Kew residents fight for right to access Genazzano school grounds

A group of Kew residents is taking legal action to protect their right to freely access the sprawling grounds of Genazzano after a decades-old agreement turned sour.

A group of Kew residents is taking legal action to protect their right to freely access the school’s sprawling grounds. Picture: Mark Stewart

A group of Kew residents is taking legal action in the Magistrates’ Court to protect their right to freely access the grounds of an up-market Catholic girls’ school.

Residents from 22 houses that back directly on to Genazzano FCJ College have been able to use the school grounds after hours thanks to a deal struck with “the nuns” decades ago.

But the school recently started erecting a 2m-high black metal fence on its eastern and northern boundaries, stopping neighbours from accessing its campus and picturesque leafy oval.

The issue affects homeowners on the eastern side of Normanby Rd and a number of houses on the school’s northern boundary on Glendene Ave.

Two of the houses at numbers 16 and 20 Normanby Rd do not have back fences, giving them open access to the school grounds.

One of these homeowners, Bryan Gracey, is from one of the six families who obtained an injunction in the Magistrate’s Court stopping the school from building the fence.

The view from the Gracey backyard is now obscured by the temporary fencing. Picture: Supplied

The order made on September 13 directed the school to stop fence works behind numbers 16 and 20 and respond to the neighbours’ claims within 14 days.

Mr Gracey said the school had continued building the fence and had erected security cameras along the site.

“My family has lived in the house for 44 years, my three daughters went to the school and two were married at the school and my mother had her funeral there. Now my granddaughter goes to the school,” he said.

Mr Gracey says the school has continued to build the fence despite the court order. Picture: Supplied

“We have always enjoyed access to the school with the permission of the nuns.

“The phrase ‘Love Thy Neighbour,’ typically invoking Christian values of kindness and understanding, stands in stark contrast to the tensions brewing between the school and its long-time neighbouring community,” Mr Gracey said.

The neighbours have vowed to go ‘all the way to the Supreme Court’ to maintain their access. Picture: Mark Stewart

He said there had not been any incidents to prompt the fence being built, to his knowledge.

“We have rights under existing easements to walk through the school, and will take the fight all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,” he said.

“The neighbours, who had previously used the oval after hours, appear frustrated by the lack of dialogue, especially since the Fencing Act and council regulations require such consultation.”

Bryan Gracey’s family has lived at his Kew property for 44 years and have always enjoyed access to Genazzano’s grounds. Picture: Supplied

Mr Gracey’s neighbour Mary Duffy said the move was “very disappointing”.

“We first heard about it in a letter on August 2 saying the fence was going up,” she said.

“I went to school there too. It’s obviously a new era.”

Ms Duffy’s mother Susan, who is 93, has lived in the house next to the school all her life.

In the past the school has paid for residents on its Normanby Rd boundary to erect fences, but has included gates allowing them to access the school.

Genazzano principal Loretta Wholley said the college “takes seriously its responsibility to maintain, upgrade and build facilities that create a safe environment for students and staff”.

“The fence built within the grounds of the College and not a boundary fence is delivering on the college’s duty of care to protect the school community and facilities,” she said.

In the last six years, the school has lost more than 200 enrolments, struggling to compete with lower-priced Catholic girls’ schools in the eastern suburbs.