Sign the Petition to Save Beautiful Hungry Point Reserve from Development!

 

Hungry Point is a unique State Heritage–listed coastal bushland reserve in South Cronulla, beloved by locals, residents of the Sutherland Shire and many others. 

 

Overlooking Salmon Haul Beach, Port Hacking, Bundeena and the Royal National Park, and Gunnamatta Bay, it is a popular peninsula bushland reserve for walkers, beachgoers and family picnickers. The reserve sits on important Aboriginal land of significant cultural heritage – shell middens, a burial site and rock art exist in the area – and Aboriginal occupation dates back thousands of years. In 1904 the site became the first aquaculture research facility in Australia – one of just four in the world at the time – and in more recent times it was also used to house new migrants. The weatherboard buildings that provided migrant hostel accommodation are heritage listed on the NSW State Register. The reserve is home to 80 different native species including an Endangered Ecological Community of Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest and remnant Littoral Rainforest.

 

In 2011, the NSW Government inexplicably closed the aquatic research facility at Hungry Point and moved the jobs to regional centres. The Hungry Point Trust was established to administer the site. After consultation, the trust determined that Hungry Point should be turned into largely public space. 

 

But now, Marine Rescue NSW (a government-funded NGO) is proposing a multimillion dollar development on this precious public site, including:

 

"Demolition of buildings 19, 10 and adjoining walkway and replacement with training pool facility; demolition of building 16 and replacement with four-storey training academy including accommodation, conference and dining facilities; refurbishment of buildings 13 & 15; landscaping and other minor works."

 

This development will result in

·         a four-storey motel-style building that will dominate the cliff above Salmon Haul Beach to the east and Port Hacking to the south

·         a water-level training facility on Gunnamatta Bay to the west that will destroy part of an Endangered Ecological Community of Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest, dominate views of the foreshore and impact on delicate foreshore associations of flora, fauna, rock shelters, tidal pools and beach

·         the loss of public greenspace 

·         the privatisation of public land 

·         a negative impact on remnant urban bushland: mature trees are slated to be removed and offset planting will not make up for this loss

 

The proposed development of a dedicated training and conference centre with 30 accommodation rooms with ensuites and dining facilities catering for 100 trainees per week is not supported by the number of Marine Rescue personnel in NSW, which is approximately 3000. With no business plan disclosed, it is anticipated that Marine Rescue would be required to hire out the conference, accommodation and dining facilities to external parties for commercial purposes to fund maintenance of the new facilities, effectively creating a hotel and restaurant on this public reserve.

 

Marine Rescue’s proposed training centre and training pool are not in keeping with this objective of turning the site into public space. The development will fence off important parts of the site from the public. This is Crown Land and should be accessible to the public.

 

The bulk and scale of the training facility on the eastern side of the peninsula and the training pool on the western side are completely incompatible with the surrounding bush setting and heritage-listed site. A four-storey building in the area is outside the zoning rules, which limits building height to two storeys, and sets an unwelcome precedent in a suburb that is already overdeveloped. The development will result in increased noise, traffic and waste in a rare quiet part of the South Cronulla peninsula. There are ample cafes and places to stay in Cronulla already. Once this precious place is gone, it will be impossible to get it back.

 

Please sign the petition to let the NSW State Government know before the upcoming election that you are opposed to the development at Hungry Point Reserve! Stop the Hungry Point development!