Redfern Post Office Aboriginal cultural hub: Indigenous leaders clash over plans

Indigenous leaders have unleashed on City of Sydney plans to turn a post office, with a history of segregation, into a hub for Aboriginal culture. Find out why.

Indigenous leaders have clashed over a contentious council plan to turn a Sydney post office, with a dark past of racial segregation, into a multimillion-dollar hub for Indigenous culture.

The Sydney Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council has accused the City of Sydney of “paternalism” over a proposal to create a new Indigenous museum, exhibition and cultural space at the former Redfern Post Office.

The project has been in the works since 2018 when the council forked out $5.3 million to acquire the historic building.

Four years on, council’s proposal has sparked staunch opposition from the local Aboriginal land council which has refused to take any part of its future operations.

Land Council chair Nathan Moran said the organisation had yet to be consulted on the proposal and pointed to the site’s history of racial segregation as a chief reason why it was unsuitable.

“As the local Aboriginal authority we are responsible for Aboriginal culture and for the City of Sydney – a colonial body – to buy a site for a cultural centre without speaking to the people actually responsible for the culture shows an ineptness and lack of respect,” he said.

“Aboriginal people weren’t allowed in the building until the 1970s due to Australia’s race-based laws and we have many members born well before it closed who remember being denied access. It’s totally inappropriate.

Nathan Moran pictured at the site.

“If we’d been spoken to four years ago it may have saved everyone a lot of time and a few million dollars.

“The public persona the City of Sydney sells itself on as progressive council in my experience is not the reality and it has no right to trade on our culture.”

Yvonne Weldon, the first Aboriginal Australian to be elected on the City of Sydney council last year, has also lashed the proposal and called for a more suitable site.

“For me as a young person I recall Aboriginal people getting hosed outside the post office and the way people were treated was atrocious,” she said.

A photo of Redfern Post Office, pictured during the 1880s

City of Sydney councillor Yvonne Weldon.

“It’s not suitable for a cultural centre and instead of having a truly inclusive space, the community will be forced to have any crumbs they can get.

“The (Aboriginal) Land Council only found out about the proposal in a newspaper article and should have been consulted from the start.”

Blak Douglas – winner of this year’s Archibald Prize – has meanwhile supported council’s proposal and believed critics should not focus on the site’s history of segregation.

“Why would anyone choose to hang on to that dark cloud and have that hanging over the vision which is create an exciting new first nations museum and artistic opportunity,” he said.

Blak Douglas (aka Adam Hill) has supported the proposal.

“If I was to receive an invitation to put work in there to display I’d most likely say yes.”

The City of Sydney, in a statement, said council’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory panel assisted in its decision to purchase the building.

“The panel inspected the property and provided advice on its potential to support the needs of the community,” a spokeswoman said.

“The City of Sydney has just completed a round of consultation with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to determine the building’s future use.

“We have received a range of ideas from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members who completed a survey or attended a workshop.

“We will continue to work with the community to ensure this building provides the best possible opportunities for use by local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.”

Heritage studies show the post office was built in 1883 on former swamps and watercourses on Aboriginal land before becoming one of the largest postal hubs in Sydney.

The City of Sydney bought the site in 2018.

Council’s plans stated the venue would create a “community space within a highly visible and culturally significant location in proximity to existing community and cultural services in Redfern”.

Council documents show the cost of the cultural centre is estimated to tally $1.57 million and would involve adding new community rooms, exhibition spaces and signage to the building.

There would also be a new colour scheme referencing Indigenous culture and outdoor areas for events and smoking ceremonies.

Mr Moran said other concerns over the building included the sandstone structure of the site, which he believed isn’t suitable for housing cultural items.

“It’s not the environment where art or artefacts can be stored or displayed – it’s colonial sandstone that’s going to require probably as much money to refit as the purchase price,” he said.