By Linda Morris
A gathering of western Sydney residents has rejected the closure of the Powerhouse and expressed support for maintaining iconic world-class museums in Parramatta and the city.
The first of two public forums was convened Wednesday night to consider government plans to shift the flagship campus of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences to Parramatta.
No case for downgrading the Powerhouse Museum at Ultimo, forum told. Credit: Louise Kennerley
After initially flagging relocation the government is considering keeping a small arts and cultural presence in Ultimo.
Ideas for the new riverbank museum raised by attendees included space for touring blockbuster exhibitions, a science and astronomy complex and a dedicated museum representing the city's Indigenous heritage and its early convict history.
"Parramatta was once the seat of power in the convict economy," said Suzette Meade, from the North Parramatta Residents Action Group. "Why don't we tell that story?
"The latest census says 57 per cent of people in this region are born overseas. We could tell all the stories here from forced migration to free migration. It could be the Museum of NSW."
Ideas canvassed for the Ultimo site ranged from a "modern version of a planetarium" to an art gallery showcasing regional artists.
But there was general agreement the Ultimo site needed "refreshment" if not substantial reinvestment. Ultimo could keep its locomotive, said one table.
Representatives were drawn from councils and business chambers as well as residents concerned with the rush of development and its impact on the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct which they consider a superior site for the new cultural institution.
It was here that 5000 woman were incarcerated between 1821 and 1848 and the site is being actively considered for national heritage listing.
Western Sydney director of the Sydney Business Chamber David Borger favoured total relocation.
Despite representing one in 10 Australians, western Sydney only received one per cent of Commonwealth arts program funding, and 5.5 per cent of the state's arts funding, he said.
Charles Casuscelli, chief executive officer of the Western Regional Organisation of Councils, supported investment in a single facility. There was significant, he said, inequity in government arts investment between "east and west".
Among resident groups, however, there seemed to be little mood for the downgrading of the Ultimo site.
One attendee said: "I wouldn't like to see it diminished in any way. The whole thing is constructed to sell off the site to their mates, to developers, so they can make squillions. I'm dead against that."
Heritage activist Phil Bradley said it should not be case of either or. The United States' Smithsonian Institution consists of nineteen museums and galleries as well as a zoological park.
"Western Sydney residents don't support the wholesale removal of a world class museum from Ultimo just as western Sydney residents recognise that we deserve to have one as well," he said.
But there was resentment the NSW Government had committed $244 million towards the Art Gallery of NSW's extension, and a representative from Blacktown Council complained it had yet to see sign of a promised $30 million investment in arts and cultural services for the west.
Concern, too, was raised the government's preferred flood-prone riverside museum site on the Parramatta River would prove an expensive money pit as development down and upstream of the river pushed the local watertable higher.
Engineering studies were underway to determine the extent of flood mitigation works required to protect the Powerhouse collection, the forum was told, and would be included in the extended business case to be presented to Cabinet in December.