and its individual historic sites and their settings is conserved
• through the careful siting and construction of any Great Western Highway upgrade,particularly so as not to divide off or isolate parts of the
Valley
• or that alternative means of transport of goods via the existing railway system be put in place.
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