Powerhouse Parramatta

I strongly object to the Powerhouse Parramatta Project.
I declare that I have not made any political donations.
The Powerhouse Museum should remain where it is in Sydney for all to enjoy. Tourists will not travel to Parramatta to visit the Museum. The cost of 1.5 million dollars to the Berejiklian Government is absolutely ludicrous for this project.
The demolition of heritage buildings is disgraceful. Parramatta needs to keep the beautiful Victorian era Italianate Willow Grove and St George Terraces in order to keep their sense of place.
The Powerhouse Museum's proposed site is on a river that is known to flood!
Please listen to the objections and do not let this controversial project go ahead.

Yours Sincerely
Leonie Van der Meer

Sir;
I object to the destruction of Willowgrove, Parramatta.
Remember;
“ The past should not be forgotten or forgiven only understood “
Mr. Martin

I OBJECT TO THE POWERHOUSE PARRAMATTA PROJECT!! Please for the love of humanity why on earth do we need another museum? People hardly visit the ones we have in Sydney. Please do not demolish our heritage and beautiful building in favour of disgusting monstrous eyesores called ‘contemporary'. We have plenty of awful buildings in Sydney due to the horrible vision the current architects have.

Save our beautiful heritage buildings. We don’t have much history in Sydney and it would be wonderful to save what buildings and heritage we have left. All the stunning buildings have been demolished to make way for other crap. Read about the stunning architecture we used to have around Sydney. We had many many beautiful homes, all destroyed.

Willow Grove is an important part to women’s history as a maternity hospital for over three decades for the people who resided in and around Parramatta in the early 1950s.
This is significant to Parramatta and historical preservation. Same goes with St George Terraces. These are unique and rare examples of beautiful architecture. Why would you want to destroy history?

My family have lived in Westmead since they moved here in 1963. Since then we have seen a dramatic change. There are the awful eyesores on Vernon Street. They are simply distasteful and smelly. Same goes with the football stadium renovation…. We just didn’t need it.

What about the Parramatta and Wentworthville pools, they were just fine where they were. Why do more apartment buildings need to go there. There are plenty of spaces around Sydney. We are losing our past and what we used to represent

As a lover of beautiful architecture and historical buildings, please don’t go ahead with this project.

"Our City is home to many historic sites of national and global significance. In the midst of a new contemporary, cosmopolitan City we need to anchor, promote and share this World Heritage for our local and national community. Our built environment features some of the Australia’s most important colonial buildings, peppered throughout our City’s changing landscape. More than the architecture, these heritage assets tell a story of the past and help us better understand our future."

I trust you will listen to the people and not the coloured pieces of laminated paper lining your pockets.

Thankyou
Kind Regards
Anastasia

I recently became aware that new Powerhouse museum is set to be relocated to Parramatta and built on a site that will require the demolition of important and unique heritage architecture namely; Willow Grove and St Georges Terraces and I am writing to you to express my objection to the demolition our history.

These buildings are unique to the local area and to Sydney. Parramatta is one of Australia’s oldest cities. It was founded the same year that Sydney was. Over time, much of the rich and unique historical architecture in the area has been demolished. Willow Grove and St Georges Terraces are rare examples of the early architecture in the area and both have played a critical role in our history, including as a maternity hospital for the people of Parramatta.

The destruction of these buildings with have a significant impact to the community and the preservation of our State’s heritage. Too many of these important examples of architecture and our early history are being demolished. What is the point of heritage listing in this State if it is not respected and upheld by everyone?

I also find it offensive that these historic buildings are being demolished to make way for a museum which by very definition is for the key purpose of collecting, preserving and displaying important historical artefacts. Nowhere else in the world would this be allowed to happen and the Trustees of the Powerhouse museum should be ashamed that they have allowed this to happen. In fact, they should all be called upon to resign because this demonstrates a profound lack of respect for the preservation of Australian history.

I request that you stop these plans and the demolition of these buildings.

Sincerely

Emma Rumble

I object to the Powerhouse Parramatta Project, for the following reasons:
• Willow Grove is a unique piece of architecture in the Parramatta area and needs to be preserved
• Too many historical sites have already been destroyed in the Parramatta area
• The site is vulnerable to flooding from the Parramatta River
• The proposed Powerhouse will not have enough display space
• It will be expensive to move exhibits from current location

Dear Sir,
I OBJECT TO THE POWERHOUSE PARRAMATTA PROJECT
The Powerhouse Museum is currently ideally located in the same Ultimo precinct as its predecessor, the Museum of Arts and Sciences, which was established in 1893. As a child growing up in southern Sydney in the 1950s and 60s, a visit to the Museum was a thrilling part of a visit to the city.

The Powerhouse Museum must remain on its central site, to enable people from all over NSW and interstate to continue visiting this key scientific and cultural Museum. I currently live on the South Coast, travel to Sydney by train, and would be highly unlikely to make the additional journey to Parramatta. My interstate extended families ALWAYS visit the Powerhouse Museum on Sydney visits.
Parramatta has not been consulted about the imposition of the Powerhouse Museum; it is being foisted upon them. It is now quite clear that the proposed new building, on the flood plain, will not even house a museum. Its spaces will hold events rather than a contemporary Museum of Arts and Sciences. The proposed Director has art and event management experience and no museum or collections experience at all.
This is not the cultural institution Parramatta needs and wants. It does not meet the needs outlined in Parramatta Council’s plans. The State Government has ignored the City of Parramatta's own 2017 Cultural Plan key objectives.
The destruction of two of Parramatta’s most significant heritage buildings – Willow Grove Villa and St Georges Terraces – simply cannot be justified. They must not be pulled down to make way for a badly-conceived and unwanted building.
Why is the government ready to wilfully abandon a purpose-built museum just 30-years-old?

Dear Sir,

I respectfully, but strongly object to the plans to destroy Willow Grove and St. George Terraces to make way for the proposed relocation of the Powerhouse Museum.

It is a travesty and pure vandalism to continue to erase the history from Parramatta and NSW of such iconic buildings. Willow Grove and St Georges Terraces are rare examples of architecture that could be lost to the community under the guise of ‘progress’

It is my belief the character of Parramatta could be irrevocably changed and this was not adequately addressed on the Environmental Impact Statement

I have not, ever, made any reportable political donations

28th June 2020

Exhibition submission – Powerhouse Museum

Mr Marcus Jennejohn
Planner
Powerhouse Parramatta.
Email: [email protected]

Mr Jennejohn,

I know you’ve had the Powerhouse Parramatta albatross dumped in your work tray and you are entrusted with trying to make best of what is a dog’s breakfast, but seriously, what a complete and utter dud project is being proposed by the NSW Government with the moving of the Powerhouse Museum from Ultimo to Parramatta. The rape of this state’s most precious assets by the current NSW Government is only akin to the shocking Government neglect recently seen in Rio de Janeiro when in 2018 a fire at the Museu Nacional saw a potential 20 million irreplaceable items lost forever.

PARRAMATTA ISSUES
1. The proposed development is within a flooding zone of the Parramatta River. In fact the site has flooded within the past year. Infrastructure NSW’s solution to this in correspondence to me dated 11th May 2020 to build floorspace up to 25 feet above ground level (equivalent to the best part of a 3 storey building). Then there’ll be the equivalent of a further 7 storey structure on top. This raises a number of issues, from the very efficiency of the proposed building itself where so much space is severely restricted and compromised in what it can be actually used for; through to the building’s completely over-scaled footprint without showing any relationship or regard riverside to the narrow neck of the Upper Parramatta River it will sit upon and Georgian masterpieces such as Lennox Bridge. The structure, nearly 70 feet high at Phillip Street level will shadow the immediate area and the design flaws will continue through to Phillip Street, where the proposed monolith shows complete disregard to the streetscape. It will also impact on the Old Government House World Heritage listing, stifling vistas to the Parramatta River, a significant part of the listing.
2. The building is totally unsuitable and out of touch with Parramatta. Infrastructure NSW in an email to me dated 11th May 2020, described the building as iconic and of a standard akin to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. If they actually believe this, then the department is totally delusional and totally lost in their own media spin. This building lacks merit in every way, from the inefficient way it uses space; to the lack of clarity on how the museum will be safely presented within it; to the lack of a relationship with the Upper Parramatta River; to the unnecessary demolition of St George’s Terrace and Willow Grove; to the destruction of established vegetation in the Willow Grove precinct; to the lack of planning around transport accessibility to the site; to the footprint that will impact a flood zone. The building will not be a drawcard as it is not only mundane, but at nearly 70 feet high at street level offensive to its surroundings and relegating the Upper Parramatta River to a sewer through overdevelopment on the site.
3. This development is not a museum and should not be classified as such. Correspondence from Infrastructure NSW on the 11th of May 2020 ha confirmed this site will have accommodation flats for 40 or more people living there for up to 12 months a time while elsewhere the site has been identified as a conventions space with retail and coffee shops. The floor space returned to the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences is around a quarter of what they have at the Ultimo space. There is also no significant on-site storage for collections, with media reporting this weekend that the priceless collection is planned to be sold off or dumped in regional museums. With the plan to fill the site with retail food and cafes, I have seen little work on how the museum will discourage scavenger bird populations (that have become problematic at precincts like the Fish Markets) or the effects the development will have on the Church Street “Eat Street” precinct. There is no plan to show how the museum objects will be historically contextualised, just some vague concept they will be just plinthed and plonked around relatively empty halls like some type of weird theme park.
4. A museum does not destroy the heritage it is supposed to preserve. Collection sell offs and disbursement will have significant impacts on this state’s ability to interpret the past and, and in particular the transport revolution that helped develop NSW. The proposed demolition of Willow Grove and St George’s Terrace also erase valuable and rare 19th century links with pre-Federation NSW. Willow Grove has been described in heritage assessments as unique and exceptional for its rare Victorian Italianate architecture, while St George’s Terrace represent some of the last remaining buildings of their type in Parramatta. Both should be preserved as unique and important legacies of the area’s rich and important history. The development proposal is also out of step with the World Heritage Listing of Old Government House and important vistas to the Parramatta River.
5. The footprint across a flood zone. There has been no detailed study that I can see on how this monolith will impact flood patterns along the Parramatta River. There is no indication as to whether there will be additional impacts downstream, including the weir adjacent to the Parramatta Ferry Wharf, or back upstream to the Georgian Lennox Bridge along Church Street. This building has the potential to dam water back, and potentially impact important colonial structures and other riverside dwellings.
6. There is no integration with the rich cultural opportunity offered by local indigenous populations. The proposed development shows no cultural sensitivity at a site where opportunity presents to build an important bridge between the river, the aboriginal population, the technologies they developed to exploit the river and the 19th century architecture of Willow Grove that was built to support women as a maternity hospital as the population grew. The proposal is akin to sticking a 7 storey tower (the height of this monstrosity) on top of the 1816 Parliament House (ex Rum Hospital) building in Macquarie Street Sydney – but worse.
7. The poor planning projections suggesting the site will attract 200,000 people per year. This is highly unlikely as the ever popular Art Gallery of NSW only attracts 160,000 per year. The factual inaccuracies with even these most basic predictions, cast doubt over the complete plan, with wild guestimates made to please a Minister, not tell the truth.
8. Impacts on an existing museum across the river. Parramatta has a very rich local history museum (the Parramatta Heritage Centre) on the other side of the river which will be overshadowed by this development in terms of scale diminishing the local museum’s viability, limiting their potential to deliver on going quality exhibitions that the public will attend, showcasing the very important localised history of the area. Not only is local history set to be lost with the unnecessary destruction of Willow Grove and St George’s Terraces, the local heritage centre is set to be impacted in a negative way. That museum not only captures the local way of life in the area from indigenous times, through to the development of the railway and tramway, retail institutions including Murray Bros and Grace Bros (first metropolitan store in 1935), theatres, churches, institutions and so on, it is an important resource for local historians and tourists alike, and potential collateral damage from this terrible development.

ULTIMO ISSUES
1. The deliberate destruction of a World Class Collection. Before Sir Lawrence Hargrave passed away in 1915, his collection of box kites was offered to Australian museums for the promotion of peaceful flight. Although his box kite designs allowed the Wright Brothers to fly, he was snubbed by Australian museum curators and instead the 176 box kites ended up in the Deutsches Technological Museum in Munich. With the Museum bombed in Word War 2, only 25 survived. When we finally woke up to our stupidity in the 1960s and asked to copy the box-kites, the German Museum kindly donated back a number of originals to the Powerhouse which “fly” today in the main hall. This story should forever be told so that history never repeats. Unfortunately, we were stupid then and we are stupid now. There is no full assessment of the items in store at the Powerhouse, their condition or a proper conservation plan. This appalling failure is now leading to plans where some of our most valuable items are being readied for sale, or shoved anywhere they can be crammed in run down museums across the state. This is a failure of Government to preserve our most precious cultural artefacts, for what effectively will be a real estate cash grab across the Ultimo museum site.

Further concerns surrounding the collection at the Ultimo site are detailed in the formal letter attached.

Ian Dodd.

Clause 1.3 (f) of the EP&A Act requires promoting the sustainable management of built and cultural heritage. The demolition of Willowgrove house and St George's terrace contradicts this clause. The development should not receive approval on this basis.

I am against the alleged moving of the Powerhouse Museum to new premises on the Parramatta river.

It is a blatant exercise in speculative property deals at both Parramatta and Ultimo. With the current collapse in real estate prices and limited work in the building industry these deals are speculative in the extreme. The plan to sell off the Ultimo property to help finance the new building in Parramatta is nothing more than a land grab to open up more residential development in Ultimo.

The destruction of two heritage listed buildings in Parramatta to make way for the new premises (St Georges's Terraces and the 1800s Willow Grove villa) makes a laughing stock of the whole purpose of a Heritage Listing and is just an example of being able to circumvent the law if enough money is involved. The Government is putting big business interests before our country's heritage and painting it up to be a great progressive exercise which will be a huge cultural addition to Parramatta.

What rubbish!

The new design has already been labelled a "monstrosity on stilts". It will be less a museum and more a conference/exhibition space and residential studios. It is laughable to think that these studios are described as "60 creative residential studios that will bring together researchers, scientists, artists and students from across regional NSW, Australia and around the world to collaborate and participate in Powerhouse Programs". This is naive spin and will not happen. The two million visitors expected to travel out to Parramatta to visit the new *museum* is also overly optimistic in my view.

In its current location the Powerhouse Museum is a must-see destination for visitors to the Darling Harbour precinct. The whole area is world class for tourists and locals alike. The last thing needed is more residential development - a certainty when the land is sold. I have no doubt the Government already has a buyer lined up who is just itching to sign on the bottom line. It smells of corruption on every level.

It is worth pointing out that the majority of the Powerhouse collection can not be accommodated in the new building (too much exhibition space and studios!) and will be shipped off to the "Powerhouse Discovery Centre Collection Stores" in Castle Hill. Is the Boulton Watt steam engine being set up there? Is the No. 1 locomotive going to be set up there? I have my doubts. There is not enough space and the only exhibits that will be moved to Parramatta will be token objects to be used more as token decor items rather than museum exhibits.

The whole exercise is smoke and mirrors obfuscating the Shylock-like machinations of a Government bent of filling its friends pockets with money at the expense of the cultural assets of our country.

No way can this new building be called a power house. This project is a colossal waste of money, destroying a valuable resource, the Powerhouse in Sydney.
By all means create a new museum in Parramatta, one more suited to its place. The female factory badly needs restoration, and would make a fine museum.

I object to the proposal to build a new building in Parramatta to house the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences that has operated as the Power House Museum at Ultimo
I object on the grounds of:
1. Destruction of heritage buildings at the proposed Parramata site.
2. Destruction of the heritage buildings at the current Powerhouse site
3. The unsuitability of the proposed building to provide a permanent display of the most significant artifacts owned by the Museum due to proposed exhibition spaces, location within a flood plain and the difficulty and cost of removing and relocating the largets items such as the No 1 Steam Train, the Boulton and Watt Steam Engine and the Catalina flying boat.
4. The unnecessary cost of building a new and unsuitable structure when, for significantly less money the current structure could be upgraded and updated to include currently relevant Applied Arts and Sciences such as computers and more of the magnificent collection currently stored out of the eyes of the public at the Castle Hill repository.
5. The dubious claims that the new site will attract visitors in the same numbers as the current site which is located in a "high tourist volume" area.
6. That the opportunity to invest in the current premises at Ultimo to lift it to the calibre of other museums such as the Smithsonian and Victoria and Albert is not being taken.

The proposed project is an act of cultural vandalism of two heritage sites and appears to be a win for developers and their cronies
It's very disappointing and I condemn the project

Yours sincerely,

Peter Cowie OAM

Dear Sir,

I OBJECT TO THE POWERHOUSE PARRAMATTA FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:-

1. The removal of those heritage properties is absolutely criminal. The NSW Government should be subsidising the Parramatta Council to ensure the preservation of these

& many more properties, as Parramatta's history needs to be preserved just as much as the city of Sydney. PARRAMATTA IS A MUSEUM

2. The cost is just over the top

3. The position by the river is not a good choice it is because of this the cost is so high.

4. Visitors staying in Sydney City will need more than a museum to make them come to Parramatta

5. Parramatta might be in the centre of Sydney, but try getting there from Newcastle or the Central Coast or even the South Coast & Wollongong.

. I do agree that Parramatta should have a museum. A museum about the history of Parramatta, Penrith Blue Mountains and beyond

To include the rest of Australia, I am sure there are enough artifacts in storage, in the current museum which could be included.

LEAVE THE POWERHOUSE MUSEUM WHERE IT IS

Rosalinde Loch

I object to the project, as there are greater priorities in our community. This is a waste of funds as it is completely unnecessary. There is no need to move the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta. What is required is a high school in the area of Sydney Olympic Park to service the areas of Newington, Wentworth Point and Sydney Olympic Park where there is such a huge increase in high density living and no high school. The primary school of Wentworth Point is in it's 3rd year and already there are demountables in the playground. The nearest high school is Concord High and that's at capacity. This is not good enough!
Forget about Powerhouse Parramatta and refocus energy and funding to building a high school as soon as possible.

The Relocation of the Powerhouse Museum does not seem to have been thought out very well, apart from the following availability of high-yield real estate when the Ultimo site is vacated. Sydney, as against other cities around the world, is fast losing its identity with its past, and is in danger of becoming a random collection of bland high-rise units.
Removing the museum from the exisiting Ultimo building has the following negative effects:
Lack of an industrial museum within the city, where tourists, especially those with a short stayover, tend to congregate;
Concentrating the tourist sites to areas from The Rocks and Opera House to Town Hall, with little enticement to discover the Southern end of the CBD, its terrace houses and restaurants;
Loss of a building which has direct links to our industrial and transport past and architecture;
Replacement with yet another bland block of units, degrading the area as time goes by.

The proposal to build another museum at Parramatta fails on the following points:
What little is left of Parramatta's historical architecture will be reduced by the destruction of the Willow Grove building, leaving no smaller-scale buildings in the area;
Willow Grove is a heritage-listed building, yet the government once again ignores such listing, and wilfully proceeds to destroy NSW heritage;
The collection will be housed in an area which already has exhibits stored in the Museums Discovery Centre at nearby Castle Hill;
The Castle Hill collection should be moved to Parramatta as a foundation for any new Parramatta Museum;
The design selected for the new Parramatta Museum is rather ludicrous and will quicly become dated. The design is inconsistent, with lattices at differing angles, topped by what would appear to be pastry slices - is this the restaurant area?;
The building overwhelms the Parramatta River precinct, which has suffered much over the years. While those inside might have a view out, unfortunartely the public has the view of looking at this enormous block;
There have been various reports suggesting that there may be problems with water ingress - will governments of the future be forever trying to repair a problematic building?

The current Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo does have problems, but they are minor. A big problem is directing tourists to its location. Many overseas cities have signs, indicating where to walk to find their chief attractions. These signs are usually tastefully created, and enhance the streetscape. The second problem is the warren of finding out how to get from one exhibit to the other within the powerhouse. Again, good signage would be beneficial. However, knocking down a perfectly good building for goodness-knows-what underlying reason, makes no sense. In fact, this government eeme to be knocking down every building which was constructed around the bicentennial years, at great cost to the community and with no perceived benefit.

If the NSW government has the money to spend, it should build a new museum somewhere in Parramatta - hopefully designed to suit its environment, rather than a box - and house the Castle Hill collection, which is currently only easily accesible to locals by car. It should not have to raze historic buildings, in what appears to be a quick political fix, rather than a properly considered plan. The Powerhouse Museum should stay where it is in Ultimo, where its building is anchored on what was historically Sydney's most active industrial site. We have little enough left of our past; keep it.

Sadly there is no option to say that I SUPPORT the project BUT OBJECT to demolishing Willow Grove and St. Georges Terrace. By all means move the museum to Parramatta or surrounds at another site. Many have requested that if you need to move it to Phillip street, then retain the structure of Willow grove and St Georges terrace. There is a lot you can do and I have seen similar examples. Both structures can be contained in the premises of the new museum. Willow grove can be the section of the powerhouse museum dedicated to Western Sydney history. St. Georges terrace has tremendous scope to be utilized as cafes/shops. You can retain both structures within the new museum. It is not difficult these days. In my life I have made many acquaintances who specialize is restoration. The money spent to restore an accommodate these jewels can come from the massive sale of pricey real estate i.e. the current powerhouse museum. The government mentions that western Sydney needs institutions of culture. How can that happen if the objects of that culture are demolished?
Please remember that heritage building such as Willow grove and St. Georges terrace are part of a shared heritage of all Australians. That includes early settlers, indigenous Australians as well as recent immigrants (like me from non-Anglo backgrounds) who's sentiments should not be taken for granted.

The relocation of the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta is completely unnecessary. The current Powerhouse Museum is perfectly built and houses a good selection of historical exhibits. It is supported by excellent access to parking and public transport and is in a heritage building which is in sound condition. The demolition of Willow Grove and St George's Terrace, two heritage listed buildings to make way for this relocation, is a disgrace to the preservation of our State history and heritage. I thought the Powerhouse Museum promoted preservation of history by its very nature. This expenditure is a waste of money, especially in this terrible economic climate.

The proposed site at Parramatta is also flood prone as the Parramatta River rises in excessive rains. Parking is almost non existent and it is a good walk from the station. If this demolition and construction proceeds it will more than likely be the death knell for the Berejiklian Government. This coupled with the destruction of the Royal Oak Hotel and the
construction of the light rail route destroying businesses during the construction process is another blight on this State Government.

I object to the destruction of Willow Grove & the St George's Terraces in Parramatta due to the development of a new Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta. What right does the NSW Government have to ignore the people who object to this wonton proposed destruction of our heritage & replace it with an obscene "white elephant" of a building which has nothing to recommend it architecturally & which will be dated & dirty in the years to come. There was no onus on the architects who entered the competition to design a building which incorporated these two beautiful heritage buildings -it should have been contingent on submission of a design for the new Powerhouse. I have no problem with a new museum for the people of Parramatta -one that serves their needs & history such as a Migration or an Indigenous Museum. Leave the current building in Ultimo as testimony to all the wonders of Industrial design & technology. Don't take the name" Powerhouse" & pretend that it will ever be the same with a fraction of the exhibits & sell off our heritage to the developers for short term gain.

I object to the construction, at the present nominated Parramatta site, of a replacement for the Powerhouse Museum
I believe that construction would require demolition of heritage important buildings that should be preseved
I believe that the site is not conveniently located
I believe that the site risks displayed items being damaged in the event of flooding of the adjacent river
I believe that a site at Camellia would be more suitable
I believe that the existing Powerhouse Museum should remain operating in its present Ultimo location
I believe that any new museum should be in addition to the Powerhouse rather than a substitute