"The National Trust has read the Redfern Waterloo Authority's recently released Draft Built Environment Plan. Although the Plan will need careful examination there are a number of concerns," said Trust Executive Director Tina Jackson today. 

The Plan indicates that a large part of Sydney's vital railway heritage may be lost and historic areas of Redfern may be destroyed and the suburb's unique character damaged. 

Historic Redfern Station will be redeveloped to the point of being unrecognisable with residential, cultural and commercial development concentrated on these railway lands.  

"As highlighted previously by the Trust, the Redfern Waterloo Authority has powers to override the Heritage Act," said Mrs Jackson. 

"The Trust is particularly concerned about the fate of the railway yards, tracks and warehouses in North Eveleigh most of which date from 1887 and has been lobbying for many years to retain the Railway Heritage Group's storage and workshop facilities. This Plan wipes them out completely including the fan of tracks that comes into the workshops area without ever even mentioning them in the proposals." 

The Trust believes that any development should not only contain reminders of the site's past but also encompass elements of it in a meaningful way. Incorporating elements of railway use and heritage is a basic. The residential areas adjacent were built to house the workers at Eveleigh and the association between the housing and any development is critical. 

Redfern Station dates from the 1870s and was the site of the first double-decker tram trip in 1879. The plan's concept drawings have missed that basic sense of place which is so important for everybody, particularly the Aboriginal community who have a very strong sense of attachment to the place. 

In the Redfern-Waterloo area there are four National Trust conservation areas, 43% of the total area is classified by the Trust and 205 buildings and parks are entered on the Trust’s Register. 

These buildings and places tell the history of the people who lived and worked in the area and many of their descendants still live in Redfern-Waterloo. And of course Redfern is culturally vital for the aboriginal community and the various nationalities that live within it. 

The revitalisation of older inner city suburbs such as The Rocks, Woolloomooloo, Paddington and Glebe was achieved through the hard work of active resident groups, the government and those bodies seeking to conserve our historic built heritage.  

The Trust was hopeful that these earlier successful models would have been taken into account in formulating the Authority’s draft Built Environment Plan, and that respect for the historic Eveleigh Railway Workshops, Redfern Station and National Estate Listed aboriginal housing area would have guided the Plan.  

Unfortunately, although respect for the past and the present is discussed in the report, there is little evidence of it in the proposals. The Trust urges the State Government to think deeply on this issue.

Click here to view Trust earlier media release on the Redfern Waterloo Bill