The first timber platform was up in 1881 and a waiting area, ladies waiting area, office and toilets were also built.

(from the report by Ray Christison of High Grounds Consulting, Lithgow, June 2000)

I must admit that I gasped with excitement as I read about Katoomba’s latest urban design advance in the Blue Mountains Gazette. No, it is not more parking meters. The Railway Goods Yard is a site of vital heritage significance and there are now plans to recognise this status and put the space to an appropriate current day use.

IT IS ABOUT TIME.

The project also introduced modern amenities to the building, including electrical fittings, fire detection, and stormwater drainage with new guttering.

Blue Mountains Gazette 9th October 2024

Will something actually happen this time? Will it be worthy of the importance of this space? Why am I asking? There is a history of false starts in returning it to the prominence it deserves while incorporating appropriate design sensitivity.

The construction of the station, together with the development of guest houses and in particular the Great Western Hotel [today the Carrington] gave a huge push to Katoomba as a tourist venue, and the goods yard and station were the hub of the town, with so much produce of all kinds coming via rail and being distributed by horse transport to the town and surrounds.

P3 Ray Christison Report 2000

Council Wanted a Car Park. We Wanted a Plan for Our Town

Any history of official planning for this site that leaves out descriptions such as shabby and brainless is far too generous. Let me take you back to December 1994. The NSW Department of Transport commissioned TEC Consulting to conduct a study of the Railway Goods Yard as a potential site for a transport interchange. TEC warned that “ingress” and “egress” from the site were too difficult and even dangerous.

In particular, the report pointed to the way Old Bathurst Road (Main Street) bends towards the western bridge concealing oncoming traffic and making “egress” a perilous experience (it also makes it devilishly difficult for Islamic terrorists to get up the speed they need to destroy community festivals but that is a story discussed elsewhere).

This TEC Consulting rejection was a great disappointment to certain Council staff. So great was this disappointment that they decided to ignore it two years later.

In July 1996, Deputy Mayor, Jim Angel, sent out an invitation to members of the public to join a car parking committee. Peter Nicol, Ian McMillan and I joined. It comprised Councillors, small business representatives and ourselves as selected community representatives.

Once again, the Council vision was for a car park on the Goods Yard site. At the first meeting, we pointed out that smart towns develop a plan for their town first and then decide where to place car parks. As there appeared to be no plan for Katoomba, we proposed the development of one.

The Sydney Olympics Presents an Opportunity

We recognised the opportunity that the coming 2000 Olympics in Sydney offered for enlivening our town. The NSW Government had already announced its plans to make iconic sites such as Manly, Bondi and Echo Point major urban redesign focuses. It seemed impossible to consider revamping Echo Point without including the town up the road.

In a subsequent meeting, we drew on Peter’s daughter’s talents as a landscape architect to sketch a prospective plan for the town. This followed our forensic examination of community aspirations and proposed plans recorded in public documents over many years.

For example, the front lawn of the Carrington Hotel had long been a de facto public meeting and picnic space. The highway side of the railway line appeared a more appropriate site for a car park. This would free up the Goods Yard for a welcoming park / garden and information centre visible as people arrived at Katoomba Station.

Our plan included a community arts and information centre on the current Cultural Centre site which would have strong links to Echo Point in order to broaden the visitor experience and bring benefits to local employment and businesses. It also proposed to brighten laneways and the streetscape. We had no idea how much money was available so our vision was appropriately modest.

We have all grown dizzy watching the succession of consultantancy reports.

Member for the Blue Mountains, Bob Debus, commenting on wasted money on various government reports with little action coming from them.
Blue Mountains Gazette 5th February 1997

By March 1997, this plan had the support of state member, Bob Debus, Deputy Mayor Angel and much of the community. This was during a period of Katoomba’s revival. Winter Magic was in its fourth year and the Blue Mountains Folk Festival (now Music Festival) was in its third. In 1995, at a celebration I attended, Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr, announced the Blue Mountains would be the state’s inaugural “City of the Arts”. Our future was looking very bright.

There remained obstacles. One of them was the fact the plan did not come from the Council hierarchy. By mid-1997, Council had developed a competing vision called the Katoomba Town Entry Study. Fortunately, that was laughed out of town at a public meeting.

At the time, it was described as the Town Entry Study that didn’t enter the town. The plan included a fast food outlet where the new medical centre is, redevelopment of the Alpine Motor Inn and a cafe at the top of Station Street so staff didn’t need to make the arduous trip to the south side of the rail line. Its almost complete erasure from the Council records accords with its hostile reception.

Who’s Ready for the Charrette?

Having their plan rejected only made Council staff even more determined which presented Messrs Debus and Angel with a problem. Whom should they support? What they did was ingenious. They listened to advice from local architect, Nigel Bell, who recommended the concept of a Charrette.

The Charrette is an intense planning process where experts are drawn from a range of appropriate disciplines to engage with community in discerning public aspirations, needs and concerns. They take this input and develop a workable plan.

The project did not have strong support in some sections of Council. The preliminary public consultation that traditionally runs in the months leading up to the event was poorly supported. At the time, the Gazette had an office in town and a local journalist, Morgan Beck, who was a strong supporter of the car parking committee’s plan which he helped to promote.

Over five days in late October 1998, the Charrette consultation finally took place. The end result was magical. The completed plan was presented by consultants, ESD, in the evening of the fifth day to around 400 ecstatic community members at the Katoomba RSL. I have a cassette recording of that event to support my claim.

Our earnest efforts as part of the carparking committee were rewarded as ESD expanded on our work, improved it and gave it authority. We had by then been upgraded to the Katoomba and Echo Point Planning Advisory Committee. Our work and that of other key players is acknowledged here:

State Cabinet, was able to establish the Katoomba/Echo Point Planning Advisory Committee and the focus and imperative for the revitalisation of both Katoomba and Echo Point. This committee provided the vital link between the Council and the community during the process and has been seeking the means to allow Katoomba to reach its full potential for anumber of years.

p iv Wendy Morris, Charrette Leader and Chip Kaufman, Lead Urban Designer principals at ESD in Katoomba Charrette Outcomes Report

So what did they propose for the Railway Goods Yard? They devoted considerable thought to this space as recorded under section 9.1 of the report (see pages 68 to 71). Anyone interested in the detail should go to these pages of the final report.

In summary, the consultants called for the protecting of the heritage values of the site. Views to Main St should be protected from the station and the Goods Yard along with views from the station into the Goods Yard. The site was “not efficient at all for car parking; its north-south dimension is too
small, especially at its western end as it tapers to only a few metres in width”.

STAKEHOLDER INPUT
Many at the Charrette expressed the desire for this space to be come a public square complemented by the historic rail buildings, while others wanted the buildings removed and for the space to be devoted to car parking for nearby shops (and possibly commuters). The SRA wanted to see significant development recommended on the site, to increase its land value at the time of its sale by SRA.

p69 Katoomba Charrette Outcomes Report

Key Elements of the Plan

* Part of the site should be a small north-facing public open space, where week-end markets and other possibly train and heritage related events could take place, and where people could sit and have lunch enjoying the sunshine, and towards which the adjoining cafes to the east could orient outdoor dining;

* Shops and open-air stalls should line the southern edge of the site against its vertical edge to Main Street;

* The historic fabric on the site should be retained and possibly re-used for other purposes, but only the small railway building adjoining the railway needs to stay in its exact original location. This recommendation should be subject to an assessment of heritage prior to finalisation of designs for this site;

* The design and lighting of the site should support its passive surveillance and safety, including after dark.

And some further images of what we were to expect:

Could We Outlast the White Ants? Council Still Wants Its Car Park

So that’s the happy story. The consultants also warned us to watch out for WHITE ANTS.

The white ants didn’t wait long. They were nibbling away at the site within a few years. This was equally true of much of the grand vision of the Charrette. And now we have true inheritors of that white ant tradition in key positions of power within our Council. By 2001, there were plans for a multi-storey carpark on the Goods Yard site.

This was part of an expanded vision that included concreting over the entire Goods Yard and placing shops on the top. Here is local artist, John Ellison’s, depiction of the new vision.

Above article from Blue Mountains Gazette, August 2001. The Ellison cartoon also appeared as part of this article.

A timeline of our battle to preserve the space between 1994 to 2006 is provided here. This included a march on the site in August 2001 by a large local posse and reported by the Gazette.

We learned the site had been sold to Council by State Rail (as it was then known) in mid-May 2003 for a dollar. This was contradicted by a former Blue Mountains City Council property manager who advised me in January 2004 that there was a dispute over moving the crane and who would pay for it.

A call to Council this afternoon confirmed to me that it is still part of the rail corridor and in City Rail’s keep. Well done to all involved.

The Katoomba Station Goods Shed, next to the rail line, had been steadily degrading due to decades of disuse

Blue Mountains Gazette 9th October 2024

Today the Railway Goods Yard is a Car Park

So what is the situation today? Anyone reading this week’s Gazette article could easily be misled into believing the Goods Yard site has been transformed into a Renaissance Revivalist marvel mirroring the accomplishments of 15th century Florence. No, the space is now a car park.

By huddling up the western end of site, it was possible to give the impression of an open, useful public space. Most of that space belongs to cars. As it has done for years, the site has been a parking space for City Rail staff and other lucky parkers. Free from parking meters, you can stay there as long as you like. It also seems to be a strong source of income for the GoGet hire car company as a surprising number of their vehicles share the space.

Towards the end of the Gazette celebration, Lyndal Punch of Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE), exulted:

“The transformation is quite phenomenal from what it was nine months ago”.

Looking at events over 30 years, I find it phenomenal just how little has been achieved.

I am sorry Trish and Lyndall but I might not be able to get up for this latest revival. A bit of paint, electrical fittings and stormwater drainage are all very exciting but I was hoping for just a little bit more. I have been for a long, long time.

For many years, there has been debate locally about promoting rail travel as opposed to car and coach which are favoured today. It has its advantages. Sitting high on the ridge, once you pass Emu Plains, the train traveller has spectacular views that those down on the highway cannot imagine. Sadly, the experience is destroyed by constant trackwork at the most inopportune tourism periods. For example, a tortuous interchange of bus, train, bus faces school holiday train travellers this very day as I write this article.

The plans for the Railway Goods Yard were meant to be part of an enticing experience of Katoomba even before people stepped off the train. Yet, what are the plans now? Might we achieve something to match the ladies’ waiting room and museum of 143 years ago or will Council and the state government continue to manipulate and ignore public opinion.

As the Mayor Celebrates His Electoral Triumph

You want to understand the sorry state of our town today? You might start by looking at the series of lost opportunities described here. More recently, we had some maddening reports from Council staff as they continue their futile attempts to lassoo the tourist coach operators.

In my research for this article, I came across one piece of correspondence I sent to a Gazette journalist in 2006 regarding the ongoing coach battle. I also found a summary of the Charrette’s plans for dealing with coaches. I make them both available here in order to assist Council staff in their future plans and struggles.

Finally, we can see who is responsible for success but who is responsible for the failures?

So simple, isn’t it. Things just happen. There is no cause. People have heart attacks. Community members fight with each other. Towns fall apart. Buildings fall apart. Communities fall apart. Families fall apart. And it is nobody’s fault. Things just happen.

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