Awaba Colliery, near Fassifern, NSW Post-Mining Heritage Management Plan Prepared by: Prepared for: RPS AUSTRALIA EAST PTY LTD CENTENNIAL COAL NEWSTAN 743 Ann Street PO Box 1000 PO Box 1559 Toronto NSW 2283 FORTITUDE VALLEY QLD 4006 T: +61 7 3237 8899 F: +61 7 3237 8833 E: [email protected] Client Manager: Joanne McAuley Report Number: PR109115 Version / Date: Final/ August 2012 rpsgroup.com.au Awaba Colliery, near Fassifern, NSW Post-Mining Heritage Management Plan Document Status Version Purpose of Document Orig Review Review Date Final Issue to client J McAuley D. Rigby 28 June 2012 Draft V Sicari (Heritage Final Issue to client J McAuley 31 July 2012 Branch) Approval for Issue Name Signature Date Joanne McAuley 17 August 2012 PR109115 / August 2012 Page ii Awaba Colliery, near Fassifern, NSW Post-Mining Heritage Management Plan Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 2 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Study Area ............................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 3 1.4 Authorship and Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... 3 2.0 LEGISLATIVE CONTEXT ................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 The Heritage Act 1977 ............................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) (EP&A Act) ............................... 4 3.0 HISTORIC HERITAGE RESOURCE WITHIN AWABA COLLIERY ..................................................... 6 3.1 Previous Historic Heritage Studies of the Awaba Colliery site and environs....................... 6 3.1.1 Awaba Colliery Outbye Extraction Cultural Heritage Assessment (ERM, November 2005) ......................................................................................................................... 6 3.1.2 City of Lake Macquarie Heritage Study (Suters Architects Snell, Dec 1993) ................ 6 3.1.3 Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment for Awaba Colliery (RPS, September 2010) ...... 7 3.2 Heritage Register Search ........................................................................................................ 8 3.2.1 The Australian Heritage Database .............................................................................. 8 3.2.2 The NSW Heritage Inventory ...................................................................................... 8 3.2.3 Lake Macquarie Local Environmental Plan 2004 (LMLEP 2004) ................................. 8 4.0 HISTORIC CONTEXT ......................................................................................................................... 9 4.1 Historical Overview of the local area ...................................................................................... 9 4.2 NSW State Coal Mines .......................................................................................................... 10 4.3 Awaba State Colliery ............................................................................................................. 10 4.4 NSW Historical Themes ........................................................................................................ 12 4.5 Sources.................................................................................................................................. 12 5.0 PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................................... 14 5.1 Main Building Complex ......................................................................................................... 14 5.2 The Workshop ....................................................................................................................... 16 5.3 The Drift Portals .................................................................................................................... 18 5.4 The Rail Track ....................................................................................................................... 19 5.5 Fire Station Shed ................................................................................................................... 19 5.6 Layout .................................................................................................................................... 19 5.7 Visual Setting/Curtilage ........................................................................................................ 21 6.0 HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE ASSESSMENT .................................................................................... 23 6.1 Assessment against NSW State Heritage Significance Criteria .......................................... 23 6.1.1 Criterion (a): An item is important in the course, or pattern, of NSW’s cultural or natural history (or the cultural or natural history of the local area) ......................................... 23 PR109115 / August 2012 Page iii Awaba Colliery, near Fassifern, NSW Post-Mining Heritage Management Plan 6.1.2 Criterion (b): An item has strong or special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in NSW’s cultural or natural history (or the cultural or natural history of the local area)................................................................ 23 6.1.3 Criterion (c): An item is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in NSW (or the local area) ............. 23 6.1.4 Criterion (d): An item has strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in NSW (or the local area) for social, cultural or spiritual reasons ........ 24 6.1.5 Criterion (e): An item has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of NSW’s cultural or natural history (or the cultural or natural history of the local area) .......................................................................................................... 24 6.1.6 Criterion (f): An item possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of NSW’s cultural or natural history (or the cultural or natural history of the local area).............. 24 6.1.7 Criterion (g): An item is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of NSW’s (or the local area’s) cultural or natural places; or cultural or natural environments............................................................................................................ 25 6.2 Intactness and Integrity ........................................................................................................ 25 6.3 Level of Significance ............................................................................................................. 26 6.4 Summary of Assessment ...................................................................................................... 26 6.5 Contribution of Individual Features to Overall Significance ............................................... 26 7.0 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE .................................................................................................... 28 7.1 Summary Statement of Significance .................................................................................... 28 8.0 MANAGEMENT AND MITIGATION RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................. 29 8.1 General Statement of Conservation Approach .................................................................... 29 8.2 Owner’s or Steward’s Requirements .................................................................................... 29 8.3 What are the items/fabric that must be conserved? ............................................................ 30 8.4 Recommended approach to new development ................................................................... 32 8.4.1 Layout ...................................................................................................................... 32 8.4.2 Form and Bulk .......................................................................................................... 32 8.4.3 Adaptive reuse and/or extensions to existing buildings.............................................. 32 8.5 Gaps in knowledge about the site and recommended further study/research .................. 33 8.6 What are the place’s conservation needs and interpretation requirements? .................... 34 8.7 Review of management recommendations .......................................................................... 34 8.8 Heritage management contingency protocols ..................................................................... 34 9.0 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................. 35 PR109115 / August 2012 Page iv Awaba Colliery, near Fassifern, NSW Post-Mining Heritage Management Plan Tables Table