The phantom road haunting Tamarama Park

When Waverley’s first Mayor, David Fletcher, chose to build on land near the top of a steep escarpment overlooking the beautiful Tamarama valley, he could never have imagined the chaos he would bring upon his beloved council generations later.

At least one rally has been held, calling for the properties to be brought back into public hands so they can become part of the surrounding park.

Surviving photographs show David Fletcher as a fit looking man, and his family may have seen no problem in riding their horses down a zigzag path to their door.

But in our motorised age, the prospect of a roadway down the 50º slope, or special driveways to meet the terms of an application now before the Land and Environment Court (LEC), have local users of the park aghast.

The upper reaches of Tamarama Park are denoted as a park on one current street directory, indicating decades of traditional use. A rival publication does not colour it as a park – its status there remains undefined.

A clue to this land’s legal status may lie in Waverley Historical Society’s treasured copy of Gregory’s 1934 Street Directory, which plainly shows Birrell Street as going two “blocks” further past the section of the road at the corner of Cross Street.

At first glance, it would seem insane to leave the status of the “street” literally “in the air”. Perhaps, the council feared this mess was likely to cost ratepayers a lot to unravel, especially in legal fees, and it was wiser to leave the matter alone.

But given the circumstances, the geography of this area and the history of its use – let alone the forces of gravity – does the LEC have the power to consolidate the old road gazettal into a real road? One legal source told the Bondi View he believes it does not.

The care taken by council officers to conserve ratepayers’ funds is laudable but the cost of the huge engineering works on the steep escarpment would probably cost even more than a Supreme Court hearing, probably the only legal forum qualified to rule on the matter.

The cheapest way out of this mess would be to simply buy the two decaying houses that are now a relic of the horse and buggy era.

This idea, put forward by the local Greens, Jack Mundey and a growing contingent of locals may be the only realistic option. Mayor Sally Betts, in the last issue of the Bondi View, applauded the Greens’ initiative but quite rightly worried about the cost.

If the purchase of these decaying properties does prove to be the cheapest option, at least the community will have kept intact a park that hopefully, with the help of interested groups like Bushcare, can gradually tidy up and beautify this stunning piece of our heritage.

– BY PETER McCALLUM