I have lived and worked in Sydney and Summer Hill for many years and visited the ‘River City’ on my days off.
More and more we live in confined concrete jungles. Historical and green spaces become a quiet Oasis for the mind, the eyes and create a sense of belonging. Willow Grove: an established green Oasis - supplying oxygen to polluted city air and a much needed refuge for birds.

Heritage and history is and always will be important. It is not enough to put sentences of respect for the land on a bras tag of a new building or create new playgrounds.

Is it not important for State Heritage and for future generations to preserve and honour historical buildings and parks like Willow Grove, St George’s Terrace, the ‘old Parramatta’?

We have responsibilities in life and they are not just about making money!

I urge you to re-consider this project, save the billions for the new Parramatta Powerhouse Museum construction as well as the move and use this money for preserving history and natural established parks. I also know for a fact that many people in the community think that way…

Sincerely,

Tanya Iseli

Ridiculous idea! Preserve Parramatta's Heritage and leave the Powerhouse Museum (with improvements) where it is and can be accessed readily by Australian and overseas visitors.

I object to the project on the basis of destruction of two valuable and irreplaceable heritage buildings. These building are of utmost significance to Parramatta and the nation as identified in the EIS documents. Short term Economic matters should not trump the heritage of our nation.
integration of the heritage buildings must be mandatory if the museum is to be placed on this site. I believe there are issues with the height of the building first level due to the flood zone and request investigation to include the heritage buildings within the larger structure foyer area. Much like Coops shot tower in Melbourne. These buildings do not need to be mutually exclusive.

Please see document attached

Subsequent to making my initial comment I have perused the Heritage report and was struck by the apparent narrowness of the consideration of alternatives to the destruction of Willow Grove and St Georges' Terrace, and the lack of any thought on how the presentation of Phillip St could be improved.
The loss of Willow Grove in particular hurts. Urban Parramatta is pretty ugly, Willow Grove is one of the nicest parts. It’s in a big green garden, well set back, and lovely to look at. If space is needed for the new museum/function centre boxes, Infrastructure NSW should buy and demolish the Park Royal Hotel and the 70’s ugliness of the GE building adjacent to Willow Grove.
Demolishing the Park Royal and GE and saving Willow Grove and St Georges' Terrace would create space for the new building and improve Phillip St.
Why do the documents not price and discuss this obvious option??

I object to the Powerhouse Parramatta project as we are not getting the same size museum as the one in Ultimo. Where are all the large objects like Locomotive No.1 and other exhibits going to go? The site is next to the Parramatta river which has a history of flooding.
I also object to the demolition of Willow Grove and The George Street Terraces. Here in Australia we have so little of our history left standing. Why would you demolish our history? When you go to Europe they take pride in their heritage buildings and are protected. Look at it this way, when they discovered the Rome Colosseum, what if someone decided to demolish it because they where old and wanted to build brand spanking new, what a tragedy that would have been. I would like my grand children to see and touch Australian history. PLEASE DO NOT DESTROY THESE LOVELY HISTORIC BUILDINGS.

The proposal on exhibition should not proceed.

It appears to be a shiny bauble, capable of housing a few aspects of the current institution, which will be sufficient to satisfy a strolling gawper or to act as a backdrop to a corporate function.

It will be remembered not for what it does but for the heritage that was trashed to create it:

- Willow Grove
- St George's Terraces
- the Ultimo Powerhouse building
- the Powerhouse’s ability to not just exhibit steam era artefacts but to exhibit them working under steam power.

The creation of a new bauble can not justify so much destruction.

The museum that Parramatta deserves is one that displays and celebrates its own history and extant heritage - like the Grove and the Terraces and the Female Factory and precinct.

The colossal expenditure on destruction makes no sense, and the material on exhibition makes no case for it. Particularly when the same or a lot less could do something wonderful with Parramatta’s own heritage and allow expansion and opening up of the MAAS annex at Castle Hill.

Given all of that, the only reasons for proceeding with the proposal on exhibition must be some combination of pig headedness, incompetence, or undisclosed promises to undisclosed interests.