Building blocks
Plans for new housing on the area known as “The Block” in Redfern are continuing, with a development application to be lodged by the Aboriginal Housing Company this year.
Mick Mundine, CEO of the Aboriginal Housing Company (AHC), said it was likely a project manager would be appointed soon and he hoped to lodge the DA while NSW Premier Kristina Keneally was still in power.
“When Kristina Keneally approved our concept DA master plan (in July 2009) we extended the concept DA for a period of five years,” said Mundine. “Within the five years we’ve got to build a new complex.”
Mundine said Keneally was instrumental in allowing the plans to get this far, and that before she became planning minister, the AHC had multiple run-ins with former planning minister Frank Sartor over how the land would be developed.
Mundine said he believes Sartor had plans for the land that didn’t involve the AHC.
“The State Government has a vision. There’s a corridor from Ryde right through to
Mascot Airport,” he said. “The city’s got to expand – it can’t go sideways; it can’t go backwards; it can only go one way now.
“Redfern is the second biggest station in the CBD. What land is right in front of their vision? Our land.”
The “Pemulwuy Project” will consist of 62 apartments in six buildings spaced out over the area bounded by Vine, Louis, Eveleigh and Caroline Streets; about 1000 square metres in total. There are also plans for commercial and retail space on adjoining land.
Shane Phillips, CEO of community group “Tribal Warrior”, said the significance of the project lies in the example it will set for children in the community.
“We have to have positive testimony of our people,” he said. “They want to put some working Aboriginal families into one small community with a combination of some business in and around it.
“With all the problems that we’ve had, anything that’s positive and constructive and teaches the kids how to help themselves is the answer, or is an answer.”
The redevelopment is tipped to cost over $60 million. Funding has not been secured but Mundine is not concerned: “We’ve got to make sure we get our priorities in place and get the DA through and get the plan and put it on the table. It’s no good looking for money if we haven’t got everything in place.”
– By Aaron Cook
Opinion
On a wall in the Aboriginal Housing Company reception there is a document certifying “The Block” as a registered trademark owned by the AHC. There’s a mixture of pride and amusement in Mick Mundine’s demeanour as he points it out.
As we head out to take a photo of the “The Block”, it strikes me that appropriating this nickname, with all its historic connotations, is symbolic of the optimism and determination I’ve noted among those with a stake in the future of this patch of land.
Mundine says he has faith the AHC will find the money to develop, and I believe him because in addition to the determination I’ve witnessed, the AHC is sitting on prime real estate in the heart of Sydney.
Once a DA is approved, investors will realise that a massive opportunity exists for whoever can work with the AHC to develop this gently sloping piece of land with largely uninterrupted view of the Sydney skyline that sits on the doorstep of Redfern Railway Station.
The Pemulwuy Project will be built, and “The Block” will put its past behind, with benefits for both the community and investors.
– By Aaron Cook
