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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-06-04 Daily Xml
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HERITAGE PRESERVATION

The Hon. SANDRA KANCK (15:52): It is nearly a month now since the Norwood Payneham St Peters council very sadly decided to demolish three 19th century cottages in Linde Reserve at Stepney. This was first rumoured late last year, and at that time I issued a media release calling on the council to preserve those cottages. They are clearly 19th century, they are intact and are in a compact group and, because they are located on a busy main road just opposite the Avenues Shopping Centre at St Peters, they are very visible.

They look like history and they are history. Research conducted by the council and other organisations has shown that these three cottages have real significance as part of South Australia's multicultural heritage. They are the last survivors of what was once a thriving German community in Stepney. Most people do not know that there is more to South Australia's German heritage than Hahndorf and the Barossa. There was a distinct German settlement at Stepney, and there was even a report of what we would call a schutzenfest in 1864 on what is now known as Linde Reserve. The cottages were built by Haken Linde, a successful member of the German community after whom the reserve is named. Unfortunately, due to some sort of oversight by the council, these three cottages have not been heritage listed.

Members will recall that there have been other oversights by councils from time to time—the most spectacular probably being Burnside council's failure to nominate Fernilee Lodge. That is arguably the most prominent example in the metropolitan area, but we now have a situation where two grand old 19th century Port Augusta pubs, the Exchange Hotel and the Great Northern Hotel, have been approved for demolition because the Port Augusta council did not heritage list them.

The Norwood Payneham St Peters council released a draft master plan for the development of Linde Reserve and Dunstone Grove last year, and it received almost 300 submissions from the community, which is a very high return compared with most council consultations. Well over 100 residents wrote in their submissions that they wanted these cottages to be retained. Some have now mounted a campaign to save these cottages, and anyone driving along Nelson Street cannot miss the 'Save our cottages' banner out the front. I note also that the opposition has become involved in the campaign, with the front page story of the East Torrens Messenger this week being that of Martin Hamilton-Smith coming out in a call to preserve the cottages. Heritage experts have called for the cottages to be saved, as have the National Trust, the South Australian German Association and the council's own heritage adviser.

I understand that the night the decision was made the public gallery was packed with community members. The minority of councillors who argued to save the cottages did so in a way as to effectively demolish the case for the removal of the cottages. They demonstrated that the cottages would not prevent other aspects of the development of the reserve. It is, after all, a 2.8 hectare reserve and the three compact cottages take up very little room, and they showed how retaining these cottages could be cost neutral if they were rented out. But most councillors it seems had already made up their mind and were impervious to any of the arguments.

I am particularly saddened by the fate of one of these cottages, 64 Nelson Street, which is the home of the St Peters Women's Community Centre and has been so for 30 years. This was South Australia's first women's community centre and one of the first in Australia, so it is history in its own right. Thousands of women and their children have been helped by this centre. I understand that the council will be relocating the women's centre to the one cottage it will leave standing at 68 Nelson Street. However, there is still a great sense of loss at the impending demolition of this cottage. I have been inside and inspected it and those women have put in a lot of work in terms of renovation inside the cottage.

I am deeply disappointed that the Norwood Payneham St Peters council has taken this decision. It is one of our oldest councils. It has been a leading light in heritage protection and cultural history for a long time. The council was not obliged to protect these cottages, but it could have chosen to do so and the fact that it did not suggests now that it has lost its commitment to heritage protection.

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