Mosman Council to challenge Aboriginal land claim on park next to Taronga Zoo in Mosman

A Sydney council is vowing to challenge a claim made over a park in one of the city’s wealthiest suburbs, where residents have been caught by surprise.

A Sydney council is vowing to challenge an Aboriginal land claim lodged over a park in one of the city’s wealthiest suburbs.

Mosman Council has been asked to respond to a land claim by the NSW Aboriginal Land Council covering the entirety of Little Ashton Park, which is next to Taronga Zoo on Whiting Beach Rd in Mosman.

First lodged more than a decade ago in 2009, the claim covering 8280sqm was only made public after the Department of Crown Lands sought Mosman Council’s response.

Mosman Council, in a statement, said it would oppose the claim due the park’s use by community members as well as for “essential services”, including drainage and utilities.

The claim follows Mosman Council previously fighting off a separate land claim from the Sydney Metropolitan Land Council, which sought around 2500 sqm at Lawry Plunkett Reserve next to Balmoral Beach.

Little Ashton Park in Mosman.

That claim, covering land located behind the Esplanade, was refused earlier this year following an appeal period that expired on June 19.

Now, the claim on Little Ashton Park has taken some harbourside residents by surprise.

They include Mosman Parks & Bushland Association president Kate Eccles, who said the lack of public detail about the claim concerned her.

Mosman Parks & Bushland Association president Kate Eccles.

The park that is the subject of the land claim.

“Our position on land claims is that public land should be for all Australians, and the problem with land claims is we often don’t know the intention for the land claim when they’re submitted,” she said.

“Is it to stay as public land for the benefit of everyone or is there some other intention? The problem is we just don’t know.

“It doesn’t mean to say there are plans to develop the land, but we would be very sorry if the park was to be lost.”

Little Ashton Park in Mosman.

Little Ashton Park has been subject to years of bush regeneration works, with volunteers chipping in to plant more than 700 trees at the site.

Restoration projects dating back to 2013 have also involved the Mosman Council bushcare group, which has looked to control noxious weeds.

Under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, Aboriginal land councils can lodge claims for blocks of Crown Land.

If a claim is successful, land is then transferred in freehold title to Aboriginal ownership.

A community tree planting day at Little Ashton Park in 2022.

But for a claim to be successful, the land must meet criteria, which include that it is “not lawfully used or occupied” and “not needed, nor likely to be needed, for an essential public purpose”.

In its statement, Mosman Council said “the claim should be denied as the park is currently being used by the community for a lawful and essential public purpose”.

“(The land) has continued to be used for this purpose since before the date of the claim until the present day,” a council spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for Crown Lands said the claim was currently being assessed and “a timeline on when the determination will be made cannot yet be given”.

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council was contacted for comment.