The first obstacle is the sheer volume of material. Five
heritage documents to analyse plus a truckload of other documents to
respond to in the space of 4 weeks is obviously far too short a time
period. The consultation period should be extended by a month. .
The second standout general comment is the lack of
consultation of any description with parties interested in moveable heritage
collections and non-aboriginal intangible cultural heritage(living
culture/workers stories.) Consultation has a number of aspects including the
parties to be consulted( the who, when where and what) and the
participation on governing structures by community and non-government
organisations. The Government has yet to adopt a position concerning governance
structures even though being prodded for over 15 months. For
example, the ATP Conservation Management Plan included full community
participation from beginning to end. The Overarching Conservation Management
Plan for the entire Eveleigh Railway Workshop Precinct has no community input. It was based on a 2017
document which has been the subject of a quick and dirty update with a slim
appendix.
The community is rightfully cynical about consultation, many
regarding it as a tick a and flick exercise. The document Study Requirements
for the Paint Shop precinct has a Section 15- Consultation. It refers to
“” undertake an appropriate and justified level of consultation.” What
does this mean . It must be fleshed out in detail. The Considerations section
of the Consultation document refers to what consultation considerations should
be included: it does not include heritage interpretation and does not include a
provision for on ongoing consultation for the non-aboriginal community.
Both of these serious shortcomings must be remedied.
The Study Requirements document has a section 5 -Heritage.
It is divided into two sections an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Study which is
grounded in extensive consultation and is a well-researched and comprehensive
document. This is not the case with the Non Aboriginal Heritage Study for the
Paint Shop Precint. No consultation has taken place. The Study Requirements
limit this area of heritage to existing research and reports.
For heritage interpretation the Paint Shop sub precinct
presents a number of challenges.
Firstly, the precinct has a number of discrete functional
areas, a number of which are not functionally related to Carriageworks e.g
Scientific Services Laboratory and Telecommunications Workshops. Obviously the
paint shop was functionally dependent on the Carriageworks and was connected in
a number of ways e.g paint shop annex for lifting carriages, the traverser for
moving carriages between the workshops, the fan of rail tracks etc. The
overwhelming heritage interpretation in the past has concentrated on the
Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops and Eveleigh Carriage Works. The Paint shop sub
precinct because of the functional differences for a number of its components
has received very little attention. The Study Requirements should be amended to
allow research to be undertaken in the areas referred to. Greater emphasis
needs to be given to the relationship between the Paint shop and Carriageworks.
The State wide responsibilities of the CMEs Office in
coordinating all mechanical branch functions of the NSW rail system needs to be
a topic for heritage interpretation. ‘The Study Requirements for non-aboriginal
heritage are both contradictory and lacking in detail. On the one hand the
study is directed at the Paint Shop Precinct and then in another paragraph it
refers to a heritage assessment of the features surrounding the study area without
giving any examples.
The Study Requirements for the Heritage Interpretation
Strategy(HIS) includes precinct based key themes, social values ,
interpretative measures and locations as part of the broader State Heritage
Eveleigh Railway Workshops site. As no stakeholder consultation has occurred
the HIS should not proceed until it has taken place. A workshop of
heritage stakeholders was held as part of the Heritage Interpretation Strategy
for the redevelopment of the Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops. It produced a list
of 30 topics for consideration . This should be a starting point for the
non-aboriginal heritage study for the Paint Shop precinct.
The HIS has a renewal vision which indicates the “
Renewal will draw on the past by adaptively reusing heritage buildings .. the
sub precinct will evolve as a local place contributing to a global context.”
No mention is made of the industrial heritage. It mirrors the Redfern
North Eveleigh Strategic Vison document of Feb 2022
which had 23 references to adaptively reusing heritage listed buildings( noting
they attract a price premium) and one fleeting reference to industrial heritage
interpretation.
We need to remind ourselves that we already have a globally
recognised Eveleigh Railway Precinct what contains the best example of 19th
century Victorian railway heritage buildings in the world. Government neglect
over decades has placed this in peril as commercial and retail considerations
become preeminent. Having innovation and technology sector become a key
ingredient in the precinct shouldn’t be seen as creating a binary equation of
Tech Central versus a globally recognised heritage precint. They can with
vision ,planning and community involvement coexist and prosper together.
Unfortunately the implications of the NSW Governments vision for the precinct
will sound the death knell for the ERW precinct as it haemorrhages due to death
of by a thousand cuts. The Overarching CMP update and appendix does
little to triage yet alone revitalise the potential of the ERW precinct. These
documents must be revised based on community consultation.
The HIS in addressing key themes loosely uses a list of
state historical themes which are then reinterpreted by the consultant. The key
themes, interpretative measures and locations suggested need to be put on hold
until thorough consultation has occurred. For example, the strategy notes “the
Paint Shop precinct holds social significance to railway employees, past and
present , as the home of training for apprentices ,tradesmen and engineers in
the with the latest technology… many social activities were organised by the
Eveleigh Workers for themselves and others outside the workshops. Numerous
union activities and major industrial strikes occurred at the workshops and
played a role in various labour movements, the repercussions of which had a
major influence on blue collar workers across. Australia….. there is
significant research potential.” This observation begins to address the
role of unions but many other issues need to be considered including: the role
of migrant workers, women workers who had a section of the Paint Shop to
undertake upholstering of carriages, the role of unions in establishing English
classes for migrant workers on the job, the OHS hazards faced by workers in the
paint shop, significant union figures, the role of shop committees which
created an Australia wide first when established at Eveleigh in 1926 and
continued to exercise considerable power for many decades.
A key component of heritage interpretation concerns movable
heritage. The valuable collection contained in the Paint Shop sub precinct is
in the words of various reports“ has a rare collection of heavy machinery.”
The term machinery and equipment covers a wide range of items ,each specific to
performing a tasks or a range of tasks needed to keep the railway system in
operation.
As part of its statutory obligations the rail owner TAHE,
under S170 of the Heritage Act has a Heritage and Conservation Register Survey
which provides an assessment of the machinery collection in the paint
Shop precinct. A condition of sale should be a requirement that any new owner
to be covered by the S170 requirement. This was part of the covenant covering
the sale of the ATP /ELW to Mirvac in 2016.
As a minimum there needs to be an inventory created and
assessment of all moveable heritage items within the precint if this has not
been already done. The current condition of the collection should be assessed
and where necessary repairs and remediation take place. When interpretation
occurs, the role of the machines and equipment in the production process needs
to be explained; the skills needed by workers to operate them etc.
Wherever possible complete assemblages of items should be
considered. Many questions remain to be asked. E.g what will happen to the
Traverser and where will it be located? Great attention is given to the Fan of
Rail Tracks outside the paint shop. The Association argues that there should be
an operational rail track connected to the main line to allow steam locomotives
and special carriages e.g the Royal and Governor Generals Carriage to be
exhibited in the reused paint shop during heritage week etc.
The HIS by way of example refers to an item of tram
rolling stock which is the only interpretative item at the Tramshed retail
complex in Glebe. There is no context given for the item, where it fitted in
Sydney’s then tram system, the workers who operated and maintained it etc. It
stands out like the proverbial shag on a rock. This style of heritage interpretation
must be avoided at all costs.
The HIS makes a number of general broad brush
suggestions about heritage interpretation. For example, a one line suggestion
is that a museum be located in the CMEs building. Given the importance of the
mechanical branch in the NSW rail system and in the development of railways in
NSW this is at first glance a positive suggestion. Whether it should be in the
CMEs building or in the Paint Shop is a debate for another day. However the
reuse of the CMEs building , one of Sydney’s finest examples of Victorian
architecture has been hived off from the redevelopment of the Paint Sub precint
and is currently the subject of tendering for commercial use. This raises a
multitude of questions about the attitudes of incoming commercial enterprises
to the development of a museum, how will it be operated , will it be part of
Sydney’s Living Museums complex etc.
Roger Jowett, RTBU Retired Members Association.