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HERITAGE NEWSLETTER OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS ASSOCIATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE ORGANISATIONS INC. NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2012 ISSUE No. 24 Heritage of mountain villages sacrificed for highway progress MANY older residents of the Blue Mountains are lamenting the continual erosion of the unique character of the villages that developed along the Great Western Highway in the last 150 years. The heritage landscape has been swallowed up as the ribbon of highway under construction for several decades presses on to the west. It is only the historians and those long-time residents of the mountains who can recall the unique character which was once the Blue Mountains Pictured at right are Joseph (left) and Florence (centre) Taggett outside their wood carrier and saw bench business in Hazelbrook, this photograph seems to have man would as a joke lift a car’s back circa. early 1920s. been taken. wheels off the ground as patrons were starting their cars. Born in Somerset in about 1881, In a small mountains economy, Joseph migrated in 1911, served as survival meant multi-skilling, so Public spirited, in 1923 Joseph was a dispatch runner in World War I woodcutting, construction of the elected a lieutenant of the newly- and purchased his home, ‘Oakura’ dam wall at Hazelbrook in 1928 and formed Woodford Bushfire Brigade. in Woodford in June 1920. The general building were amongst his second location of his woodcutting accomplishments. He died in 1939, the wood site business was near the present being then sold to become a service Hazelbrook service station where When working as a garage station. Photograph --- Ken attendant, this immensely strong Goodlet collection BMACHO History conference success THE BLUE Mountains History was most appropriate that the necessary, dimension to conference 2012 held in the organisation’s first conference be BMACHO’s activities, because it heritage Carrington Hotel, held at this venue. brings together more than 100 like- Katoomba was by all measures an minded people to listen to papers, outstanding success. Attendees were exposed to a to meet other historians and, most smorgasbord of speakers the of all, simply to talk during the all- Organised by the Blue Mountains conference opening address being important periods of tea and lunch. Association of Cultural Heritage given by former long-time president Organisations Inc. (BMACHO) the of the Royal Australian Historical “The real action takes place in the conference was attended by Society, Associate Professor R Ian Carrington’s dining-room. This has almost 100 participants. Jack. been happening in this great hotel ever since 1883 although the BMACHO president, Pamela Smith In his address titled Colonial society context has perhaps shifted over reminded those present that and beyond (which is published in the years: I hope that the deals BMACHO had been formed as a full on pages 4-7 of this edition of done today will be less dodgy than result of a suggestion by Professor HERITAGE), Ian said “…a some of those in the past,” Ian Barrie Reynolds at an earlier conference like this is another, said. conference at the Carrington and it HERITAGE 1 November - December 2012 Contents......... An opinion from the editor....... HERITAGE November - December Heritage appears to go 2012 * P1 Heritage of mountain villages missing from proposed sacrificed for highway progress NSW planning reforms * P1 BMACHO History conference THE NSW state government is then the separation of the heritage success proposing legislation to remove the branch from the planning department. * P2 Opinion - Heritage rights of individuals under the guise of appears to go streamlining the planning process. “Their statutory status has been greatly misssing from reduced, and staffing has reduced their NSW planning What that means is making it easier to capacity to train and support the heritage reforms get developments approved by protection industry.” *P3 Centenary of removing community consultation from Locomotive Depot the approval process. The winding back of the status of the *P3 Colonial past and heritage branch has been of concern to public history The proposed legislation which has heritage groups for sometime and to see * P4 Colonial society been outlined in a government green further degeneration of this authority was and beyond paper, A New Planning System for not what was expected from the promises * P8 Mudgee Colonial NSW will remove the right of made by the O’Farrell government when Inn Museum a communities to have a say in in opposition. part of town’s development proposals and planning heritage matters directly affecting their lives. It The public should voice their concern in *P11 Heritage farming will also diminish the role of elected letters to local state members, Premier project wins councillors. Barry O’Farrell and Planning Minister prestigious print Brad Hazzard even though the closing award It will permit ‘Enterprise Zones’ with no date for official submissions has passed. *P13 The growth of planning controls to be imposed over gardens in the entire suburbs or local government Margi Fallon’s article is recommended as Blue Mountains areas. It will not protect the required reading for all interested in the *P14 Proposed NSW environment or the heritage. preservation of our heritage and the planning reforms retention of individual’s rights to have a *P16 Cox’s Road - For years it has been accepted that say on planning matters directly affecting Context of the role of planning is to balance the their lives. representative needs of the community and the portions environment with those of the private CONGRATULATIONS *P18 Breakfast tour of interests of developers. IT IS always good to be able to historic chocolate congratulate someone who receives an factory Now the government is proposing to award for excellence and on this *P21 Oldest grave in enact a planning system that puts the occasion as editor of HERITAGE, I Blue Mountains developers’ needs and interests above applaud the efforts of BMACHO individual *P22 Harold Kenneth those of the community and the member Ian Milliss and his associate Dr Campbell environment. Lucas Ihlein who have won the Fremantle monument Arts Centre Print Award regarded as *P24 Historic Houses The O’Farrell government came to Australia’s most prestigious award. of Mudgee power with a promise to return planning powers to the community but *P25 Monuments and Primarily it is an award for art, but the Memorials it is clear the reform processes have been captured by the same interests subject of the collaborative work, *P26 Get into the spirit Yeoman’s Project (see page 11 brings a of Christmas that gave us the notorious Part 3A under the previous government. new dimension to the pursuits of *P26 War hero project BMACHO; it introduces through launch Local heritage consultant architect commercial graphics the history and *P27 State award for Margi Fallon has produced a timely heritage of agriculture and of Kurrajong Family article which appears on page 14 of topographical mapping. History Group HERITAGE and her views and *P27 Vintage and retro recommended actions are extremely It must be of interest that a farming *P28 Lithgow pertinent. system on the property Nevallan at Museums’ nearby North Richmond is being Networking Group Ms Fallon in her artcile states: ”...over considered for state heritage listing. *P29 Western Crossing the past 10 years the heritage branch commemoration John Leary, OAM - Past president, has been decimated by the removal of *P30 350 years of Blue Mountains Association of staff to the planning department and Punch Cultural Heritage Organisations Inc. HERITAGE 2 November - December 2012 CENTENARY OF LOCOMOTIVE DEPOT VALLEY HEIGHTS locomotive depot will celebrate its centenary in 2014. In 1988, the Valley Heights Locomotive Depot was closed after 75 years of faithful railway service. The locomotive depot proudly stands today housing a local heritage museum, thanks to the efforts of local volunteers over the course of last 24 years. Now in its 99th year, planning is well underway to celebrate its 100th anniversary, a milestone that was doubtful back in 1988. Some of the proposed events planned include: *an official opening for the celebrations with a special train; *visits by steam locomotives local steam shuttles At the inaugural Trains, Trams and T’s event at the Valley Heights Loco *themed days for historical Depot Heritage Museum early this year, museum volunteers, tram societies. crews and visitors came dressed for the occasion. The event was held to showcase transport in the 1920s. Photograph Andrew Tester These plans albeit in its early change. Committee member of the celebrations, the details of which stages, are very much subject to museum, Andrew Tester said, it will be published in the pages of financial support from the would be great if members of HERITAGE during 2013. community and are subject to BMACHO could support these Colonial past and public history THE KEYNOTE speaker, at last plays a major role in funding dynamics underpinning change and month’s Blue Mountains History institutions such as archives and growth. conference was Professor Paul museums, lies at the heart of public Ashton (pictured below) who took history.’ “Value systems can also be read in as his topic Colonial past and public maps. Monuments and memorials, history. “Public history also concerns public landscapes, processions, memory. There are numerous ways rituals of ‘social integration’, art “Public history can be broadly in which memories are constructed, galleries, museums and official defined, as Paula Hamilton and I reproduced and circulated. Nancy histories also became vectors of have defined it, ‘as a diverse set of Woods’ book Vectors of Memory: memory. practices that communicate and Legacies of Memory in Post War engage with historical meanings in Europe (Berg 1999) investigates “They became part of a process public arenas’. conduits of memorial activity in the described in the second half of the twentieth century.

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