Over the past two
decades it has developed a reputation for crime and decay.
Many houses have been
demolished to make way for promised improvements to the area, which is home to
the highest density of Indigenous communities in Australia.
Now it appears
redevelopment is closer than ever, with two separate formal plans for the
Block.
One plan – the Built
Environment Plan – has been developed by the Redfern-Waterloo Authority.
It proposes to spend
$32 million on, among other things, a community health centre, pedestrian
bridge, a new town centre and upgrades to Redfern railway station.
Sixteen million of
the $32 million will be spent over 10 years to provide affordable housing for
Aboriginal residents.
The Authority could
not confirm how many houses the project includes, or whether it will offer home
ownership or tenancy.
The other vision for
the Block is the ‘Pemulwuy Project’.
It has been created
by the independent Aboriginal Housing Company, led by Mick Mundine.
The Pemulwuy project
includes a business college, spiritual centre, art gallery, and a gymnasium.
Peter Vallilis is the
project manager for the Aboriginal Housing Company.
He says most of the
houses on the Block are infected with mildew and infested with vermin, because
of cracked flooring and ceilings, and inadequate sunlight.
Mr Vallilis says the
only option is to tear down the houses and start from scratch.
“The simple
fact is, these places are over 100-years-old and they’re well past their use-by
date. And the mildew is because sunlight doesn’t get in to them,” he said.
“The new design
will have three sides light, cross ventilation. Just the basic design will be
incredibly healthy in comparison to this. It will be 1,000 per cent
better.”
“Everything is
shocking in these places. People shouldn’t be living in these places, it’s as
simple as that.”
Part of the Pemulwuy
Project is called the ‘Home Clinic’.
It has been designed
specifically for Aboriginal residents of the Block, by Col
James, who is the Director of the IB Fell Housing Research
Centre at the University
of Sydney.
Mr James says he has
spent seven years visiting almost 5,000 Indigenous communities across urban and
regional Australia,
to find ways to improve their living conditions.
“The origins of
the home clinic and wash room really came out of workshops that were conducted
by the Aboriginal Housing Company, where we had a lot of health
professionals,” he said.
“And we were
probing the idea of what is special about what is needed on the Block to
maintain health as a priority, and also to relate to the lifestyle that
Aboriginal people talk about.”
Mr James says when
it comes to housing, there is a common misconception about Indigenous people.
“The common
complaint is that Aboriginal people don’t know how to live, they don’t know how
to look after that,” he said.
“That’s
crap.”
“It’s the
designs and the fittings. If you’ve got eight kids and you’re washing to make
sure they don’t get cross-infection, the machine won’t handle it. There has to
be better commercial quality washing machines.”
Mr James says he and
his team of researchers were instructed to build a facility that would cater
for elderly and disabled residents, and was separate from the main living
areas.
“Elders are a
very fundamental part of the family. We want to house the whole family, we
don’t want the elderly to go off to nursing homes because they are the people
who look after the kids.”
The cleaning room
includes special flooring, a toilet and shower in an adjoining space, secure
medicine cabinets, large basins for washing children, a combined washer-dryer
machine, and doors and windows that open to outside areas.
The design is
incorporated into the 62 proposed new homes in the Pemulwuy Project.
The Chief Executive
Officer of the Aboriginal Housing Company, Mick Mundine, says the cleaning room
also has the potential to reduce the rate of child sexual abuse.
He says the majority
of the troublemakers at the Block are visitors.
“At a lot of
parties, the toilets are inside. Men then go inside in to the toilet, and
that’s where you get a lot of interfering with young children,” he said.
“So with the
home clinic outside, when they have parties there is no reason for any of the
adults to go in to the house, where the bedroom is.”
The Planning
Minister Frank Sartor will have the
final say on which project, or if a combination of the projects, goes ahead.
The Pemulwuy project
is expected to be submitted by the end of May.
Legislation requires
the Department of Planning to make a decision within 40 days of a submission.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1914261.htm
ABC Related Video
Take a tour of the Block and get a closer look at the Pemulwuy
project.
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Col James talks
about his creation, the cleaning room, designed for Aboriginal residents living
on the Block.