Peat Island: NSW Government in talks to gift Peat Island to Darinjung Aboriginal Land Council

After several plans by successive governments to redevelop Peat Island into a residential and tourism wonderland, the NSW Government has announced plans to gift it to the Darkinjung.

One of the most sought after parcels of absolute waterfront land on the Hawkesbury River — Peat Island — could be transferred into the ownership of the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council.

In a media release issued on Monday NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts announced a statement of intent to negotiate the potential transfer of ownership of Peat Island to the local land council.

The statement said the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council had submitted a land claim for the island and sought to use it to further economic and cultural opportunities for the local Aboriginal community.

Peat Island has absolute waterfront access to the Hawkesbury River. (AAP IMAGE / Adam Yip)

This includes the possible development of an Aboriginal Discovery Centre, Indigenous Walking Path and cultural tourism opportunities that will capture and help preserve the rich Aboriginal cultural heritage on and surrounding Peat Island.

Mr Roberts said the announcement was a testimony to the significant work undertaken to identify the future land use for Peat Island.

“The collaboration with Darkinjung will aim to reunite the site with the custodians of the land, ensuring it will be preserved and acknowledged well into the future,” Mr Roberts said.

“The NSW Government will continue working with Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council through the planning processes.”

Terrigal State Liberal MP Adam Crouch said the statement of intent marked another step forward in reconciliation.

There have been many plans to redevelop Peat Island over the years. (AAP IMAGE / Adam Yip)

“The government recognises the significance of Peat Island, in both its Indigenous and European histories, and the impact it has had on all Australians over the last hundred years,” Mr Crouch said.

“Working with the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council gives us an opportunity to partner with a local land council to pay respect to these shared histories.

“We are also working closely with local community representatives to establish a memorial in the proposed chapel precinct to remember the residents of the island’s institutional past.”

It comes after the state government has spent the past few years working on a revised planning proposal for Peats Island and Mooney Mooney, considered as the “southern gateway” to the Central Coast.

The island was built as an asylum for inebriates or alcoholics at the turn of the 20th century before being used to house people with mental and intellectual disabilities.

It was eventually decommissioned in 2010.

Peat Island or Rabbit Island as it was once known in the early 1900s. Supplied image.

The island has been the subject of several redevelopment plans by successive governments with the latest aimed at turning Peat Island into a tourism precinct, 10ha of open space along with 270 homes, townhouses and apartments.

Mr Roberts said the current planning proposal for Peat Island and Mooney Mooney would clear the way for Darkinjung’s vision.

Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council Chairman B J Duncan said it was an “enormous opportunity” for the local Aboriginal community by providing an economic future and strengthening culture for the “grandchildren of our grandchildren”.

“We will create something that showcases and preserves Aboriginal culture and contemporary Australian history in a way that respects the past use of Peat Island and its former residents,” he said.

“Peat Island can become a centrepiece of Australia’s cultural tourism in NSW, showing that you don’t need to go to Central or Northern Australia to celebrate the richness of Aboriginal culture and heritage in contemporary Australia.