The Nobbys Redevelopment : The Issues

In the Public Interest

To the Councillors of the Newcastle City Council

Dear Councillors,

Nobbys Headland (Whibayganba) and Nobbys Lighthouse (1857) at the entrance to the River, Newcastle NSW.

1. I apologise for not sending this material to you earlier and for not sending it to you individually. (It is the holidays and I have family commitments).

2. I am trying to let you know the issues regarding the Nobbys Lighthouse and the significance of the Coal River Precinct birth Site of Newcastle.

3. The previous Council behaved badly regarding this matter and allowed the proposal to slip through as a Crown Development using S.116C EP&A Act without transparent assessment.

4. The proponents were also in breach of Commonwealth law and the Port Corporation ultimately widened the roadway without development consent.

5. The Conservation Movement of NSW will have to start campaigning in the New Year to have the Headland transferred to the Parks Service or a Community Trust so that it can be opened to the public without further delay. (The Headland should be open to the public now)

6. The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts is inviting public comment on the latest proposal by the 8th January 2008. Documents are below. (Reference Number: 2008/4672)

Title of Referral: Nobbys Lighthouse Pty Ltd/Tourism and recreation/adjacent to Nobbys Lighthouse, Newcastle/NSW/Nobbys Headland Redevelopment Date Received: 22 Dec 2008 Reference Number: 2008/4672
Notification from EPBC Act	Date of Notice	Documents
Invitation for Public Comment on Referral	22 Dec 2008

Doug L.

NOBBYS - THE ISSUES

1. Nobbys Headland should be a National Park and freely open to the public as are other lighthouse sites in New South Wales.

2. It is of National significance and could be administered by the Parks Service or a Community Trust but must not be privatised.

3. The recently built brick garage against the lighthouse should be removed and no new houses built.

4. It is the most widely recognised symbol of the City of Newcastle and an Aboriginal Dreaming Place of great significance.

5. Nobbys headland (Whibayganba) is Newcastle’s unique heritage landmark:

5.1 Nobbys was formerly an island.

5.2 It was connected to the mainland by a convict built breakwater Macquarie Pier (1818 -1846) and is an integral part of the Heritage Listed Coal River Precinct (SHR1647).

5.3 Newcastle’s Coal River Precinct is a cultural landscape of national significance and has Nobbys Headland (Whibayganba) at its focal point.

5.4 Its landform, heritage places, relics, and buildings symbolise major events in Australia’s journey to nationhood:

5.4.1 The discovery of winnable coal, the first coalmine in the southern hemisphere and Australia’s first export industry. The founding of Newcastle and the transition from convictism to free labour and from government industry to private enterprise.

5.4.2 The establishment of the first coal fired beacon on the Australian coast and its replacement by the still operational Nobbys Lighthouse.

5.4.3 The protection of the port with the construction of Macquarie Pier 1818 and the building of the fortifications at Fort Scratchley 1882.

Nobbys or Whibayganba from Sir Thomas Mitchell's 1828 Fieldbook

Below is a copy of a letter sent to the former Premier of NSW the Hon Morris Iemma MP on the 30th May 2008:

Dear Premier,

Nobbys and Newcastle's Coal River Precinct: Birthplace of a City

Parks and Playgrounds Movement is pleased to report the decision, of the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment , Heritage and the Arts, the Hon Peter Garrett AM MP, to reject the development that would have adversely affected Newcastle’s unique Nobbys Lighthouse.

I feel sure you would agree that we must all take care that the historic Nobbys Lighthouse continues to stand proud and free as shown in the historic photograph below in any future adaptive reuse of the signalman’s cottages.

1902 view of Nobbys Lighthouse Newcastle NSW
(State Library of NSW)

We had been perturbed by the shelf company, Nobbys Lighthouse Pty Ltd proposing to alienate the lighthouse in breach of commonwealth legislation and that the private development was incorrectly assessed as a Crown Development Application.

Nobbys and Nobbys Lighthouse are the cultural symbols of Newcastle and should not have been dealt with in this way. The Lighthouse is an important aid to navigation and is the successor to the first light on the Australian coast which was a beacon fuelled by coal mined by convict coalminers at Colliers Point beneath what is now Fort Scratchley.

The lighthouse is of particular significance to Newcastle and is seen in the old and the new city Coat of Arms and in the Newcastle City Hall clock tower which is a representation of the ancient Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria.

Parks and Playgrounds Movement have a continuing interest in this notable place dating from 1969 when we first proposed the statutory recognition of the area as a historic site. The proposal including Nobbys, the convict breakwater and the convict coal mines, Fort Scratchley and Shortland’s camp location.

In 1999 we prepared a Prospectus for the Coal River Historic Site and a ten point plan for the Newcastle Lord Mayor, John Tate, to take to Canberra but were disappointed when the funding gained was not used to prepare the Masterplan as envisaged.

The lighthouse controversy and the intervention of the Commonwealth Minister has saved Nobbys lighthouse and given the Coal River Precinct the national focus it deserves and has highlighted the need for a guiding overall conservation plan.

We appeal to your Government to look with new clarity at Newcastle’s Coal River Precinct which is the birth place of our city and has made an immense contribution to the history and heritage of Australia.

Furthermore we particularly ask that your Government favourably endorse the Department of Planning and the Newcastle City Council’s draft Conservation and Cultural Tourism Management Plan for the precinct.

We trust also that the redevelopment of the Port Corporation’s valuable waterfront land around the Pilot Station and Cornish Dock area will be coordinated and professionally managed as an integral part of the whole precinct and that public access be made to the Nobbys headland without further delay.

Yours Sincerely,

Doug Lithgow,
Freeman of the City of Newcastle and
President, Parks and Playgrounds Movement

Escutcheon attached to Nobbys Lighthouse
Lighthouses Act 1911
(Photo taken 2008)

Crown Plans of Nobbys Headland showing military works
and Lighthouse Station

Nobbys Headland (Whibayganba)
Photo taken in 1984.

Chambers for the blowing up of Nobbys with gunpowder were dug by convicts at the base of Nobbys under the direction of Colonel Barney in 1854. Public protest halted the plan to blow up the headland but its height was reduced from 62 metres to 28 metres for the erection of the Nobbys Lighthouse.

Honeysuckle should revise its irrelevant 1993 Scheme

Why has the Hunter Development Corporation (HDC) been allowed to operate for over ten years without a relevant Scheme for its Growth Centre as constituted?

Hunter Development Corporation General Manager Craig Norman explains some of the proposals for the New Year (HDC manages to keep all the gloom at bay The Herald 31.12.08) but we are left in the dark about the Corporation’s relationship with its “Scheme”.

The HDC formerly Honeysuckle Development Corporation is a ministerial corporation constituted under the Growth Centres Act and is required under Sections 14 and 15 to prepare a Scheme and Section 17 to implement an Approved Scheme within the framework of the law. Its scheme was prepared in 1993 and is irrelevant to the currently proclaimed Hunter Growth Centre. HDC has done good work but has been shackled to a non-conforming 1993 Scheme & Masterplan at Central Honeysuckle.

HDC began with a $100 Million dollar windfall from the Commonwealth’s “Building Better Cities” program but we believe it blundered at Central Honeysuckle by disregarding the 1981 winning design from the Newcastle Harbour Foreshore and Urban Design Competition with its landscaped foreshore and rail corridor entrance into the city. HDC failed to integrate the new Honeysuckle with the existing city structure:

• The Masterplan was approved without the planning research and the geotechnical investigation needed.
• The wharf fender line is the cadastral boundary and the HDC acquired the longshore wharves from the port authority and demolished them leaving much of the planned foreshore and openspace under water!
• The Masterplan proposed a cove and bridge at Civic that had no relationship to the original Honeysuckle Point foreshore or the historic railway buildings and built out the whole area anyway.
• The sensible wharf road was ripped up and a contorted road layout constructed and reconstructed.
• HDC advertised for a hotel before the planing framework was in place. The Minister blamed the Council and used the excuse to gazette his Hunter Regional Environmental Plan REP Central Honeysuckle and remove the Council’s consent powers.
• .The HDC failed to vary their Scheme to conform to the Minister’s REP 1997 for Central Honeysuckle.
  

The HDC is required by statute to prepare a “Scheme” and should start by deleting the irrelevant 1993 honeysuckle master plan and establishing clear transparent parameters to guide the HDC in its widened Growth Centre role for the Hunter Region.

Complaint against the Newcastle City Council

Thursday, 16 October 2008

Mr Garry Payne AM Director General
Department of Local Government NSW
Locked Bag 3015 NOWRA NSW 2541

Dear Mr Payne,

Complaint against the Newcastle City Council in requiring a DA for holes to prove Convict Coal Mines at Fort Scratchley and not for new buildings on same site.

Reference is made to Council’s letter dated 26th November 2007 in reply to our Email letter that was sent to the Ward 1 Councillors of the Newcastle City Council and the Lord Mayor concerning a building being erected within the boundary of the Fort Scratchley Historic Site which is Commonwealth Heritage Place situated at 31 Nobbys Rd Newcastle East NSW.

Two buildings recently built without a Newcastle City Council
Development Application or Development Consent

The Parks and Playgrounds Movement resolved to lodge a complaint against the Newcastle City Council with the NSW Ombudsman and the NSW Department of Local Government and the Commonwealth Ombudsman at the Council’s action in not requiring a Development Application, planning assessment or Development Consent for the erection of two new buildings at Fort Scratchley. We believe that the Council has been wrong and not evenhanded and transparent in the way it has handled this development. Council’s actions were in contrast to those used when the University of Newcastle was contracted to prove the existence of the 1801-1804 Convict Coal Mines on the same site. The proving of the Convict Coalmines required the drilling of a small hole for a camera in each of three mine adits that had been located by survey and Ground Penetrating Radar. The university was required by the Council to prepare a Development Application and Heritage Impact Statement for these small holes and obtain council assessment and consent.

Remedy requested.
Parks and Playgrounds Movement requests that the NSW Ombudsman and the NSW Local Government Department and the Commonwealth Ombudsman inquire into the Council and Commonwealth actions in requiring a DA and Heritage Impact Statement for the minor activity of drilling three small holes on the Fort Scratchley site and the Council’s actions in not requiring a Development Application, Heritage Impact Statement, planning assessment and consent for the construction of two new buildings on the same site. Council has discriminated against the heritage values of the Fort Scratchley Historic Site and the State Heritage Registered Coal River Precinct SHR 1674.


Background
Parks and Playgrounds Movement as a bona-fide objector, has experienced other examples where due process was not followed regarding officially recognized heritage matters and we believe that the Newcastle City Council has an endemic problem with management of heritage properties and relics. The Parks and Playgrounds Movement is anxious that a new sense of probity is established within the Council Administration so that the new General Manager is not obliged to justify the discriminatory and wrong actions of the past. We would hope that a formal investigation of our complaint at state and commonwealth level will lead to improvements in the city administration and a greater appreciation and better management of Newcastle’s important heritage.

Fort Scratchley is a listed Commonwealth Heritage Place ID: 105333 and is a central feature of the Coal River Precinct NSW `SHR 1674 and widely regarded as an essential heritage and community asset deserving of the best professional management. The Coal River Precinct and associated Coal River cultural landscape is also a potential National Heritage site. Council’s actions in not assessing a DA for the buildings are in contrast to the action of Council taken against the Newcastle University and the geotechnical personnel proving of the Convict mines. Council’s action against the university staff was unprecedented and caused embarrassment to the academic community who had been contracted by the Council to carry out the heritage research.

Newcastle Council required a Development application and Heritage Impact Statement for the 10 cm diameter hole into the Convict mines shown below. Photo 11/10/2008

Council served a Solicitors letter on Dr Eklund and the volunteer professionals who had made their specialised machinery available for the exploratory drilling. We understand that approval had been obtained from the Commonwealth and the State Heritage Office on each occasion when the work was to commence. We know that many more holes were drilled by the Commonwealth on the site as part of the refurbishment and that DA’s and consent were never requested by Council.

Parks and Playgrounds Movement Inc have a longstanding interest and commitment to this historic area as the proposer of the Newcastle East Historic Site in 1968 and are advocates for the establishment of a legal Plan of Management to guide the development of the full precinct. A plan of management for Fort Scratchley and for the wider Coal River Precinct has been in preparation for some time and consent for the buildings in question should have relied on careful coordination and consideration by the Newcastle City Council.


Summary Statement of Significance:
Fort Scratchley and Flagstaff Hill on which it stands are of great historical significance to our nation. It is the site of Australia's first mining of coal, thereafter to be the primary resource of the new settlement of King's Town in the Newcastle district. It is also the site of the first navigational aids to safeguard the flow of ships servicing the coastal ports as well as the inner Hunter River system. From the beginning, the little settlement and its precious coal needed protection, and Flagstaff Hill was the first and a continuing site of a garrison and battery, including the notorious Fort Fiddlesticks and the now Fort Scratchley.

In view of the significance of this Commonwealth Heritage Place and its wider importance to the Coal River Precinct and the Coal River cultural landscape we believe that it is essential that a reasonable and unbiased process be established for the assessment of all developments so that firm trust and propriety is developed between the Newcastle City Council, the Newcastle community, the Commonwealth of Australia and the NSW State Government.

We believe that the listed heritage items and historic relics of the City of Newcastle would benefit from an even handed approach to developments that may impact identified heritage items and relics.

The Parks and Playgrounds Movement request this inquiry in the public interest and would be pleased to place evidence before an impartial investigation.

Yours sincerely,

Doug Lithgow.
Freeman of the City of Newcastle
President of the Parks and Playgrounds Movement.

Merewether Beach Pty Ltd

Merewether Beach Pty Ltd: the name of the company to alienate the public parkland at Merewether says it all. Certainly the questions posed by Edward Duc (Newcastle Herald letters 15/08) should be answered publicly.

It may be too late to call the last Council to account but it’s not too late for the new Councillors and the existing State Government to stop the privatisation of public parkland.

Newcastle desperately needs investment money in its commercial areas but it doesn’t need commercial areas in its public parklands.

Residents will have to join with RAID : a coalition of community groups up and down the coast in their planned protest rally 19 October in Hyde Park Sydney against inappropriate development.

Doug Lithgow

Doug Lithgow receives The Dunphy Award

The Dunphy Award for the most outstanding environmental effort of an individual has been awarded to Doug Lithgow.

Doug has been working for the protection and improvement of the environment in the Newcastle-Hunter region for many years. He is the face of the Parks & Playgrounds Movement, which was brought to Newcastle in 1952 and has played a large role in a great number of environmental battles.

Some of the battles included the protection of Lake Macquarie and its foreshores, Blackbutt Reserve, the Newcastle East land formerly owned by the State Rail Authority, Sugarloaf reserve and the Glenrock State Recreation Area.

In 1987 Doug was honoured with the Newcastle University's Board of Environmental Studies Environmental Achievement Award.

Doug’s outstanding conservation efforts have also been recognised by Newcastle City Council who has presented him with the “Freeman of the City” award.

Most recently Doug’s tireless campaigning to preserve the heritage values of Nobby’s Headland has had a win with the Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett ruling against the proposal for a development at the historic lighthouse site, under the EPBC Act.

Doug Lithgow received the Award at the Jemby Rimjah Eco-lodge in the Blue Mountains.