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Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows local people gathering for a meeting in Whites Creek Valley Park in Leichhardt, Sydney. They are disputing Leichhardt Council’s future usage of two properties in the Park. Bruce Leahy, Leichhardt Council’s urban planner, addresses the group, as does Vince Cuzamano, the Park’s manager. There is footage of the buildings at numbers 29 and 31, the two properties in dispute. Some local residents are interviewed and some of those at the meeting are shown exploring the grounds and gardens of the properties in what is referred to as a 'magical mystery tour’.

Educational value points

• The clip shows Whites Creek Valley Park in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Leichhardt. The Park is part of the Whites Creek Corridor, and follows the Creek. Whites Creek flows in a northerly direction from Parramatta Road into Rozelle Bay on Sydney Harbour. The Creek forms the border between Annandale and Lilyfield. The local government area is Leichhardt Council.

• Community members are shown meeting in Whites Creek Valley Park to discuss disputed properties with Council representatives. Several residents hold the view that the 'historic’ properties should be preserved. The range of views expressed about why the derelict properties should be preserved and the exploration of the site by local residents show the difficulties inherent in negotiating an outcome that addresses the interests of various stakeholders. A plan to establish a wetlands in part of Whites Creek Valley Park had been proposed to the Council by Friends of the Earth in 1996.

• The clip shows grassroots democracy, the principle that democratic power is best exercised by being vested in a local community, at work. The issue being addressed is the use and development of a local park. Gillian Leahy, the filmmaker, was a member of the community and thus had intimate access to those involved in the dispute. She filmed the developing action over a 12-month period.

• Vince Cuzamano addresses the local residents on the potential financial risks that the Council could incur once it acquired the disputed properties. The Council potentially owes a duty of care to every member of the public whether the person is a ratepayer or not. The presence of a person in a street, park or other public place that is under the jurisdiction of the Council may give rise to that duty. As almost every member of the public makes use of at least one local government service every day, local governments are particular targets for litigation, particularly in the area of negligence as outlined in the amended New South Wales public liability legislation.

• The clip highlights Sydney’s multicultural heritage and the potential for a range of views about public spaces. Twenty-five per cent of Sydney’s residents were born overseas and a further 20 per cent are the children of migrants. Leichhardt is known as the Italian heart of Sydney. According to the 2001 census, Leichhardt community facilities are well used by organised community and resident precinct groups.

• Increasing population and development is placing pressure on Sydney’s parklands. The 2006 Open Space and Recreation Needs Study, commissioned by the City of Sydney, found that more green space, sportsgrounds and children’s playgrounds are needed to accommodate the extra 40,000 people expected to move into the CBD and inner-city suburbs in the 10 years to 2016.

• Gillian Leahy made the film Our Park in 1998. She says her films are at the same time documentaries and works of fiction, and that they are all based on reality. A local resident, Leahy was employed by Leichhardt Council in 1978 to work with 16 unemployed people in making a film on youth unemployment, resulting in Doled Out (1978). In 1986 she made her best known film, Life without Steve, which she has acknowledged was largely autobiographical. While she describes Our Park as a largely conventional observational documentary, when a dispute between neighbours arose during filming, she provided a narrative of events as they unfolded.

This clip starts approximately 17 minutes into the documentary.

Children and adults walk through the park. A man rides a bike.
Narrator Realising that Whites Creek residents weren’t happy with Leichhardt Council’s old design for the expansion to the park, the council began to hold community consultations with us about what sort of park we wanted and the future of the buildings at number 31.
Man Arthur Ryan. Does everybody know Arthur Ryan? The flower grower?
Narrator Bruce Leahy, the council planner, opened the meeting.
Bruce Leahy This was initiated by a petition from White Street residents who wanted to be consulted about changes to the park in view of new properties that are being bought by the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, principally 29 and 31 which some of you will know. The property’s been bought for open space and, I mean, there’s a debate – it was built as a house, it’s most suitable as a house, and therefore it should go, notwithstanding the fact that it’s quite an attractive building.
Woman 1 Walking down here was an absolute mystery. I’ve never been here. It’s just magic.
Kostas (a local resident) I would like to have a place – I’m sure a lot of people would – that incorporated within the park would be the stables and the house.
Woman 2 This being the oldest building in the street, I think one has to sort of say are we pulling down for the sake of.
Vince Cuzamano (the park’s manager) While it’s in private ownership, you can get away with having things like monkey ropes, bits where there’s a falling over spot, or whatever. Once it falls into public hands…
Narrator Vince Cuzamano, the park’s manager, was also there.
Vince Public liability and risk management and all those things that the council’s exposed to, and something like that – if council was to take over this space tomorrow morning at 9:00, at 9:05, I’d have to have someone up there cutting that down.

Locals push their way through the overgrown shrubbery.
Narrator Council’s responsibilities for safety might mean the end of our secret wild places. During the meeting, some people went on a magical mystery tour of the labyrinth.