tHe millers Point times
Transcription
tHe millers Point times
Sydney writers festival edition www.millerspointcommunity.com.au THE Millers Point TIMES Newsletter of the Friends of Millers Point – Written by John Dunn and authorised and Kelli Haynes – 26 Pottinger Street, Dawes Point Welcome to Millers Point What you can do The Millers Point community welcomes Vivid and the Sydney Writers Festival. In nine months from now, the NSW Government is planning the final eradication of a community that has existed in this neighbourhood since the beginning of European settlement. We are witnessing the forced relocation of families who have lived in this area for five, six and seven generations. Our community stretches across Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks. These are the principal locations of the Sydney Writers’ Festival, which has offices in The Rocks, and most of its events are in Dawes Point and Millers Point. Many SWF visitors will be unaware when sitting in the front rows of the Roslyn Packer Theatre, they are less than 100 metres from the homes of Mary Vo and her neighbours. See the back page for an introduction to Mary Vo and how to save her from eviction. Mary Vo’s is one of four petitions launched by the Friends of Millers Point. There are also petitions to save Flo and Myra from eviction. In the fourth petition, Jack Mundey, who headed the BLF Green Bans that saved The Rocks in the 1970s and provided the impetus for the Greens Parties throughout the world, has stepped forward again to save the workers flats that housed the families of those who walked the Hungry Mile, and to save the Sirius apartments that were built for The Rocks community as a result of the 1970s Green Bans. You can keep the stories of the Millers Point community alive. You can do this by reading and sharing these stories. Where will you find the stories? Some are pinned to homes in Millers Point and Dawes Point, but many of those were taken down by Housing NSW officers. The same stories of residents are posted on the community website… www.MillersPointCommunity.com.au On this site are links to petitions and the latest Millers Point news. News is also on the Save Millers Point Facebook page, where some posts have reached more than 40,000 people. Or go directly to the online petitions – addresses are on the back page. You are invited to comment at all of these online sites. The community would love to hear from you. Add your comments when signing the petitions, and when visiting the community website and Facebook page. Lights out in the heart of sydney Built in 1831 on Millers Point’s largest block of land at 50 Argyle Place is the jewel in the crown of Housing NSW. The new Minister for Social Housing Brad Hazzard says this property must be sold to fund ten new public housing units. This argument is well known, but fewer people know that the Millers Point community has also been calling for the sale of the Millers Point mansions which became public housing almost by accident. The government has not been able to maintain these properties and they are falling apart through neglect, water penetration and the Termite Highway (Housing NSW’s name for the termite nests that run through many of the empty houses of Millers Point). Everybody is on the same side of this argument: sell the grand old homes of Millers Point. Where opinions differ is in respect to the community. We believe the houses can be sold but the community kept in Millers Point. Millers Point has a high proportion of old, vulnerable, long-term residents who prosper within this community because they have strong ‘circles of support’. This is a community where people know and look out for one another. Relocating the elderly and vulnerable members of this community away from those who support them will result in their isolation, loss of independence, decline in health, and some will die as has happened in a handful of cases in the past twelve months. Millers Point is a success story for public housing. The government should celebrate and work to save this thriving community that includes many social housing tenants. Saving the Millers Point community begins by selling most of the 19thcentury houses, beginning with those that have been vacant for years. Houses that are still occupied could stay as they are for now, especially if the tenants are elderly and have lived here a long time. These occupied houses could be sold later, or the residents could move to other accommodation in Millers Point or if they chose, be relocated out of the area. The government owns so much other property in Millers Point aside from these grand 19th-century houses. At the beginning of the 20th century the government undertook a massive flat-building program in Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks, which coincided with its redevelopment of wharves, wharehouses and roads. The workers flats they built are more modest and less valuable than the 19thcentury houses. They are also in better condition. All or some of these should be retained for social housing. After this, in the 1970s Housing NSW built more flats in the area, most notably the Sirius building in The Rocks. Sirius is in good condition and could be retained entirely, or some of its more valuable units sold and the others kept for social housing. This would provide a better financial outcome than even the most optimistic calculations by the government for its sale. These are some of the options the community has wanted to discuss with the state government, but until recently, the government had refused to consider alternatives to the complete sell-off of Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks, and previous ministers have neither met nor visited the community. Now there could be a change of heart. New minister Brad Hazzard is meeting the community and discussing options that might save the Millers Point community. Recently he was quoted in the Herald saying, “I’m not ruling out trying to get more public housing in and around the Millers Point area.” This is very heartening news for the community. Since All Souls Night last year, SOS lights has flashed from the top of Sirius every night. Directly across from the Overseas Passenger Terminal, these lights were seen by thousands of departing tourists on hundreds of cruise ships. Tourists and locals alike have read the stories of S.O.S. Save Our Sirius and visited the comunity website and the Save Millers Point Facebook page. For a few weeks these lights have been off. They are going back on for Vivid, but the community is hoping to hammer out a solution with Minister Hazzard so the SOS lights can be turned off for good. SAVE MARY VO FROM EVICTION https://www.change.org/p/hon-mike-baird-mp-let-our-elderly-neighbour-stay-in-her-home ‘Mrs Mary Vo, a mother, grandmother, widow, former refugee and our beautiful neighbour, is being evicted from her home through no fault of her own. Mrs Vo often says, “thank you very much Australia Government and Australians” for the “freedom for life.” A survivor of significant trauma and loss, she was always cheerful. Now she is often in tears.’ Read her story and sign her petition to save her from eviction. SAVE MYRA FROM EVICTION https://www.change.org/p/save-myra-from-eviction ‘Myra is 88 years old and blind and has lived in this community since 1959. Through her own determination and with the support of those around her, she is able to lead an active and independent life. Myra is a volunteer church and community worker and an inspiration to the people who know her. The State Government wants to ‘relocate’ Myra away from the only place she knows.’ Please read Myra’s story and sign her petition. SAVE FLO FROM EVICTION https://www.change.org/p/gabrielle-upton-mike-baird-save-flo-from-eviction ‘Flo was born in Millers Point 81 years ago. Her father worked on the wharves and walked the Hungy Mile. Times were tough through the Depression and the war. Her dad was killed in a waterfront accident in 1953. At 19 Flo married Ted who also worked on the wharves all his life. The day after Ted’s funeral Flo was handed a letter saying she was to move to a new home.’ Please read Flo’s story and sign her petition. Make a stand alongside Jack Mundey https://www.change.org/p/gabrielle-upton-mike-baird-save-the-millers-point-workers-flats ‘More than forty years ago, Jack Mundey and the BLF joined with Nita McCrae and The Rocks Resident Action Group to save The Rocks from high-rise development. In 2015, Jack Mundey is once more standing together with residents to save Millers Point. Please sign this petition to save the workers’ flats, the Sirius apartments and the future of public housing in Millers Point.’