7 minute read
Celebrating Bushland, Battlers and Bans
Kelly’s Bush: the special parcel of bushland on the Hunter’s Hill peninsula that was saved from development 50 years ago
WORDS: NICOLA RICHES
Last year when Australia’s legendary union secretary, activist and Green Party member Jack Mundey passed away a note was placed at the entrance of Kelly’s Bush in Hunters Hill. It read: “Dear Jack, Thanks for teaming up with those other heroes and fighting for Kelly’s Bush all those years ago. I haven’t walked through here in 15 years without thinking of you. You cared about heritage, you cared about this city and you cared about us. Your legacy is huge. Rest in Peace, mate.”
The battle for Kelly’s Bush is well known both locally, across Sydney, Australia and overseas. However, the story bears repeating for new generations and those who walk through those 12 acres of bushland on the Hunters Hill peninsula unaware of its place in history.
Kelly’s Bush is the site of the world’s first green ban – the significance of which simply can’t be overstated.
It took 13 women 13 years to save it. On 16th June 1971 the green ban on the site came into effect. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the green ban that has protected Kelly’s Bush.
A brief history
Kelly’s Bush derives its name from Mr Thomas H. Kelly who owned 19 acres of land on the foreshore of Hunter’s Hill, where he established The Smelting Company in 1892. In 1967 Kelly’s Smelting Company moved to Alexandria and AV Jennings took a two-year option to purchase 12 acres of the site; the other seven acres having already been given Kelly’s Bush over to the creation of Weil Park.
The plan was to construct 147 units, including three buildings eight-storeys high. So began often fractious negotiations between Council, the world’s first State Planning Authority (SPA) and AV Jennings. At one point, AV Jennings ‘sacrificed’ five acres to SPA so it could retain some natural foreshore on the proviso it could seek clearance to build 25 substantial single dwellings instead.
In 1979, 13 local women, most life-long Liberal voters, gathered to stop AV Jennings going ahead with the development. They called themselves “The Battlers” and were led by President Betty James and Secretary Kath Lehany. Highly organised and utterly devoted, they laid down the blueprint for modern day activism. The Sydney Morning Herald published a love letter written by the group outlining why the place was so special – how it was the only visible green space from the city on the foreshore of the Paramatta River; how it provided their children space to play; how it was a pocket of bushland carrying significant First Nation’s history and how it harboured native flora so synonymous with Sydney and the local area that it was vital it be saved. They organised campaigns, protests, and courted the media over tea and homemade baked goods. Their well-mannered, conservative and relentless approach was impossible to ignore.
Kellys Bush Battlers celebrating the 25th anniversary of the world’s first Green Ban. Left to right: Miriam Hamilton, Chris Dawson, Betty James, Jo Bell, Judy Taplin, Jack Mundey, Kath Lehany, Monica Sheehan, Joan Croll (SMH 15 June 1996). Not present: Mary Farrell, Trude Kallir, Kathleen Chubb, Margaret Stobo, Majorie Fitzgerald.
However, despite their work, in 1971 the Minister for Local Government signed a notice rezoning the land from Reserved Open Space to Residential, effectively giving AV Jennings the green light. The Battlers considered their options, and in what proved to be a stroke of genius, they approached the Executive of the Builders Labourers’ Federation (BLF) including President Bob Pringle requesting their support. The Battlers made an impression.
When the Battlers met Jack
Jack Mundey, who at the time was secretary of the BLF, tells the rest of the story: “They were passionate about their cause and highlighted the fact that this bush was the last bit of bush on those reaches of the Parramatta River. We decided that the Bush be saved but insisted that the Battlers call a public meeting in Hunters Hill to determine that they enjoyed widespread public support in the area…and that it was not just a handful of residents concerned with their immediate amenity."
Over 500 people met and formally requested our union to impose a ban on work at Kelly’s Bush. We acceded to this public request and a ban on work was imposed. AV Jennings said they would ignore the ban and use non-union labour to do the work. A fitting response came from BLF members on a highrise office block under construction in North Sydney being built by AV Jennings: over 100 workers met and decided that if Jennings carried out the threat to build in Kelly’s Bush, that half-completed office block would be left halfcompleted as a monument to Kelly’s Bush. This had the desired effect and Jennings backed down.”
Dr Meredith Burgmann, a senior lecturer in Politics at Macquarie University and President of the Legislative Council of NSW (Labor), was actively involved in the green ban movement. Her book, ‘Green Bans, Red Union, The Saving of a City’ mentions Kelly’s Bush. It says, “The ‘middle-class matrons’ of Hunters Hill discovered this union of manual labourers was more sensitive to the natural beauty of Kelly’s Bush and more aware of the need for its preservations than conservative politicians and newspaper editors, and they were radicalised permanently by their experience.”
Battle Finally Won
Jack Mundey declared the Kelly’s Bush the site of the world’s first green ban. Premier Askin attempted to have it lifted in 1974 but failed. In 1976, newly-elected Premier Neville Wran declared there would be no development of Kelly’s Bush and in 1983 – 13 years after the Battlers formed - he announced that the State Government had purchased Kelly’s Bush as Open Space.
The legacy of the Battlers
Local resident, writer, comedian and radio/TV host, Tim Ross filmed a short video from Kelly’s Bush in October last year, only four months after the passing of Jack Mundey. He opined: “It shouldn’t be here. It should have been knocked over and the trees ripped up, and this would have been someone’s personal and private view, but I sit here because a group of people cared, not about the present time, but the future for their children, and their children’s children.”
Kelly’s Bush wouldn’t be what it is now without the Battlers and Jack Mundey. But it also wouldn’t be the amazing space it is now without the Friends of Kelly’s Bush, a group that formed when Kelly’s Bush was overrun with weeds such as privet, lantana, morning glory, honeysuckle and fleabane.
Current Weeders - left to right - Peter McMahon, Lee McMahon, Leonie Parker, Maureen Flowers, James Millar, Rosemary Millar, Jill Stephenson, Liz Hinton, Maureen O’Brien (missing: Kate Botting & John Stephenson).
Friends of Kelly’s Bush
In 1993 Kelly’s Bush was handed over to the care of Hunters Hill Council and in 1995 local volunteers began bush regeneration. The Friends of Kelly’s Bush was subsequently established as a landcare community group in 1996 and Battler Joan Croll became its first President. Within that group are the ‘weeders’ – or ‘the Kelly’s Bushcarers’ as they are more formally known.
It is this group that meets once a week to manage the weeds and take care of regeneration. Group members include Peter McMahon, Lee McMahon, Leonie Parker, Maureen Flowers, James Millar, Rosemary Miller, Jill Stephenson, Liz Hinton, Maureen O’Brien, Kate Botting (President of Friends of Kelly’s Bush) and John Stephenson.
The team has adopted what is known as the ‘Bradley Method’ to minimise the growth of the weeds and to allow the native flora to flourish.
Celebrating the world’s first green ban
Burgmann explains: “‘Green bans’ and ‘builders labourers’ became household terms for Sydneysiders during the 1970s. A remarkable form of environmental activism was initiated by the builder’s labourers employed to construct the office-block skyscrapers, shopping precincts and luxury apartments that were rapidly encroaching upon green spaces or replacing older-style commercial and residential buildings in Sydney. The builder’s labourersrefused to work on projects that were environmentally or socially undesirable. This green bans movement, as it became known, was the first of its type in the world.”
More than 45 green bans were imposed in Sydney, while others sprang up in all of Australia’s metropolitan areas. On August 29th 2021 the Friends of Kelly’s Bush will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the saving of Kelly’s Bush. They will also celebrate how it came to be the site of the world’s first green ban.
