A leafy reserve in Sydney’s east that homeowners have cherished as their own ‘hidden gem’ and gratefully maintained for 30 years may now be lost to them as it has been declared Aboriginal land.
Residents of the sleepy suburb of Little Bay were blindsided by the ruling as they were never notified that any claim had been made – and they fear they will be locked out of the 3,453 square meter block behind their homes.
The Crown land was designated for public recreation, and the residents who live at the back of it have set up a children’s swing, meet there for a drink every Christmas, and there are even beehives there.
And although the powerful local La Perouse Aboriginal Land Council, which won the land claim, says it is for recreation, the small block with enviable Cronulla water views could be worth a lot if they were to sell it to developers.
The tranquility of the sought-after neighborhood – houses on the same street sell for $4 million – was shattered on January 20 when two men wearing Aboriginal Council T-shirts showed up to inspect the land.
While walking through the property, one of the men startled residents by saying that the “land had been granted to the Aboriginal Land Council the day before” and telling locals who had access to it that they could now “open your gates should be locked up’ and would not be treated. it’s like an extended backyard.
Most of the thirteen houses on Grose and Reservoir streets and Marconi Place, which are at the rear of the property, have doors or gates leading onto them, and residents help maintain them, saying, “the community does nothing’.
Lesley and Colin Brown have been caring for the reserve for many years, mowing the grass to keep red-bellied black snakes from the adjacent national park at bay on the 3453 m² plot
The ‘hidden gem’ that was used as an extended backyard by neighbors for decades was declared Aboriginal land on January 19
Randwick City Council controls the land, but three groups of residents regularly mow it ‘because red-bellied black snakes enter our homes from the national park’.
Residents also cleared lantana, weeds and dumped car parts from the land more than a decade ago, with local Sharon Brogan saying: ‘It’s been good for our community and we’ve taken good care of it.’
George Manolias said he received permission from the council to keep two of his beehives on the reserve, and has been supplying honey to his neighbors for years.
Chris Ingrey, chief executive of the La Perouse Aboriginal Land Council, whose headquarters are a few minutes’ drive from the reserve, confirmed his organization was bidding for ‘the Grose Street land among many’ land claims on ‘unused Crown land’ .
However, the Registrar of the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act (ALRA) told Daily Mail Australia that the Minister of Crown Lands had already established an Aboriginal Land Claim over the property on January 19.
Neighbor Denise Hope in the reserve where locals enjoy drinks and gather every Christmas, but which could now be sold to developers
One resident said he had permission from the council to keep two of his beehives on the reserve and has been supplying honey to his neighbors for years
One of the gates to the land that may now have to be permanently closed following a successful Aboriginal Land claim on the 3500 m2 reserve
Although one of Australia’s smaller land councils, La Perouse’s statutory boundaries cover some of the country’s most expensive real estate, including the Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick local government areas, and parts of the City of Sydney, Sutherland and Bayside.
The ALRA allows local Aboriginal land councils to claim Crown land owned by the NSW Government and have it transferred to them in full ownership.
The condition for an Aboriginal Land Claim is that the land ‘can lawfully be sold or leased, cannot lawfully be used or occupied, is not required as residential land, is not required for… public purposes including conservation, is not affected by native property rights’. ‘.
Grose Street residents Lesley and Colin Brown, Denise Hope and Sharon Brogan, among others, said they feared the land would be sold to developers.
That’s what happened to a nearby 1.16-hectare site, on Jennifer Street in Little Bay, which was used for the development of an 83-apartment property worth $30 million.
Locals have been fighting a losing battle to limit the scope of development on the site, with Randwick Council spending almost $1 million in legal and consultancy fees to oppose it in the NSW Land & Environment Court.
The La Perouse Aboriginal Land Council has successfully claimed the land and CEO Chris Ingrey (right) said this is just one of many claims by his council
The reserve has natural rock ledges, areas shaded by trees that have been planed by residents and was a peaceful place for locals to visit
The site is home to the rare eastern banksia scrub, the last fragment of an ecosystem that once stretched from Botany Bay to Woollahra and borders both a golf club and Kamay or Botany Bay National Park.
However, development is ongoing and trees have been removed from the site.
A consortium of developers made an original expression of interest to the La Perouse Land Council in 1999 for the Jennifer Street space, and helped identify other parcels of real estate that the Land Council could lay claim to, agreeing that they would jointly to develop.
That did not happen and the development has since changed hands.
Lesley Brown said the ALC men who surveyed the Grose Street plot in January had discussed “townhouses” being built on the land, but “the site is smaller than Jennifer Street and access is an issue”.
Denise Hope, who has lived there since 1982, said that if the lot were sold to developers, she and her husband would sell it and move because “I couldn’t stomach the development.”
The La Perouse Land Council says it ‘plays a key role in the protection and promotion of cultural heritage in the area’.
The La Perouse Aboriginal Land Council covers some of Australia’s wealthiest real estate areas, including the Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick local government areas, and parts of the City of Sydney, Sutherland and Bayside LGAs
Aboriginal people (above in La Perouse circa 1930s) have a long history in the area and the NSW government declared part of it a protected area last year
Last year the NSW Government declared 2.4 hectares of land there, the site of the former La Perouse Aboriginal Reserve and Mission, an ‘Aboriginal Place’ with special conservation and heritage protection.
Although La Perouse is named after the French explorer who landed at Botany Bay just days after the First Fleet, Aboriginal occupation of the area between the peninsula and the Cooks River predates European contact by thousands of years.
When the NSW government declared the ancient mission an Aboriginal site, the NSW government said Aboriginal families had lived there for up to or more than 7,500 years.
The famous indigenous family of sporting champions, the Ellas, lived in Tasman Street, La Perouse.
Mr Ingrey said his great-grandmother was born in a tin hut on La Perouse beach and indigenous people still fished there.
The Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council has also made a claim on 150,000 m² of Boronia Park in Hunters Hill, the exclusive suburb on Sydney’s north coast.
Hunters Hill Mayor Zac Miles said the claim had the potential to see the green space, classified as a bush care management zone, turned into a freehold title that left it open to development.
