Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about an issue of profound importance to my community: the protection of Parramatta's colonial heritage. Three of Australia's most historically significant colonial sites, in Parramatta, are currently under assessment for inclusion on the National Heritage List. The first is Elizabeth Farm, the oldest surviving European building in Australia and birthplace of the merino wool industry, built by John and Elizabeth Macarthur. Elizabeth's story, in particular, stands as a testament to the women who helped found this nation. The second is Experiment Farm Cottage, where James Ruse, the first former convict to receive a land grant, proved the colony could feed itself. The third, Hambledon Cottage, one of Australia's most intact early colonial homes, offers a rare glimpse into domestic life in the 1800s. No other precinct in Australia holds that combination so intact in such close proximity, and now it is under threat.

A proposed development of 483 multistory dwellings at Gregory Place risks permanently altering this heritage landscape—its sightlines, its archaeological fabric and the skyline that frames Our Lady of Lebanon Co-Cathedral. This is Australia's largest Maronite Catholic parish—30,000 people and four decades of community. It's where Lebanese Australians baptise their children, keep their language alive and gather as a community. To place a development of this scale on that horizon would be a profound intrusion.

Parramatta has the highest number of housing approvals in New South Wales, and I'm proud of that. We're not against housing. Housing matters. But growth without memory is not progress. A great city must value its past as much as its future.

The significance of these buildings extends to the land around them. Decades of deliberate effort have gone into restoring this landscape to an authentic rural setting. Houses were demolished, roads rerouted and land carefully acquired. That painstaking work makes the threat of this development all the more devastating.

Parramatta has fought for its heritage before, and it will fight again. Hambledon Cottage was twice threatened with demolition in the mid-20th century, earmarked for factories and saved only by community action. We saved it then. We cannot afford to lose it now. That is why I am engaging with the Australian Heritage Council to urgently finalise its assessment and working with Minister Murray Watt to prioritise national heritage recognition without delay. I've launched a community petition to support this call, and I encourage every Australian who values their heritage to add their name to that petition.