The National Trust of Australia (NSW) Parramatta Regional Branch OBJECT to the Parramatta Powerhouse EIS

I OBJECT to the Powerhouse Parramatta Project

My OBJECTIONS to the Powerhouse Parramatta are:

1. I OBJECT to the Parramatta Powerhouse because of the demolition of two heritage listed properties, Willow Grove and St George’s Terrace stated in the EIS to be “highly significant” but no adaptive re-use considered.
The Statement of Heritage Impact (SOHI) stated that:

• The demolition of the heritage items “Willow Grove (and potential archaeological site)” and the “St George’s Terrace (and potential archaeological site)” located at the site would have a major physical and visual impact on heritage significance of those items. The demolition would result in the total irreversible loss of the conservation values that constitute heritage significance, including significant fabric and the visual setting. (SOHI, p9)

• It is considered that some of the existing trees at the “Willow Grove (and potential archaeological site)” contribute to heritage significance. No mature trees within the established landscape of the heritage item would be retained. (SOHI, p10)

• Comparative analysis concluded that the “Willow Grove (and potential archaeological site)” and the “St George’s Terrace (and potential archaeological site)” are the only examples of their type located in the core of the Parramatta CBD. The demolition of these heritage items would have a major impact on the representation of these respective architectural styles in the Phillip Street streetscape and Parramatta CBD townscape. (SOHI, p10)

In relation to adaptive reuse, the SOHI states;

• It is considered that no alternatives schemes were considered during the design process which could have retained the “Willow Grove (and potential archaeological site)” and the “St George’s Terrace (and potential archaeological site)”.

Even though both Willow Grove and St George’s Terrace have clearly identified heritage qualities, the SOHI simply rejects these qualities and confirms the demolition of them.

2. I OBJECT to the Parramatta Powerhouse in its current form because it did not consider alternate sites for the development:

The EIS (page 18) stated in its social impact assessment, that it should consider all remaining feasible alternative sites and compare their respective social impacts and benefits. The EIS responds to this statement by providing three options: - Option 1: The ‘do nothing’ scenario (page 13); Option 2: Alternative location (page 14); and Option 3: The Powerhouse Parramatta (the project) (page 14).
Despite being identified as an option, the heading Option 2: Alternative location the EIS does not discuss a single alternate site for the project. Nor does the EIS address the SEARS for the consideration of alternate sites for the project.

3. I OBJECT to the Parramatta Powerhouse as it is not a museum.

The EIS seeks approval for “the purposes of an information and education facility” (EIS, p7). The Dictionary to Parramatta Local Environmental Plan 2011 (the LEP) defines an “information and education facility” as:
information and education facility means a building or place used for providing information or education to visitors, and the exhibition or display of items, and includes an art gallery, museum, library, visitor information centre and the like.
A museum is not separately defined in the LEP but is included in the uses that would fall under the definition of an “information and education facility”, As a museum is not separately defined in the LEP, it would be given its ordinary meaning. For example, the Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a “museum” as:
Building used for storing and exhibition of objects illustrating antiquities, natural history, art, etc
A museum is different to those other uses included in the definition of an “information and education facility”.
Based on the EIS, and if approved, an “information and education facility” would allow a museum to be located on the site however there is no obligation to have a museum under the terms of the EIS.
The EIS fails to ensure the location of a museum on the site because:
• the construction details above do not mention the word “museum”,
• the plans indicate “display space” only which could easily relate to any other of the uses available under the definition of “information and education facility”,
• the definition of “information and education facility” also includes the words “and the like” which could include a range of other uses not identified in the definition,
• the absence of the word “museum” in the project description “Powerhouse Parramatta” compared to the existing “Powerhouse Museum” at Ultimo, and no part of the proposed building has a designated area for a “museum”.

4. I OBJECT to the Parramatta Powerhouse as it is adjacent to river that floods.

As recently as February 2020 the Parramatta River broke its banks and inundated the site of the proposed Parramatta Powerhouse. To place the chosen Moreau Kusunoki and Genton design on a site that is subject to flash flooding would put lives at risk. The Draft Updated Parramatta Floodplain Risk Management Plan (February 2016) states about flooding that “Parramatta CBD is typical of flash flood catchments . . . arrives quickly and without significant warning time” (page 24). Additionally, the Plan states that “the average flood rate rise is 1.6 metres/hour” (page 19).

To place Parramatta Powerhouse on this site would be a risk to those in the buildings should the river flood as egress from the site would be limited. Additionally, in times of substantial rain forecasts visits to the building would need to be cancelled.

5. I OBJECT to the Parramatta Powerhouse because of the lack of community consultation.

The Powerhouse Parramatta project originated during administration of the council and did not allow for community consultation and an elected voice. In 2018 the community expressed their opposition to the demolition of Willow Grove and St George’s Terrace as part of the project with over 13,000 people signing a petition to save both these buildings. In 2019, the Premier announced that the retention of both Willow Grove and St George’s Terrace would be part of the design brief and the buildings could be saved. Despite the Premier’s assurance and the community support for the heritage on site, the chosen design would result in the demolition of heritage on the site.
Further consultation only occurred after the chosen design was launched and community consultation occurred under the cover of COVID-19 restrictions therefore limiting respondent participation.

I, like many of the New South Wales community believe that Parramatta, the river city, is an ideal location for a world class museum. This decision, and its necessary funding has been discussed since 1899 and construction of a museum is long overdue.

Now is the time to construct a museum dedicated to first nations, convict, colonial and migrant history of New South Wales. Parramatta was a heart of early British settlement without which NSW would not have survived and was the centre of governance for the first 70 years of colonial settlement.

The Parramatta Powerhouse is not a museum! The Environmental Impact Statement identifies this development as a “information and education facility” and further weight was given to this conclusion when Powerhouse CEO, Lisa Havilah stated at a community webinar on 25 June, 2020 that “there will be no permanent exhibition at Parramatta”.

The Fleet Street (Female Factory) site in Parramatta is ideally situated and provides heritage buildings ready for adaptive reuse, a 30-hectare parkland setting, and a light rail link.

I support an alternate, the Museum of New South Wales located in a parkland setting in the Fleet Street Parramatta precinct where heritage buildings will be treasured and given new purpose to tell the story of NSW. The story of New South Wales (Australia) had its beginnings in Parramatta, and the Fleet Street (Female Factory) site would give an authenticity to a dedicated Museum of New South Wales.

I’m sending this email in response to your project concerning the Parramatta powerhouse and destruction of Australia’s heritage buildings.

I’d like to express that I’m highly disappointed that the New South Wales government is even considering demolishing some of these heritage buildings. Have we learnt nothing from our mistakes of the past. The house and terraces are a focal point in that area, reminding our children what we once were. Without these building, all we’ll have is pictures in books.

I agree with progress, but not with the sacrifice of our heritage. You only have to walk a short distance to see the public interest in heritage. The display of footings of a convict hut which was uncovered during construction and incorporated into the build was an excellent idea. We need more of this.

Please record my objection to this development. I will also show my objection at the next state election against the Liberal government for the first time. I will not support a government that shows disdain to its constituents.

Willowgrove and the terraces ! PLEASE SAVE THEM.
I am writing to you because the growing city of Parramatta needs reference in the physical environment as to how it was. The Government could offer to buy the DJ's building on the river and build their big building there for conventions, receptions and art gallery. The heritage built environment must be saved , North Sydney has an early cottage saved midst skyscrapers and Sydney has The Nurses Walk and The Rocks for reference. Please keep these old time buildings for the people , for the city's future, they are precious in a city growing so fast. Maybe a deal could be done with DJ's ?

Please do not let Willowgrove and the terrace houses be demolished.
As an educator and a parent, I am very concerned at the loss of physical history that the demolition would entail. Young people need to experience history in three dimensions and with all their senses. They need to feel the scale of building of the past and to imagine the living conditions. Have you ever taken children to Susannah Place in Sydney? Have you witnessed them understanding how different life was for people in the past? That understanding cannot truly come from a screen, not the feel, the smell, the small details, the cramped sense of space. It shows that there is an alternative to concrete towers and large glass windows, that there is a more human scale, different building materials and aesthetics. This enhances the learning involved with the historical technology in the Powerhouse Museum.
The new Powerhouse Museum needs the old historic buildings to bring context to its displays and a better learning environment for students.

Dear Sir,
I would like to add my voice to the thousands of others who wish to preserve St. George’s Terrace and Willowgrove; this small piece of a rapidly disappearing example of Australian history. All around the world countries have realised the value of preserving distinctive examples of their history. Australia’s short history is unlike any other. So much has already gone. Please help us keep what little is left. It seems lunacy to knock down genuine heritage to build a museum: an institution that cares for (conserves) a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, HISTORICAL, or scientific importance.

I object to the demolition or any damage to the heritage
buildings and grounds at Willow Grove Villa and St Georges Terraces to build the ‘Powerhouse Parramatta.

I have never made any reportable political donations and consider myself politically neutral.
Please withhold my name in any publication

Do not violate our past !
Do not be stubborn,give in and think out of the box with creativity !
We will admire rather than condemn you !

I am writing as a NSW resident to express my disgust that the Berejiklian government is continuing down a path of destruction & gross vandalism in Parramatta.
I fully support the locals in Parramatta & the CFMMEU in fighting to save the beautiful historical treasures of Willow Grove & St George's Terrace.

Yes, Parramatta deserves an excellent museum, but it must be built on more suitable ground, not subject to flooding & not at the expense of our historic sites.