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“ULTIMO TRAMWAYS POWER HOUSE” HERITAGE LISTING A HOAX?
You may have heard or read recent reports of a proposal for possible State Heritage listing of the “Ultimo Tramways Power House”, and asked yourself “where on earth is that?”
On 25 February a delegate of the Heritage Council of NSW (an “independent statutory body” in the Department of Premier and Cabinet!) wrote to a local community organisation as follows http://tiny.cc/565okz . “The…Council… resolved, at its meeting of... 12 February 2020, to give notice of its intention to consider listing Ultimo Tramways Power House on the State Heritage Register in acknowledgement of its heritage significance to the people of New South Wales.”
The letter goes on to explain that the former “Ultimo Tramways Power House” (Station) is potentially of State significance historically for being the first large state-owned electricity generating station in NSW“ – completely true.
But what does this fictitious tittle “Ultimo Tramways Power House” that the Heritage Council has dreamed up actually refer to? Museum specialists who have analysed available information (see the Powerhouse Museum Alliance website https://powerhousemuseumalliance.com/ and NSW Office of the Environment” report http://tiny.cc/ls5okz ) fear that it is designed to mask the intention, not overtly stated, TO LIST ONLY THE EXTERIOR SHELL (without interiors) of the original Power Station building, not the “Museum“ as we know and understand it.
A further puzzle is the fact that this part of the Museum (ie former Power Station + contents) was already locally heritage-listed years ago by the City of Sydney. So this proposal would effectively “delist” the Museum (see explanatory image below).
If you are confused by all this, so are we! A sick joke by our warped NSW Government? Another blatant attempt to stack the odds in the Government’s favour? Or merely one more example of such blundering ignorance that it cannot even get the right name for the institution it aims to place on the heritage list?
One thing that the Heritage Council’s letter makes clear is that we now have the opportunity to protest strongly against this travesty of a proposal, and demand that the Powerhouse Museum in its entirety (ie including the Sulman-price-winning Wran building and the Harwood Building) must be placed on the State Heritage list.
“Any members of the community…or other interested parties are invited to make a written submission regarding the proposed listing and significance of Ultimo Tramways Power House. Submissions should be posted or emailed to the Heritage Council of NSW at the following address during the public submission period commencing on 26 February 2020 and closing on 24 MARCH 2020:
Heritage Council of NSW
Locked Bag 5020
PARRAMATTA NSW 2124
heritagemailbox@environment.nsw.gov.au
FROM PARLIAMENT: HARWIN’S WILLOW GROVE LIES, NEW INQUIRY TO OPEN
Misleading, or lying to, the NSW Parliament was traditionally considered a serious offence. Not any more, apparently!
Recent determined questioning of Arts Minister Don Harwin by ABC Radio Breakfast’s Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck revealed the complete contradiction of his previous position that Parramatta’s heritage-listed Willow Grove mansion would be preserved. (full version https://youtu.be/MtwJCwJRy5M ; abs...tracts https://youtu.be/ro1bdvd186Q ).
Harwin s blatant reversal triggered a blistering assault (February 25) in the Upper House from Shadow Arts Minister Walt Secord, who pointed out that “on 10 April 2019, when asked if…Willow Grove would be demolished to make way for the new Powerhouse Museum…the Minister told the ABC presenters “No, we have not said that at all".
Nonetheless, since then, the NSW Government has selected a strange design for the new Parramatta museum that will involve trashing both Willow Grove and adjacent St George’s Terraces, provoking Secord to ask “Will (the Minister) now admit that he misled the local community, the media and the people of this State?”
To this, Harwin amazingly replied “No, I have not misled the local community at all”, followed by a rambling “justification” of the Government’s actions, all designed, he said, “ to achieve the best outcomes for the community.”
Deputy Opposition Leader Penny Sharpe pursued the attack with ”How does the Minister explain the disparity between his 18 April 2019 statement that Willow Grove will not be demolished and his 19 February 2020 statement that it was "an accurate answer at that particular point in time?”
Harwin’s lame “non sequitur’ response”, was that “all of the entrants in the design competition were encouraged to look at the heritage considerations of the site’. He flatly denied Secord’s and Sharpe’s repeated accusations that he has lied, causing Sharpe to remark “Well, (if you didn’t) you threw the Premier under the bus because SHE did!” (see Hansard transcripts
http://tiny.cc/6ihkkz and http://tiny.cc/vjhkkz )
The Arts Minister’s pathetic performance in the House, which might even have been comical in different circumstances, merely underscores, yet again, this Government’s total lack of integrity and moral principles, raising once more the eternal question – why do they so desperately persist with a project that represents a “lose-lose” situation for all stakeholders and a loss of at least $1.5 billion of public money.
On a more positive note, Robert Borsak, Chair of the previous Parliamentary Inquiry, on the same day “lodged an extensive call for papers including all documents related to the Parramatta museum project”, signalling the launch of a long-awaited new Inquiry, which has now been officially announced http://tiny.cc/dihkkz

































