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News Releases
For media enquiries, please call 02 9995 5347 at the Office of Environment and Heritage media unit
Strickland House, Vaucluse - State Heritage Register listing extended to cover whole of site
Strickland House, Vaucluse |
The Strickland House site on Sydney Harbour, Vaucluse, is of exceptional historical significance as a remarkably intact 1850s villa with a largely unaltered landscape setting. The extension to Strickland House's heritage listing will see the entire property given the State's highest level of heritage protection.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
Click here for the media release.
| 30 January 2012
Homewood: the childhood home of Slim Dusty - Listed on the State Heritage Register
Homewood: the childhood home of Slim Dusty |
Homewood is of State heritage significance for its associations with the formative years of country and western singer Slim Dusty (David Gordon Kirkpatrick) 1927 - 2003. It demonstrates the frugal and simple nature of his boyhood and evokes the cultural and musical influences of the Nulla Nulla community and its bush environment that were the inspiration for his songs. Homewood reflects for a broad audience, both Australian and international, Slim Dusty's character and role as a significant musical and cultural creative figure.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
Click here for the media release.
| 20 January 2012
Heritage Order placed over Wilson House, Turramurra
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The Minister for Heritage has placed an Interim Heritage Order (IHO) over the Wilson House at 7 McRae Place, North Turramurra. The request for the IHO came from Ku-Ring-Gai Council and will last up to 12 months. During this time investigations will examine an appropriate level of heritage listing for the property. Also during the year the Heritage Council of NSW and Ku-Ring-Gai Council will work with the owners regarding proposed changes and additions to the property. Wilson House is of heritage significance for its innovative modernist design and as a fine representative example of the 'Sydney School' style of architecture. It also has associations with the leading architect who designed it, Colin Madigan, as a rare example of his domestic architecture.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 8 December 2011
Click here for the media release for the following seven sites added to the State Heritage Register 16 November 2011.
Blacks Camp Wellington - Listed on the State Heritage Register
Blacks Camp Wellington |
Blacks Camp is the earliest remembered Aboriginal camp in the Wellington area. The former camp site is part of a sequence of post contact Aboriginal settlements in Wellington, where Wiradjuri People lived segregated from the town's people. The site has the potential, through archaeological relics and deposits, to provide information and insight into the demographics, living conditions, social organisation and cultural practices of Aboriginal people living in the Wellington area in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.
Blacks Camp is significant to the Aboriginal community because the site tells part of the story of what became of the Wiradjuri People following the arrival of non-Aboriginal settlers in the Wellington Valley and the loss of Wiradjuri traditional lands. The former camp site is also significant to the local Aboriginal community as an Aboriginal burial ground and for its two traditional Aboriginal sites (a scarred tree and shell midden).
Click here for more information in the online database.
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Blacktown Native Institution Oakhurst - Listed on the State Heritage Register
Blacktown Native Institution Oakhurst |
The Blacktown Native Institution played a key role in the history of colonial assimilation policies and race relations. The site is notable for the range of associations it possesses with prominent colonial figures including: Governor Macquarie, Governor Brisbane, Samuel Marsden, William Walker and Sydney Burdekin.
The Blacktown Native Institution site is valued by the contemporary Aboriginal community and the wider Australian community as a landmark in the history of cross-cultural engagement in Australia. For Aboriginal people in particular, it represents a key historical site symbolising dispossession and child removal. The site is also important to the Sydney Maori community as an early tangible link with colonial history of trans-Tasman cultural relations and with the history of children removed by missionaries.
The Blacktown Native Institution is a rare site reflecting early 19th century missionary activity. The site has the potential to reveal evidence that may not be available from other sources, about the lives of the children who lived at the school and the customs and management of the earliest Aboriginal school in the colony. The site also has the potential to contain archaeological evidence relating to later phases of land use, including the period the property was owned by Sydney Burdekin. In addition, the site may contain evidence of Aboriginal camps which may provide information about how Aboriginal people, accustomed to a traditional way of life, responded to the changes prompted by colonisation.
Click here for more information in the online database.
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Air Defence Headquarters Sydney (former) Condell Park - Listed on the State Heritage Register
Air Defence Headquarters Sydney (former) Condell Park |
The former World War II Sydney Air Defence Headquarters (ADHQ) was conceived and planned at a time when the Australian military was undergoing an expansion due to the perceived threat of invasion by Japan. A purpose built, Fighter Sector Headquarters was considered key to the defence of the Sydney region. The Sydney ADHQ, which came into operation in January 1945, was an integral part of Australia's defence network during the latter stage of WW2. It is the only facility of its type, built in NSW during World War II and one of four, purpose built Australia, of which only three survive. The building has considerable research potential in terms of its ability to yield information (that may not be available from other sources) about the design, fabric and construction of this rare WW2 facility.
With the exception of the provision of a naval plotting room, the building was constructed in accordance with a standard design agreed upon by all three of the military services. It is part of a small group of Fighter Control Units, which collectively illustrates a representative type. The Former Air Defence Headquarters is associated with former service men and women of all three branches of the military, as well as former members of the No. 2 Volunteer Observers Corps (Australia). The men and women who worked in the bunker were responsible for the air defence of New South Wales, during the latter part of World War II.
Click here for more information in the online database.
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McIver Women's Bath Coogee - Listed on the State Heritage Register
McIver Women's Bath Coogee |
The McIver Women's Baths is reportedly, the only remaining swimming venue (specifically reserved for women) in continuous use in NSW (and, perhaps, Australia). Formally recognised in 1876, but in use since the 1830s, the McIver Women's Baths have been well frequented by the female community as, initially, a safe and naturally secluded place to bathe and, later, as a private venue to swim and learn water safety skills.
The baths also have a historical association with the rise of competitive swimming in NSW. Although not used as a venue for competitions, the baths were used by Fanny Durack and Mina Wylie to develop their swimming skills (Durack and Wylie went on to win gold and silver medals at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games - the first Games to allow women to participate in competitive swimming - the 100m freestyle).
The McIver Women's Baths are also particularly significant for their social value to the female community of NSW. Since the early female colonists first utilised this pool in the 1830s, generations of women have visited and used this naturally-occurring and beautiful swimming site. Its privacy as a gender-segregated facility has been a long-held attraction for a range of different women in NSW - including, as an example, mothers and children, elderly women, women with disabilities and women from Islamic and Catholic communities.
In 1995, having been granted an exemption under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977, the McIver Women's Baths cemented its purpose as a womens area and its ongoing use reflects the high regard the female community continues to have for this site.
Click here for more information in the online database.
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John Fowler 7nhp Steam Road Locomotive Wellington - Listed on the State Heritage Register
John Fowler 7nhp Steam Road Locomotive Wellington |
The John Fowler 7 nominal horse power Steam Road Locomotive is as an example of a defunct and now rare technology that played a vital role in the construction of rural roads in NSW, thereby contributing to the increasing accessibility of regional areas in NSW across the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The operational status and good physical integrity of the John Fowler Steam Road Locomotive provides a rare opportunity to demonstrate the power and scale of the machinery required for major rural road building activity in NSW.
Click here for more information in the online database.
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Wilberforce Park - Listed on the State Heritage Register
Wilberforce Park |
Wilberforce Park is the best surviving example of the three surviving Great Squares created 200 years ago in the heart of the grid patterned towns of Wilberforce, Windsor and Richmond. Wilberforce is among the five new country towns planned by Governor Macquarie in 1810-1811 and has survived with remarkable integrity. Its direct associations with some of the earliest planning work by Governor Macquarie and James Meehan demonstrate its importance, together with Wilberforce as some of the earliest town planning attempts in NSW and the colony.
The central Square, now a Park, is still today an essential historic asset for passive recreation and quiet contemplation at the heart of a perfectly preserved Georgian town-plan. Its deliberate siting adjacent to the iconic Macquarie Schoolhouse/chapel and St John's (Blacket) Church (already on the State Heritage Register) and its views over the Hawkesbury flood-plain enhance the State significance of both Park and Schoolhouse.
The Park has also become the chosen site for the district's memorials to those who fell or otherwise served in war. The memorial erected after World War I and reused to commemorate subsequent campaigns, is of local significance not only for itself, but also for the way in which it has encouraged continuing planting of shade-trees in a memorial avenue.
Click here for more information in the online database.
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Country Womens Association Rest House Barellan - Listed on the State Heritage Register
Country Womens Association Rest House Barellan |
The Country Women's Association Rest House in Barellan, dating from July 1924, is one of the first 'CWA rest houses' purpose-built by local country women in Australia. It is of State significance for its associations with the foundation years of this nationally important women's group which was formed in New South Wales in 1922 in order to 'improve the conditions of women on the land'. The building demonstrates various efforts made to meet the needs of country women and children. It is also of State significance for its representative role in providing an example of the facilities constructed and adapted for different community uses by a CWA branch throughout the twentieth century, usually as a result of local fundraising. It is representative of the enthusiasm that accompanied the formation of the CWA, demonstrated by the fact that by the time the Barellan Rest House was open in mid-1924 there were 120 branches, 4500 members and 20 rest rooms under construction.
The CWA Rest House in Barellan is likely to be of local significance for its aesthetic contribution to the streetscape as a historic weatherboard community facility and for its role in contributing to community life in the town throughout the twentieth century.
Click here for more information in the online database.
| 16 November
2011
Christ Church Cathedral Newcastle - listed on the State Heritage Register
Christ Church Cathedral Newcastle |
Christ Church Cathedral with its moveable collection, park and cemetery is historically significant because of its origins in early convict history and the establishment of the Anglican Church in New South Wales. It is the largest of the cathedrals designed by Horbury Hunt, the largest Anglican cathedral in New South Wales and the largest provincial Anglican cathedral in Australia.
The Cathedral's moveable collection contains many unique or rare items memorialising those who served in war, especially World War I and the collection of stained glass is outstanding in both the state and nation for its size and quality.
The rest park is one of the earliest European burial grounds established in New South Wales, pre-dating Christ Church and is the site of convict burials.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
Click here for the media release.
| 28 June
2011
Wellington
Convict and Mission Site - Maynggu Ganai listed on the
State Heritage Register
The southern corner of the
site |
Wellington Convict and Mission
Site - Maynggu Ganai is a rare archaeological
landscape with extensive evidence of the second
colonial outpost established on the frontier west
of the Blue Mountains.
The place went on
to become the first Anglican run Aboriginal
mission in Australia and is also associated with
prominent colonial individuals.
The place
is of high social and cultural significance to the
community of Wellington and the wider Indigenous
community.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 11 May
2011
Pipers Creek
Lime Kilns listed on the State Heritage Register
Pipers Creek Lime Kilns |
Pipers Creek Lime Kilns are an
important example of only a few extant early-mid
nineteenth century period lime kilns in NSW.
The kilns' contribution to lime production
in early and mid nineteenth century New South
Wales is an important reminder of an industrial
process that was crucial to the ongoing
construction of permanent buildings in Port
Macquarie, and the colony more generally.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 30 March
2011
Royal Edward
Victualling Yard listed on State Register
Royal Edward Victualling Yard
|
The Royal Edward Victualling Yard
(REVY) is the first Royal Yard in the southern
hemisphere. Belonging to the Royal Australian Navy
(RAN), the yard was responsible for supplying the
RAN with food, clothing and equipment when
required.
The stores operated during both
World Wars, and played an instrumental role in the
provision of supplies during World War Two. They
were constructed during the early twentieth
century to the designs of Government Architect
Walter Liberty Vernon.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 30 March
2011
St. Ambrose
Church Gilgandra listed on State Register
St Ambrose Sanctuary, bellcote &
chapel from the SE |
St. Ambrose Church in Gilgandra
commemorates the town of Gilgandra's unique place
in Australia's WW1 history, as the place where
Australia's first and largest 'snow balling'
recruitment march began.
The Church was
constructed using locally raised funds and a
substantial peace and thanks-giving donation from
parishioners of St. Ambrose Church Bournemouth,
England. The donation was awarded to the town of
Gilgandra (over other towns in the British
dominions) due to the town's remarkable war
service record, which included the 1915 Coo-ee
march.
The substantial peace and
thanks-giving donation given to Gilgandra for the
construction of St. Ambrose Church, appears to be
unique within NSW and Australia.
St. Ambrose Church was designed by prominent
Melbourne Architect Louis Regional Williams.
Williams is considered to be one of Australia's
foremost ecclesiastical architects. St. Ambrose
Church is a fine example of a relatively early
Louis Williams Church. The Church is also a good
representative example of the Inter-War Gothic
style of architecture (c.1915 - c.1940) of which
Williams was a key practitioner.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 11
February 2011
Newington Armament Depot
and Nature Reserve listed on State Register
Blast mounds and original
buildings
Submerged storage buildings 57 and
56
|
Newington Armament Depot and
Nature Reserve is a remarkable cultural and
natural landscape. The cultural landscape
demonstrates the historical and technical
development of systems and regulations of
explosives handling and storage for over a century
of Naval use.
From the 1890s the site was
important and during the Second World War it was
integral to the defence capabilities of the allied
forces.
It is highly illustrative of the
extent of involvement of the Royal Australian Navy
and US Navy in the Second World War and the
logistics provided by Australia to the Allies.
Blast containment structures and design
philosophies to accommodate changing international
explosives regulations make an interesting
landscape which is today an important recreational
area and historic site within Sydney Olympic Park.
The natural landscape is exceptional as an
intact and diverse estuarine wetland system that
contains significant areas of remnant saltmarsh
and mangroves in excellent condition that is
inside the original area of the Armament
Depot.
The Nature Reserve supports three
endangered ecological communities Coastal
Saltmarsh; Swamp Oak Ironbark Forest and Sydney
Turpentine Ironbark Forest. Species listed as
vulnerable and/ or endangered can also be found on
site including the White-fronted Chat, Green and
Golden bell frog, White striped Freetail Bat and
the plant Wilsonia backhousei.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 11
February 2011
Conservatorium of Music
listed on State Register
Conservatorium of Music |
The Conservatorium of
Music is of State Heritage Significance
because the former Government House Stables is a
notable example of Old Colonial Gothick
architecture. It is a rare surviving example of
the work of noted ex-convict architect Francis
Greenway in the Old Colonial Gothick
style.
Greenway was instrumental in
Macquarie accomplishing Macquarie's aim to
transforming the fledgling colony into an orderly,
well mannered society and environment.
It
is the only example of a gothic building designed
by Greenway still standing.
The cost and
apparent extravagance was one of the reasons
Macquarie was recalled to Britain. The
Conservatorium building also has strong
associations with Macquarie's wife, Elizabeth, an
influential figure in moulding the colony into a
more ordered and stylish place under her husband
and with the assistance of Greenway. Since the
building was converted for use as a Conservatorium
in 1916, it has been the core music education
institution in NSW and has strong associations
with numerous important musicians.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 28 January
2011
Berrima
Internment Group listed on State Register
Steps leading to porch area and
foundation platform of Alsterberg Hut - Berrima
Internment Group |
The Berrima Internment
Group has been added to the State
Heritage Register for its unique historical values
as a place where German mariners were interned
during the Great War (from 1915-1919). The
precinct contains the archaeological remains of
huts, recreation facilities, submerged watercraft
and moveable heritage built and used by the
internees during their captivity.
The
remains tell the story of the lives of those
internees and their efforts to retain a cultural
identity during confinement.
While they
were required to be locked up at night at the
adjacent Berrima Goal (already listed on the State
Heritage Register), during the day the internees
were allowed to roam within two miles of it.
Much of their time was spent building
small pleasure huts along the river, building hand
made canoes transformed into fanciful watercraft,
and conducting regattas. The local Berrima
population mixed with their intriguing German
neighbours, establishing a unique community.
The heritage precinct provides a tangible link
to how Australian authorities regarded and dealt
with ‘enemies’ of the British Commonwealth at that
time. The site had a unique flavour as it included
both German merchant seamen interned from their
ships in Australian ports at the commencement of
the war, together with serving German naval
personnel from the light cruiser SMS Emden,
destroyed by HMAS Sydney in 1914.
The
internee’s life at the Gaol and along the banks of
the Wingecarribee River, is vividly portrayed
through an ongoing exhibition, Prisoners of
Arcady’ at the nearby Berrima Historical Society
Museum, Berrima. Several artefacts within the
collection, including one of the canoes, have been
included in the heritage listing. |
Steps to a hut located on the
southern side of the Wingecarribee River - Berrima
Internment Groupp |
Click
here for more information in the online
database. | 28 January
2011
Cumberland Street
Archaeological Site listed on State Register
New youth hostel development
containing the Cumberland Street archaeological
site |
Minister for Heritage, Tony
Kelly, has announced the listing of the
Cumberland Street Archaeological
Site on the State Heritage Register.
Dating from 1795, this archaeological site is rare
surviving evidence of the mostly convict and
ex-convict community established in the Rocks from
the time of Australia's first European
settlement.
Relics from 46 historic houses, two lanes, and
other early features remain on the site. It is one
of few surviving Rocks places where a substantial
physical connection exists to the time of first
settlement, including the huts and scattered
houses built on and carved into the sandstone
outcrops that gave The Rocks its name.
This listing recognises and
celebrates the outstanding heritage significance
of the archaeological layer in its own right. The
relics have been conserved and interpreted through
a careful process of archaeological investigation
and adaptive re-use of the site as a youth
hostel.
Once the excavated site of a major
archaeological dig attended by thousands of
visitors and volunteers in 1994, a youth hostel is
now raised above the in situ relics. This
award-winning development completed in 2009
preserves, interprets and displays the in situ
relics in many innovative ways, including the
building of the Big Dig Education Centre,
reconstructed laneways and relics displays to name
only a few. The site as a whole represents an
outstanding example of best practice relics
conservation and interpretation for Australia.
Winning the state's highest heritage honour for
this site is a measure of the successful
collaboration of the Heritage Council, Heritage
Branch, Office of Environment and Heritage and Sydney Harbour
Foreshore Authority in partnership with Youth
Hostels Australia to preserve the site for the
education and enjoyment of current and future
generations. |
In situ relics preserved and
displayed by elevated construction of new
buildings |
Click
here for more information in the online
database. | 27 January
2011
St
Patrick's Estate, Manly, receives state blessing
Minister Tony Kelly announces the
State Heritage Register listing of St Patrick’s
Estate, Manly, together with (from left) Tim
Smith, Acting Director of the Heritage Branch, and
Monsignor John Usher, Chancellor of the Catholic
Archdiocese of Sydney |
Minister for Heritage, Minister
Tony Kelly, has announced the listing of
Australia's first national Catholic seminary,
St Patrick's Estate at Manly, on
the State Heritage Register.
To celebrate
this award of New South Wales' highest heritage
honour to St Patrick's, Monsignor John Usher,
Chancellor of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney,
joined the Minister and Heritage Branch Acting
Director, Tim Smith, at the site on 20 January
2011.
This listing is the successful culmination of
the Heritage Council of NSW and Catholic Church
working together on the nomination to protect St
Patrick's outstanding heritage significance to the
people of NSW and Australia.
Dating from the 1800s, this
estate represents the largest Catholic seminary in
the southern hemisphere established to train
Australia’s Catholic priests and one of
Australia’s oldest and largest ecclesiastical
estates for its time.
It was also
Australia’s first national official residence for
the Archbishop for over a century, with its grand
Victorian residence known as the Cardinal’s
Palace. Unrivalled for its completeness, grandeur
and extraordinary siting as a collegiate ensemble,
St Patrick's stands as an icon of Victorian Gothic
architecture, natural splendour and Australian
Catholicism. |
St Patrick's Seminary building
today, dating from c.1888 |
Click
here for more information in the online
database. | 24 January
2011
El
Alamein Fountain listed on State Register
El Alamein Fountain |
The El Alamein Memorial
Fountain is a spectacular fountain and
outstanding work of modernist design in water
which has been copied all over the world.
Throughout the decades of the 1960s and
1970s it was an icon of Sydney, rivalling the
Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House
for the frequency with which it was represented in
tourism imagery.
It is rare in NSW as a
local adaptation of the organic school of
Scandinavian architectural design and as an
example of the application of modernist design
technology to fountain design.
The Fountain commemorates Australian soldiers
of the 9th Division who fought near the Egyptian
town of El Alamein in two battles which helped
turn the course of World War II towards victory
for the Allies.
It was designed by Bob
Woodward, a World War II veteran who rose to
national and international prominence as a
fountain designer largely because of El Alamein's
popularity and critical success.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 21 January
2011
Minister
announces listing of Holy Trinity Church Group at Kelso
Holy Trinity Anglican Church at
Kelso |
Constructed in 1835, Holy
Trinity Anglican Church at Kelso is the
first church built west of the Great Dividing
Range. Located in the Bathurst district near
Sydney, it has historical associations with the
opening up of inland Australia for European
occupation by convict labour, in particular, the
crossing of the Blue Mountains and the
establishment of a Christian settlement in
Bathurst in the early 1800s.
Holy Trinity
has been in continuous use as a place of worship
and burial from 1826 until the present day. Its
pioneer graveyard is the earliest European
cemetery west of the mountains. Its rectory is
designed by renowned ecclesiastic architect Edmund
Blacket.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 21 January
2011
Minister
announces listing of McQuade Park
McQuade Park |
McQuade Park is
an outstanding and rare feature of Governor
Macquarie's concept of a planned country town in
1810.
A central square played a pivotal
role in his towns and McQuade Park retains this
role in relation to public activities and open
space, as well as its relationship to St Matthews
church and cemetery.
The later extensions
of functions within the park, including sporting,
recreational and commemorative, have not obscured
the original purpose of Macquarie's Great Square.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 21 January
2011
Member
for Balmain joined by Minister in announcing listing of
Mort’s Dock on State Heritage Register
Mort's Dock |
Mort's Dock was
the largest shipyard and engineering workshop in
the colony in the latter half of the 19th century
and the birthplace of modern industry in
Australia.
Mort’s Dock became the colony's
largest private enterprise, and was significant in
both the development of the trade union movement
and the creation of Australian Labor Party.
The archaeological remains are possibly
the only remains of a dry dock of this size in the
southern hemisphere preserved in situ.
Click
here for more information in the online
database.
| 19 January
2011
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