New threat to Aboriginal Day of Mourning site
By Chris Martin
SYDNEY — Aboriginal activists campaigning to save the historic Day of Mourning conference site in Elizabeth Street are stepping up their campaign following the lodging of a development application that seeks to demolish the building and erect a 35-storey tower block.
Activists are flooding the Sydney City Council and the Heritage Council with objections to the application and planning a series of protests at the site, including an overnight film festival and a march on the Heritage Council.
The site has been the centre of a long and bitter dispute between Aborigines and the NSW government, which has so far ignored widespread support for preservation of the building.
The site was the scene of a momentous action by Aboriginal leaders from around Australia who gathered there in 1938. The Day of Mourning protesters gathered to demand civil and human rights in what became the first national conference of Aborigines.
Led by the National Aboriginal History and Heritage Council (NAHHC), activists have campaigned for years to force the government to use heritage legislation to preserve the site as an Aboriginal heritage centre. This seemed assured in 1995, when the government's own commission of inquiry into the site's heritage value recommended a permanent conservation order.
However, the government ruled against preservation of anything except the facade, which the NAHHC has branded an insult and an act of cultural vandalism. It points out that the facade was already to be preserved because of its architectural significance for white Australians.
The government also recommended that the conference site, which forms part of the building's lower floors, be "reconstructed" in any redevelopment. This "reconstruction" is to be made in a fraction of the original area and will destroy the site's heritage value.
The NAHHC is urging all concerned individuals and organisations to send letters rejecting the development application and demanding the complete preservation of the site to the Sydney City Council and the Heritage Council as soon as possible.
Submissions should be headed "Objection to development of Cyprus Hellene Club: 150-152 Elizabeth Street, Sydney"; include the sender's name, address and contact details; and be directed to Gail Connolly, Sydney City Council, File No. Z97-00296, GPO Box 1591, Sydney 2001 and Rajiv Maiti, Heritage Council of NSW, File No. 91/02004/4, Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney 2000.
For further information telephone the NAHHC on (02) 9212 5275.