A group of walkers enjoyed rambling around the streets and laneways of Hunters Hill admiring the Jacaranda trees generously dotted around the suburb. The walk culminated in a visit to the Hunters Hill RSL hall where we joined the festivities for Remembrance Day celebrating 100 years since the end of World War 1.
A big thank you to Len Dowsett our guide for the last walk of 2018.
Margaret Preston, Source Couleurs
This year marks 50 years since the Hunters Hill Trust was formed and we’re delighted that our Christmas Party will be bigger and better than ever. To ensure we can accommodate as many members as possible, we’re holding it in the historic RSL Hall. We’ll have entertainment, music (maybe even some dancing) and would love you to join us for this celebration.
When: Friday 7 December 2018 from 6.30pm
Where: RSL Hall, corner Ady and Alexandra Streets
Cost: $65 per person
RSVP: members@huntershilltrust.org.au telling us who will be coming
Payment: BSB: 062000, Acct No: 16211909, Acct Name: Hunters Hill Trust. Please identify yourself on your payment.
Our last guided walk of the year will be a Jacaranda Walk on Sunday 11 November. We’ll be strolling around our local streets and finding some of the best Jacaranda trees in the suburb – including some hidden ones you may not know about. As usual, we’ll finish with coffee or lunch at one of our local cafes.
This will be a popular walk so please send your RSVP to members@huntershilltrust.org.au soon if you’d like to come along. Walks are free for Trust and Historical Society members and $10 each for guests.
HHT walkers enjoy Federation bungalow
A lovely sunny day added to the enjoyment of our stroll around the heritage streets of Isler, Sunnyside and Hillcrest above Tarban Creek. Built on the former Isler Estate and auctioned as 129 residential blocks in 1913, many of these attractive homes are still intact and their beautiful gardens were sparkling in the sunshine.
We all appreciated the enduring charm of their architecture and were intrigued at how a few years’ difference in construction resulted in small distinctions in style between Federation and Interwar homes. We heard some charming local stories from residents and learnt about the real community spirit of this area. What a treat for the HHT walkers.
The Priory, 1857 (image Sardaka)
Our walk this month will take us through Riverglade Reserve to The Priory and around the streets above Tarban Creek. We’ll be looking at some of the fine examples of well-preserved Federation homes that are plentiful in that area. These ‘Contributory Items’ to Hunters Hill’s heritage are an important and historic feature of our suburb and we’re hoping to include many of them in our new Green Book update.
FREE for all members of the Hunters Hill Trust. $10 for guests. New members are welcome.
When: 30th September 2018
Enquiries: members@huntershilltrust.org.au
The Trust is glad to report that Hunters Hill Council has ‘refused to support the exhibited Planning Proposal in its current form’ and the proposed amendments were strengthened to emphasise important issues raised by the community including:
A lot will be riding on the proposed site-specific Development Control Plan and, if approved, how this links in with requirement for the review of the Local Environment Plan, new Local Strategic Planning Statements and further Master planning for the Gladesville precinct.
Council expressed appreciation for the volume and content of submissions that contributed to Council’s capacity to provide their report to the Department of Planning.
It all has a long way to go yet!
1 Ryde Road, Source: Google maps
The Trust and members of the local community have been concerned about the rapid deterioration of two historic weatherboard cottages at 1A and 3 Ryde Rd near the Hunters Hill overpass.
Council has told the Mainstreet Committee that the front verandah of 1 Ryde Road was recently demolished without authority. Hunters Hill Council promptly took the developer to court the next day and obtained an injunction.
Heritage items like this need to be conserved.
Source: SMH 3 Sept 2018
Source: treems.com
Hunters Hill Council has been successful in the Land and Environment court, winning cases against two Hunters Hill homeowners who together have been ordered to pay more than $150,000 for illegally cutting down trees in Barons Crescent and in Pains Road in 2016. Read more in the Sydney Morning Herald.
11 Mark Street
How can we get better at protecting, maintaining and adapting our heritage items? There are lessons to be learned from what happened to the Schedule 5 heritage listed cottage at 11 Mark Street.
This small timber workman’s cottage became very dilapidated over many years, despite alerts from Council’s Conservation Advisory Panel (CAP) and the Hunters Hill Trust. The owners initially discussed demolition and creating car parking spaces but eventually proposed to demolish the cottage and reconstruct the front portion of it with a new building behind.
1 Ryde Road
The Council of the time ignored CAP’s detailed advice. CAP recommended that the hipped rear section of the building should not be demolished as it could be anticipated that the two storey rear addition would dominate the little house at the front. Sadly, this has proved to be true. The detail of the rebuilding of the front part of the house and the colour scheme have paid little heed to the original details of the fabric of the cottage. Read the sad case of heritage listed cottage at 11 Mark Street here.
What does this mean today as we stand by and watch the two historic timber cottages steadily deteriorating on Ryde Road?
St Joseph’s College development plans
Hunters Hill Council has strongly opposed the plans from St Joseph’s College to build a new Gymnasium and massive Sports Complex. The College is wholly within a Hunters Hill Council’s heritage conservation area. The proposal fails to observe the basic heritage objectives set down in the Local Environment Plan and raises concerns due to its:
It also fails to present design excellence and there is no intention to contribute to a Voluntary Planning Agreement to benefit ratepayers.
The Minster for Planning has been requested to hold a public hearing. For more details you can read the Hunters Hill Trust’s submission.