Parramatta Labor candidate promises $3.5 million for Little India, Harris Park

Sydney’s most famous Indian neighbourhood that draws interstate visitors has been promised a $3.5 million spruce-up while a North Parramatta landmark could get a heritage boost under a Federal Labor government.

Labor is hoping to woo voters in Parramatta with a $3.5 million cash boost to Harris Park’s Indian community and vowed to push the Female Factory to UNESCO World Heritage listing if it wins the May 21 election.

Parramatta Labor candidate Andrew Charlton pledged the funding towards the development of Little India at Marion and Wigram streets so it could become a “dazzling tourism hub” to celebrate South Asian communities.

The money would be pumped into a carpark, sprucing up the streetscape with street furniture, improved lighting and signage for shopfronts with co-investment grants.

“As a business owner, I understand the important role that small business plays in our economy — and how tough the past few years have been for many small business owners,’' Mr Charlton said.

“That’s why Labor will support small businesses in Harris Park by turning the cultural precinct into a dazzling tourism hub.’’

Parramatta Council has also supported the suburb’s status as an epicentre for Indian culture and is consulting with the state government’s Geographical Names Board to bestow the name Little India to Station St East and Marion and Wigram streets.

Andrew Charlton talks to locals in Harris Park. Picture: Britta Campion

Tuli Jewellers’ Jyoti Tuli, who owns the business with her husband Gurmeet, has welcomed attention from Labor and the Liberals, with treasurer Josh Frydenberg visiting her Marion St shop and other traders in April.

“We are looking forward to all this sort of thing because Harris Park is a place where people come from far and near, even interstate, to do their shopping,’’ she said.

“To facilitate that we need security, parking.’’

She also said funding would help the neighbourhood become a thriving bazaar.

However, she is still unsure which party can best support Harris Park where she and her husband “spend 75 per cent of our lives”.

“At the moment we are not getting anything from anyone,’’ she said.

“Whoever is going to solve our problems, they are angels for us.’’

Advocating for UNESCO listing

Parramatta’s heritage landmarks have taken a beating in recent years with the demolition of Willow Grove, the Royal Oak Hotel and the War Memorial Swimming Centre under the Liberal state government.

But in a move to appeal to heritage advocates, the Albanese Labor Government has promised to immediately begin the process to add the Parramatta Female Factory to the UNESCO World Heritage Australian Convict Sites listing.

The landmark is the oldest and largest convict women’s site in Australia and is significant to Australian and global history.

It houses the former Parramatta Girls’ Home where thousands of orphans and state wards were locked up from 1887 to 1974, including many Stolen Generation children.

North Parramatta Residents' Action Group’s Suzette Meade at the Female Factory. Picture: John Appleyard.

Tens of thousands of women and children passed through the doors of the collection of buildings housed at the Parramatta Female Factory site and suffered great hardship.

Parramatta federal Labor candidate Andrew Charlton said many Australians were descended from women who were housed, incarcerated or institutionalised on the site over its 200-year history under white settlement.

Recently, a strong community campaign helped stop the NSW State Government from building thousands of apartments next to the Parramatta Female Factory precinct.

“World Heritage listing will bring a greater appreciation of the site’s importance to Australia’s history,’’ Mr Charlton said.

“It will honour the memories of those who passed through these doors and reinforce the building’s unique place in the history of indigenous and non-indigenous women and girls in Australia.’’

Parramatta Female Factory Friends Heidi Brown and Gay Hendriksen in front of the Matrons Quarters in North Parramatta. Picture: Angelo Velardo

Parramatta Female Factory Friends president Gay Hendriksen welcomed the promise after advocating for World Heritage listing since 2011, including the tabling of a petition in the federal parliament with 11,000 signatures.

The factory is the most intact of the surviving convict era institutes in Australia.

North Parramatta Residents’ Action Group spokeswoman Suzette Meade said she was sick of Parramatta’s history and heritage vanishing.

“We have recently seen the demolition of the important Willow Grove Victorian Italian villa,’’ she said.

“The protection of UNESCO World Heritage listing will ensure that the Female Factory is protected from the vagaries of future governments.”

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