Adrian Schrinner
Brisbane Lord Mayor
Brisbane City Council
GPO Box 1434
Brisbane Qld 4001
3 September 2023
Dear Lord Mayor,
I am deeply saddened by the news that the owner/developer Consolidated Property has decided to sell, 9 Macdevitt Street, Coopers Plains QLD, on the open market.
I suggest that all is not lost at this point in time. First, even as it might be purchased by a private owner, that the house structure still remains and there is a possibility that some voluntary heritage agreement might be met. It is only a matter of creative thinking between the Council and owner, and in consultation with the local community.
This leads me to the second point. The Council and its Heritage Unit has answers to provide to the local community, Simon Cole (M.Sc.Ed., Aston UK) has publicly stated:
“The Brisbane City Council’s Senior Historian, Dr Ross Mahoney in the Architecture and Heritage department has had a Heritage listing application on the property under consideration for several years now. On hearing the news of its imminent sale and probable demolition, no sense of urgency was apparent.”
“There are still some 12 of these much-loved Dutch houses in private hands, in good condition. However, none are protected or open to the public. Each one is solidly built and embodies considerable resources.”
“It appears that profit is overriding the community’s interests yet again. This is a significant disappointment, as it brings an end to 4 years of lobbying and the petition – signed by more than 1,000 people.”
There are legal obligations here for the Council to face up and answer the Community:
- Can the Council admit that its heritage processes were flawed and does not meet international standards in cultural heritage practices? If the Council denies that its processes were flawed and that the Council is not responsible for such failure, what is its intelligent argument of denial?
- Is the current Council administration going to change its practice in heritage? And if not, why not?
- Would the Council be willing to remedy the situation of 9 Macdevitt Street, Coopers Plains QLD for heritage and community usage.
I demand, as is my electoral right (in the ancient semantics[1]), that the Council answer these questions intelligently, and if it cannot, please provide the answer as to why the current administration cannot fulfil its obligations.
Kind regards,
Neville.
Historian (Sociology, Philosophy including of education, Historiography and Local Heritage Studies, and on Municipal Governance), MPHA (Qld), Ph.D. (History) UQ., Grad. Dip. Arts (Philosophy) Melb., Grad. Dip. (Education) UQ.
[1] For dear God’s sake, get a comprehensive education. Municipal Governance is fully answerable to its electors.
Neville Buch