CASE STUDY 1: HOMEBUSH, NSW
Learning that your house is likely to be resumed and demolished from the 6 o’clock TV news would be a shock for anybody. For Aurelia Roper-Tyler, it was the start of an emotional rollercoaster that began four years ago.
Aurelia and her husband Jeremy had shared eight years of happiness in their well-preserved Federation bungalow in Homebush, west of Sydney. The generous block with charming garden also provided ample play space for their twin boys.
The day after the TV news story, Aurelia answered a knock at the door from a local newspaper reporter. Did she have any comment about plans to knock down about 40 houses, including hers, to make way for an extension of the proposed WestConnex freeway between Penrith and Silverwater that would now go through Homebush? No, she did not.
With no official confirmation from the state government that her house would be in the path of the construction, Aurelia made a series of phone calls in the hope of finding some answers. Unable to make contact with a human being, she protested to her thenstate MP, Charles Casuscelli. She and Jeremy attended an information centre for WestConnex at nearby Concord, but their frustration only mounted.
Forty homeowners did receive notification that their properties would be forcibly resumed. Aurelia’s was the last in the line, a lame duck as she saw it, with a lane on one side and an ugly development on the other. Authorities could not tell her whether her home would be needed or not, she says. “They left us sitting there for 16 months of hell.”
In this climate of uncertainty, Aurelia made a decision. Reluctantly, she believed the only path to a future quality of life, and to stave off an inevitable slump in her home’s market value, was to demand that her home be added to the list of 40 for resumption. As she and Jeremy debated different plans, the stress was such that “our marriage nearly ended”, Aurelia recalls.
Jeremy had moved to the area as a child in 1973, where he lived two streets away. His parents still lived locally and he did not want to move. While Jeremy eventually did accept that moving was the best option, WestConnex officials would not budge. It took a bitter, prolonged battle, and help from new state MP Jodi Mackay, before the family’s home was finally added to the resumption list in June 2015.
Jeremy, a sheriff’s officer, fought hard for a $1.5 million sale price, plus extras to cover moving costs and stamp duty on a new home. But even the agreed “eviction” left a bitter taste. “It was very rude behaviour,” says Aurelia, a social worker. “They gave us a set time to move out or said we’d have to start paying rent!”* Rich indeed, she thought, for a house that was demolished in May last year.
The Roper-Tyler family now lives in an apartment in the innercity suburb of Zetland – all they could afford after moving. The contrast between high-density living and their spacious home could not be starker, but Aurelia and her family are learning to adapt to their new life.
‘ THEY LEFT US SITTING THERE FOR 16 MONTHS OF HELL. THE STRESS WAS SUCH THAT OUR MARRIAGE NEARLY ENDED .’