DEAR News Of The Area,

I WOULD like to comment on statements in Mr Greg Osborne’s letter to the editor, 21 July, about the Camden Head Pilot Station management.

Firstly the letter infers that the community hasn’t been involved in the management of the Pilot Station and that the facility should be “returned to the community” as this “hasn’t happened in the past”.

Camden Haven Community College was appointed by the Department of Lands in 1999 following an expression of interest process promoted to the wider community.

The College is a community educational organisation open to all and it was community vision and volunteer work that helped resurrect the facility, making it publicly available for a wide range of compatible, sympathetic uses for the first time since its government functions ceased in 1990.

When the College commenced management, the Station was a dilapidated, termite-ridden building group in a degraded landscape, dominated by Weeds of National Significance invading walkways and growing into tree tops.

Secondly the letter infers that the “management of the station is totally at odds with Australian legal obligations as a signatory to the Burra Charter under which the pilot station is preserved” and “that its usage and purpose cannot be changed even if the station is not operational as such”.

The Australia ICOMOS Burra Charter (2013) is not a legislative instrument and thus is not legally enforceable.

It is a set of practice principles and guidelines for managing places of significance.

Introduced in 1979, the guidelines recognise that while sometimes a building’s original use is no longer viable or as in the case of the Pilot Station, has become redundant, adaptive reuse is a legitimate option for conserving them. Adaptive reuse is the practice of adapting a heritage site for a purpose other than for which it was built.

The Camden Head Pilot Station refurbishment and management was consistent with the Burra Charter guidelines and obtained Department of Lands and Council approvals.

It should also be noted that the Station’s renovation benefitted from input by Camden Haven locals, writer/historian Elaine van Kempen and architect Ian Bailey.

Finally the letter complains about “the overgrown nature of the haphazardly planted vegetation” in the area covered by the Camden Head Masterplan and raises concerns about accessing information about bar safety.

The vast majority of vegetation on this site is not the result of planting but that of natural recruitment and succession of native plants, aided by long term weed control and Council’s decision to cease mowing.

Initial recovery of the site was aided by John Waterer, Pilot Station District Officer 1974-1990, who planted Coastal Banksias to address dunal erosion (Oral history from John and Betty Waterer at meeting with Pilot Station management committee, Pilot Station boatshed 2007).

Since community management a small number of trees have been planted on the reserve, including a few koala food trees, but the majority were all killed by vandals in 2023.

The letter’s concern about accessing information about bar safety is addressed by the detailed information on Transport NSW’s live webcam of the Camden Haven River Coastal Bar, accessible on any smartphone or by contacting Camden Haven Marine Rescue.

Regards,
Janet COHEN,
Camden Head.