Powerhouse Parramatta: three-year battle to save historic Willow Grove ends in union backdown
A green ban has been lifted on historic Parramatta homestead Willow Grove, after the New South Wales government struck a deal with the construction union that heritage activists believe took advantage of the Covid-19 crisis evolving in the area.
The dismantling of the Victorian mansion, to make way for the new Powerhouse Parramatta project, has already begun, ending a three-year battle to save the home by a local residents’ group and the area’s Indigenous community.
Willow Grove will be reassembled brick by brick at a yet to be disclosed alternative location, with NSW arts minister Don Harwin saying on Tuesday that a broad-based community reference group would be consulted on the relocation.
“The CFMEU and others who have a clear interest in the future location of Willow Grove will be invited to participate,” Harwin said in a statement.
The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union placed a green ban on the Willow Grove site in November 2020, to prevent the homestead’s dismantling and relocation.
On Tuesday, the union announced that it had lifted the ban after the NSW Government agreed to save another threatened heritage building on the site, St George’s Terrace, that will now be incorporated into the Powerhouse Parramatta design.
“The union, like the community, had preferred for the [Willow Grove] villa to remain where it is currently,” the union’s statement said.
“The conditions upon which this agreement was reached includes the establishment of a committee to oversight the dismantling, re-location, rebuild and re-use of the villa and ongoing maintenance.
“The villa will be kept in public hands, funded and utilised for the community of Parramatta.”
Suzette Meade, the spokesperson for the North Parramatta Residents Action Group, said the community was disappointed by the union’s decision to back down, and accused the NSW government of using the Covid-19 crisis to its advantage.
The Parramatta region is among the 12 local government areas of concern operating under the harshest lockdown restrictions and a 9pm to 5am curfew, due to a surge in Delta cases.
“We’ve been pushed into a Covid situation where we can’t battle the green ban like we could have,” Meade told Guardian Australia.
“The government has chosen the cover of Covid to move in, when it knows nobody wants to break health orders.”
In July, the residents’ action group failed in its bid to stall the removal of Willow Grove, by challenging the validity of Infrastructure NSW’s environmental impact statement for the Powerhouse Parramatta project.
“It’s a bad outcome for Parramatta’s heritage, and sets a dangerous precedent for all heritage,” Meade said.