THE State Heritage Office has flat-out denied Fremantle council was given any encouragement to pursue a state listing for the West End taking in Kings Square or Arthur Head.
The claim has been repeatedly made by Fremantle Society president John Dowson and former council heritage architect Agnieshka Kiera, most recently at a society forum last week where members voted to ask the WA Heritage Council to expand the proposed boundaries.
Mr Dowson told the crowd mayor Brad Pettitt had pushed a smaller footprint through council despite the heritage office encouraging a wider listing.
A long-time critic of Dr Pettitt, the veteran heritage advocate said the mayor was trying to make life easier for developers, particularly around Kings Square.
But Dr Pettitt countered with a hawkish response that the proposed area from Market Street to the railway line was the most intact and legible example of gold rush architecture. He said that view had been backed by the heritage office’s support.
Mr Dowson’s suspicions had been fuelled earlier in the week by an embarrassing gaffe from heritage office director of assessment and registration Penny O’Connor, who’d inadvertently included him in a reply to her boss Graeme Gammie.
Mr Dowson had asked for a copy of a resolution of the council’s register committee about the West End, but Dr O’Connor advised Mr Gammie it not be given “as it might open up a can of worms”.
She later told the Herald she wasn’t intending to deliberately withhold information from Mr Dowson, claiming the council didn’t usually release committee minutes except to directly involved landowners.
She’d provided the “can of worms” advice because the heritage office wanted to be “moving forward, not looking backward” over the listing and the committee hadn’t been asked to provide an opinion.
But she did provide the Herald with a copy of the resolution, which backs her claim no heritage office support is indicated for the wider boundaries that Fremantle council had previously submitted for preliminary comment.
There was also a lot of social media chat about Australian Heritage Council chair Carmen Lawrence’s speech to the forum, fuelled by media reports she’d opposed the society’s position.
But Dr Lawrence had simply trod a diplomatic line, not offering an opinion on the boundaries but outlining why careful development in heritage precincts was important because radical changes can destroy the sense of self, place and belonging in long-term residents.
by STEVE GRANT
