Gold Creek Homestead should be preserved according to the National Trust and the Gungahlin Community Council. Photos: Gungahlin Community Council.
The National Trust and the Gungahlin Community Council have called on the ACT Government to preserve the Gold Creek Homestead after the land on which it sits was advertised for sale by the Suburban Land Agency.
The SLA is marketing the sale of the community-zoned Block 109 Section 23 in Ngunnawal as suited to a retirement home or other community uses, with the 4.775 hectare site able to support 160 residential care beds and up to 30 supportive dwellings.
There are no conditions attached to the sale in relation to the Homestead.
The Gungahlin Community Council says Gungahlin could not afford to lose its links to the past and the green space the site provides.
“In a region that is ‘all-new’, retaining our links to our past and history are important. The Gold Creek Homestead site not only provides this, it is also a delightful green space, with huge trees, a pond and the skeleton of a sculptured garden and tennis courts,” it says.
Gungahlin cannot afford to lose such green space. There is plenty of room around the homestead building for some development which will keep the site in active use. For these reasons, the GCC will be striving to ensure the successful tenderer that buys the site retains this green space and homestead as a public facility for the current and future generations of the Gungahlin residents.”
The National Trust, which has written to the CEO of the Suburban Land Agency expressing its concern, says a purchaser should be able to incorporate the homestead into any new development on the site.
“The ACT Heritage Council has determined that it does not reach the threshold for Territory significance which is a higher level than local significance as they consider local significance is not included in the ACT Heritage Act,” it said in the letter.
“The National Trust does not agree with this interpretation and application and there are other examples of local significance already listed on the ACT Register… the National Trust urges the Suburban Land Agency to include this retention and adaptive reuse of the Homestead as one of the criterion in the assessment of any proposals as it will have a positive outcome for the area.”
The sale by tender is being handled by Knight Frank, with tenders closing on 2 pm Thursday 7 June 2018.
The GCC’s next public meeting on 9 May will discuss the sale.
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