Dear Member
of Parliament,
Reconciliation Bridge Walk and Candle Light Vigil in
Support of Aboriginal Housing on the Block June 9th
You may
recall REDWatch recently invited you on a bus tour to “See Redfern before Frank
Sells it”. The sale we referred to has come one step closer with the gazettal
of the initial RWA areas of state significance.
We are now
writing to invite you to another event which we are supporting. This event is a
Reconciliation Bridge Walk and Candle Light Vigil in Support of Aboriginal
Housing on The Block. This event is being organised by Redfern Residents for
Reconciliation with the support of local churches, ALP branches and REDWatch.
Marshals will be provided by the CFMEU.
The Bridge
walk will gather in front of the RWA Office at the old TNT building at 6.30 pm
on Thursday 9th June 2005 before moving off at 7pm over the Redfern Railway Bridge
for a candle light vigil on the Block. The event should take an hour.
This event
takes on special significance with the decision last week to include the
Aboriginal Housing Company (AHC) owned Block under the planning control of the
Minister for Redfern Waterloo. Minister Sartor has made it clear that he does
not want the AHC Pemulwuy project built on the Block.
Attached to
this email we have included a copy of the map of the area gazetted as State
Significant under the RWA for your easy reference.
As you will
see the sites covered in the earlier REDWatch tour are all now declared as
State Significant even though they adjoin no other designated State Significant
area. These areas are the old Redfern Public School, old Rachael Foster
Hospital, the old Redfern
Police station and the recently closed Redfern Court House.
In addition
to these sites and the expected Railway Corridor, ATP and North
Eveleigh the RWA gazetted area also includes two areas of private
land.
One area
starts at the old TNT towers and includes a couple of blocks south opposite the
expected Railway Station / City Centre development.
The real
surprise however was the inclusion of the Aboriginal Housing Company owned
Block and a large area of private property in that vicinity. This will make
Minister Sartor who opposes the Pemulwuy project the consent authority for any
building on the Block, a move that is creating uproar in the community.
More
information on the AHC proposals for the block can be found on their website www.ahc.org.au
as well as in the May / June edition of the Architecture Bulletin.
Finally you
may also be interested to know that the RWA state significant boundary cuts
through the northern side of Lawson
Street, which is reputed to be the longest row of
identical terraces in Sydney.
Lawson Street
is also where the Health Department’s controversial Health Centre has been
proposed and the State significant boundary goes along Lawson Street just
far enough to ensure the centre can be within the RWA’s
planning control.
The Health
Department has asked City of Sydney
to defer decisions on their DA following uproar over the development and the
failure of the Government to carry out the community consultation promised to
the NSW upper house.
We hope
that you will consider coming out to Redfern during the evening recess on June
9th and joining with the community in this important Reconciliation
event.
Attached we
have also included a poster to advertise the event and would appreciate any
publicity you can give this event through your networks.
Regards,
Geoff
Geoffrey
Turnbull
For
REDWatch
C/- PO Box 1567,
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
Ph
Wk: (02) 9318 0824 Fax: (02) 9310 2746
email: turnbullfamily@stassen.com.au
web: www.redwatch.org.au
REDWatch
is a residents and friends group covering Redfern Eveleigh Darlington and Waterloo (the same area
covered by the Redfern Waterloo Authority). REDWatch monitors the activities of
government activities such as the RWA and RWPP and seek to ensure community
involvement in all decisions made about the area.
REDWatch
meets on the 4th Sunday of the Month at 2pm at the Redfern Community Centre.
A free
email update service on Redfern Waterloo issues is also available from turnbullfamily@stassen.com.au