The United Nations has rejected Australia’s attempt to put one of the country’s oldest sandstone buildings on the World Heritage List, ending years of local fighting about the precinct’s future.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) informed the federal government late last year that the Parramatta Female Factory, in North Parramatta, would not be placed on the register, which lists more than 1200 of the most precious natural and man-made places on the planet.
UNESCO found that the institutional care provided on the site was not sufficient grounds for listing, said two sources not authorised to speak publicly. A spokesperson for Environment Minister Murray Watt confirmed the rejection early on Friday.
The sprawling sandstone precinct just north of the Parramatta River opened in the 1820s as a home for female convicts and children, before later being turned into an asylum, orphan school and industrial school. It is one of Australia’s most significant early colonial buildings, and is remembered for the particularly brutal experience of women and girls who lived there.
The rejection comes after a three-year fight over the state government’s master plan for at least 2500 new homes in the area, which takes in the historic precinct as well as the new light rail, and which drove a wedge between the area’s Labor state and federal representatives.
While state MP Donna Davis supported the plan, federal member for Parramatta Andrew Charlton said the state government should “press pause” on the rezoning until the world heritage listing was decided. “This location is a mistake,” he said.
A UNESCO World Heritage listing would have brought the precinct in line with the Great Barrier Reef, K’gari (formerly Fraser Island), the Sydney Opera House and 11 convict sites across the country, including Tasmania’s Port Arthur. The listing would also have granted the area greater heritage protection.
The site was put on the National Heritage List in 2017. Last year, two time capsules were found in the building’s walls.
More to come.
The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email parramatta@smh.com.au with news tips.
Anthony Segaert is the Parramatta bureau chief at The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously an urban affairs reporter.Connect via X or email.
