Activist campaigned for Melbourne’s heritage and tree cover

MARY DROST October 13, 1931-January 4, 2024

Mary Drost OAM, a tireless campaigner for the protection of Melbourne’s heritage and tree cover, has passed away peacefully at Knox Private Hospital early in January at the age of 92.

She was born Mary McMahon in 1931, in the coal mining town of Kurri Kurri, NSW, the second of five children, and only daughter. In 1938, her parents bought a home in Prospect Hill Road, Camberwell, where she spent most of her childhood.

She passed her matriculation at Korowa Anglican Girls School. After working for a year and a half, Mary made a sudden decision to travel to Europe by boat. She and a girlfriend hitchhiked and stayed at youth hostels on their way around Europe and the UK.

Out of Copenhagen, she and her friend met two young Dutch boys. One of them, Peter Drost, thought enough of Mary to introduce her to his parents in Holland, and fly to Australia to be with her after he finished his agricultural science degree.

They were married in 1956, and their first house was in Blackburn. Mary was dismayed by the clearing of native trees in Blackburn at this time and was instrumental in the formation of the Blackburn Tree Preservation Society. The society helped save a lot of trees and retain Blackburn’s original charm.

When her husband Peter was offered a position in Indonesia, Mary accompanied him, and spent a considerable amount of time there, and travelled extensively. Her later campaigning was informed by her wide knowledge of other cities, and her desire that Melbourne not follow down the same path as Jakarta and the rest. She believed that their liveability had suffered from overdevelopment.

She was elected as a Camberwell councillor in the 1990s and was instrumental in achieving heritage listings in local streets. She promoted the protection of heritage homes and tree canopy.

After her time on Camberwell Council, she formed the Boroondara Residents Action Group. She was the prime organiser of protests against plans to redevelop Camberwell Railway Station for office buildings and luxury apartments. In one of these protests, she was joined by actor Geoffrey Rush and the late comedian Barry Humphries.

They encouraged her to broaden her campaign against overdevelopment. She did, setting up Planning Backlash as a network of resident action groups. Planning Backlash supporters engaged in heritage protection, support for tree canopy cover and open space, and sought to give residents a say in planning issues.

Mary Drost joined by actor Geoffrey Rush and the late comedian Barry Humphries at Camberwell Railway Station.

Mary led Planning Backlash with distinction and conviction for the best part of two decades, only passing the baton on after she reached the age of 90. She was an inspiration to many civic-minded locals fighting their own battles.

Mary’s energy was truly remarkable. She attended State Parliament regularly to debate strategy policy issues with ministers and MPs, and to oppose proposals which threatened heritage.

Outside parliament, she organised rallies, engaging her networks to oppose specific measures. She routinely attended Boroondara Council planning committee meetings, speaking against development proposals that threatened heritage, and engaging with individual councillors. Indeed, she continued to attend meetings and have her say even after her 90th birthday, right until her admission to Knox Private.

She wrote submissions to government, government agencies and to VCAT about both specific issues and about wider policy matters. She lent her experience and support to groups throughout Victoria. She helped bring activists together and keep them in touch with each other.

One of her great strengths was networking and communication. She had a wide list of supporter groups and supporters, who she regularly kept in touch with. She encouraged them to make their views known to the relevant authorities.

This work fostered civic pride and social cohesion. It was a powerful antidote to the greed and short-sightedness that passes for much of modern planning policy.

She described herself as a proud NIMBY (not in my backyard), believing that people had not only a right, but an obligation and responsibility, to protect the neighbourhood in which they lived. Of course, she never sought to shift the problem elsewhere, as is implied in the “NIMBY” jibe. She actively helped residents and groups right throughout Melbourne and Victoria.

Her interests were far from exclusively local. She received a Dutch award for presenting samurai swords, associated with the Japanese surrender of Indonesia to the Dutch at the end of World War II, to a Dutch museum. And she campaigned energetically for the return of the Elgin Marbles from Britain to Greece.

She was awarded the Order of Australia in 2009.

Mary led a long and outstandingly productive life. It is often said that in your life you should try to “make a difference”. By this yardstick, Mary succeeded spectacularly.

Kelvin Thomson is the convenor of Planning Democracy (formerly Planning Backlash) and was an ALP member of the House of Representatives for Wills in Victoria from 1996 to 2016.