Kellys Bush Park

At the time of European contact the Kelly's bush area was inhabited by the Wallumettagal Clan who spoke the Guringai language. They lived primarily on fish and shellfish, supplementing their diet when necessary with vegetables, marsupials, birds and grubs. They were also frequently observed firing the scrub both to facilitate access to the foreshore and to flush out game. Very little is known of their social structure and religious beliefs.[1][2]

Captain John Hunter (1737–1821) of the Sirius, charted Sydney Harbour in 1788. On 28 January 1788 he wrote in his journal: "A few days after my arrival with the transports in Port Jackson, I set off with a six-oared boat and a small boat, intending to make as good a survey of the harbour as circumstances would admit: I took to my assistance Mr Bradley, the first lieutenant, Mr Keltie, the master, and a young gentleman of the quarter-deck (midshipman Henry Waterhouse)." Hunter's meticulous chart shows 30 depth soundings around the peninsula bounded by the Parramatta and Lane Cove Rivers. Hunter was Governor of the Colony from 1795-1800. He is commemorated in the name of Hunters Hill.[1][3]

In 1855 a speculative housing venture of erecting four prefabricated Swiss Cottages at Hunters Hill was underway. In this period Hunters Hill was an established French enclave, with the residence of the French consul located there at "Passy", and much of its early development was constructed by men of French descent. The prefabricated houses were advertised as "four splendid family residences, standing in their own grounds, of about 1 acres each", with "wood and water in abundance".[1][4]

Beverley Sherry in her study of Hunter Hill notes that this was the first planned group of houses to be built in the municipality, marking the beginning of the garden suburb character of Australia's oldest Garden Suburb. The subdivision and garden suburb development occurred in the mid to late nineteenth century, predating the formation of the Garden Suburb movement. The historic development at Hunters Hill was consistently speculative, although some of the subdivisions were undertaken to provide residences for family members.[1][5]

Kelly's Bush derives its name from Mr Thomas H. Kelly who owned over 7.7 hectares (19 acres) of land on the foreshore of Hunter's Hill (stretching from Woolwich Road south to the Parramatta River). This area was bounded by the Parramatta River, Woolwich Road, Nelson Parade and Alfred Street. He established the Smelting Company on seven point seven hectares (nineteen acres) of waterfront land in 1892, with the adjoining seventeen acres of bush to the north designed to act as a buffer to the residential areas and zoned "open space". The Smelting Company allowed public access to the foreshore for recreation, through all areas except the actual works area. The condition of the surrounding bush fluctuated, depending on the amount of timber being used to fire the smelters.[1]

Almost two point eight hectares (seven acres) of the "open space" became known as Weil Park when it was purchased in 1956 by Hunter's Hill Council and the Cumberland County Council. The bush was cleared and a grassed oval created for sporting activities. In 1966 the Town Clerk wrote to the State Planning Authority stating: "There is insufficient area in the land held and known as Weil Park and Council feels that it is important to the interest of posterity that additional "open space" area should be acquired whilst the opportunity exists".[1]

In 1967 the Smelting Company works moved to Alexandria and A. V. Jennings took a two-year option to purchase the 4.9-hectare (12-acre) site. They applied to Council seeking suspension of the County of Cumberland Planning Scheme Ordinance to enable the development of 147 home units, including three buildings of eight-storeys high. Council was opposed to the application and renewed its bid for State acquisition of the entire area as open space, however the State Planning Authority rejected the proposal. Jennings subsequently submitted a series of modified applications. The Hunters Hill Trust strongly condemned the Jennings development.[1]

The SPA then arranged to buy from Jennings 2.3 hectares (5.6 acres) of sloping waterfront bush and abandoned industrial reserve for a "foreshore reserve". In 1969 the Council agreed in principle to a suspension of the existing zoning to permit the development of 56 townhouses (without any public consultation). This was subsequently reduced to 25 single dwelling allotments.[1]

In an article that appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald on 25 July 1970 local Hunters Hill resident Betty James wrote how local children had pulled up a long line of survey pegs laid out through "their bush" as a heartfelt protest. Her article read like a love-letter to Kelly's Bush, describing its deep gullies of bracken fern, its blueberry ash, lily-pilly, tea tree and a rare stand of healthy banksias. James...also talked about it as an outdoor laboratory and living museum: there were Aboriginal middens and carvings in the sandstone. In September 1970, James and 12 other neighbours gathered at All Saints' parish hall and christened themselves the 'Battlers for Kelly's Bush'. The group, which the Hunters Hill Council would dismiss as "13 bloody housewives", elected James as President, Kath Lehany as secretary and Monica Sheehan as assistant secretary. Most of the women were lifelong Liberal Party voters who had never been involved in politics but each had a different reason for joining...Miriam Cunningham...had realised when she had been to Australia Square, then Sydney's tallest building, that Kellys Bush was the only patch of green she could see on the Parramatta River. "It was the lungs of Sydney.".[6][1]

A group of concerned citizens had formed by this stage and called themselves "The Battlers".[1]

Unwittingly, the battlers set down a blueprint for the modern-day protest movement. They wrote hundreds of letters. They organised a "phone tree" to pass on news. They invited media to "boil the billy" days in the bush and plied them with baked goods. They ran essay competitions for schoolchildren about why the bush should be saved. They made badges and banners and got their teenagers to hang them around Hunters Hill. They enlisted the local school band, which marched form Hunters Hill High School to Kellys Bush, calling for "browsing not housing". They even roped in local Kylie Tennant to write protest poems. Dinner parties became battlegrounds and the peninsula community divided over the issue. Some wanted the sewage pipes that A.V.Jennings promised to build for the whole area or believed local state Liberal MP Peter Coleman, who said Council rares would drop when Jennings came...Over the course of several months, the battlers sent several delegations to the Liberal Premier of the day, Robert Askin, to argue their case. "Askin derided us as middle-class matrons" says Hunters Hill resident Phil Jenkyn, who says the women inspired him to form a group known as the Defenders of Sydney Harbour Foreshores.[6][1]

They met with the (then) Premier Robert Askin, asking him to intervene. The Battlers also wrote to the various unions asking for their support and were referred to the Trades and Labour Council.[1]

Despite the protest, in 1971 the Minister for Local Government signed the notice rezoning the land from Reserved Open Space to Residential. The President of the Builders Labourers' Federation of Australia (BLF) met with The Battlers and went to the BLF executive, who supported them in principle. The trade union support resulted in the first "black ban" called on 16 June 1971 by the BLF over an area of land.[2] Black bans would later become known as "green ban" for their active pursuit of the maintenance of green space. Six hundred people attended a rally in August 1971 to demonstrate their support for Kelly's Bush.[1]

With the union green ban in force, A.V. Jennings were eventually forced to sell the land to Hunter's Hill Council, however, by a narrow margin the councillors voted to retain the Residential Zoning. In 1977 the new Premier, Neville Wran, announced that no development would take place at Kelly's Bush. The discovery of radioactive waste on the site raised serious doubts as to its suitability for residential development. A period of silence followed and then in 1983 Neville Wran announced that Kelly's Bush was to be set aside for full public access on a permanent basis. His press release read: "It represents a victory for environmentalists generally. The land will be used to give people access to natural bushland fronting Parramatta River."[1]

The shape of modern Sydney is City of Sydney Labor councillor Meredith Burgmann, who wrote a book on the subject. The movement even inspired overseas activists, including German Petra Kelly, who would eventually form one of the world's first Green political parties.[1]

Mundey and the BLF went on to lead 42 green bans in the early 1970s, holding up billions of dollars worth of construction.[1]

It took the 13 women 13 years to save Kelly's Bush... When the Wran Government bought the land the women celebrated with a simple bush ceremony and a pot of tea - and invited Jack Mundey, by now their friend for life...Kids still build cubby houses here and roam by foot, bike or in their imagination among the banksias and bracken. Several of the seven dead battlers have had their ashes scattered in the bush....[2][1]

As at 12 January 1999, the park was intact in its 1983 conserved form. The park is substantially intact as an area of remnant bushland.[1]

The site has seen the following modifications:[1]

• 1892: established Smelting Company on two acres, with adjoining seventeen acres of bush to the north designed as buffer to the residential areas and zoned "open space". The Company allowed public access to the foreshore for recreation, through all areas except the actual works area. The condition of the bush fluctuated, depending on the amount of timber being used to fire the smelters.
• 1956: Almost 7 acres of "open space" became known as Weil Park when purchased by Hunter's Hill Council and Cumberland County Council. Bush cleared and a grassed oval created for sporting activities.
• 1967 the Smelting Company works moved to Alexandria and sold to A.V.Jennings - series of DAs - didn't progress.
• SPA then arranged to buy from Jennings 5.6 acres of sloping waterfront bush and abandoned industrial reserve for a "foreshore reserve".
• 1971 Minister for Local Government rezoned the land from Reserved Open Space to Residential.
• 1977 Premier banned development on the site. The discovery of radioactive waste on the site raised serious doubts as to its suitability for residential development.
• 1983 Premier Wran announced that site to be set aside for full public access on a permanent basis.
• 1983-1999: Some improvements have been made, including a carpark, paths, foreshore park, and a viewing platform.

• "Kellys Bush Park". 2007.
• Attraction Homepage (2007). "Kellys Bush Park" (PDF).
• Pitt, Helen, in The (sydney) Magazine, in The Sydney Morning Herald (2011). The Gang.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Sherry, Beverley (2011). 'John Hunter', entry (Valentia Street Wharf footpath plaque).
• Travis Partners (1986). Kelly's Bush Landscape and Management Plan Final Report.
• Paul Davies Pty Ltd (1999). s.170 Register DUAP.

This Wikipedia article was originally based on Kellys Bush Park, entry number 01391 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.