Over the years, the area now known as Green Point has been the subject of many preservation attempts. In 1929 Lake Macquarie citizens convinced the council to support attempts to get State Government funding to establish a foreshore park. A petition signed by 36 people was backed up by a deputation to a council meeting. In February 1957, the Minister for Local Government, Mr Renshaw, informed the Member for Lake Macquarie, Mr Simpson, that he had written to the Lake Macquarie Council telling it to retain 202ha at Cardiff Point for public recreation and not to change the existing zoning. This was in response to representations from local ALP branches and the Northern Parks and Playground Movement.
In 1984 an application was made to Lake Macquarie Council for land rezoning to allow for a residential, tourist, and marine development. The area was to be called Green Point Estate. The plan provided for a 50% residential subdivision, 30% for parks and recreation, and 20% for tourism and business. The recommended concept plan proposed:
- A focusing of tourist, leisure, holiday and boating activity in the area from Green Point to Black Jacks Point. The major focus was at Green Point where a marina, tourist, shopping exhibition development and man-made lake system.
- Housing of about 1750 sites.
- Tourist caravan park, holiday cabin and holiday flat accommodation.
- More than 60ha for dedicated public open space.
- Measures for environmental management and control.
The land had remained largely undeveloped (apart from a quarry) because of its 120-year history of coalmining, which came to an end when the last employee left in November 1984 after site rehabilitation work.
Almost immediately there was opposition to the proposal. The National Parks and Playgrounds Movement (NPPM) wanted the area to be bought by the State Government and declared either a National Park or a Reserve. The Green Point Action Committee (GPAC) and other groups asserted that Green Point Estate was the last large bush block on Lake Macquarie's northern shores and their last hope for a Blackbutt-style park. In 1985 the council began preparing an environmental impact statement. Two years later it announced that it planned to use a $1 million Bicentennial grant as part of a $2.5 million expenditure to establish a Bicentenary park on 80ha at Green Point.
Both the NPPM and the Hunter Region Committee of the National Trust supported the proposal saying that the proposed park, because of its size, had regional significance. They emphasised that the whole of Green Point needed to be retained as a reserve, not just the 80ha.
Responding to public pressure, the developers put forward a modified proposal which allowed for 50% of the area to be used for housing and 50% for open space. This 1988 plan, however, proposed that much of the environmentally significant areas would end up as medium density housing. The GPAC responded by holding public meetings, organising the distribution of leaflets, shopping centre displays, circulating a petition in opposition to what they described as "a land grab".
The problem faced by those who wanted to retain Green Point as open space was that the land was privately owned and would cost about $5 million to purchase. Neither the State Government nor the council was prepared to spend that amount of money. In 1988 the Labor Government in NSW was defeated and the new Liberal Government was not about to be generous with a safe Labor area. The GPAC gained the support of Newcastle Trades Hall Council who placed a green ban on the area. Over the next few years the debate dragged on, with claim and counter-claim. In 1992 the council purchased 41ha of the land for $1 million from the Lamb and Braye families.
By 1992 the major landholder of Green Point bushland, Mr Les Savage, was sick of the whole thing and he sold 170ha of the land to the Belmont-based family building business D.F. McCloy Ltd. In a press statement Mr Jeff McCloy said that under council planning controls for the site the company was examining three development options, one of which involved large portions of the property being handed as a gift to the people of Lake Macquarie. "This option would entail residential homesites, hotel/convention facilities, foreshore parkland, cycleways, and a bushland buffer zone", the statement said.
A second option open to a developer was an application to use the land for a wide range of purposes including commercial, recreational, tourism, residential and service industries. The third option was for the council to resume the site and compensate the company accordingly but apparently the council could not afford such a resumption. It was the company's intention, therefore, with tacit approval of council, to redefine the Australian standards for the environmental management of an urban landscape. The company's press release asserted that the land had been the subject of numerous consultant reports, all of which had consistently proposed that part of the site be rezoned residential in return for dedication of key parts for open space.
Mrs Marg Seccombe, the president of GPAC, challenged the company's assertion, saying that all of the studies had said that the best possible option was that the entire area should remain as bushland park. She said that the development options outlined in the McCloy press statement largely wound the clock back four years. Similar development proposals were now "totally rejected by the council and the community".
McCloys attempts to bulldoze local opposition.
In December 1993, the Gazette informed the public that the long running battle for Green Point had ended at last. A compromise solution had been thrashed out between Lake Macquarie Council and McCloys. It meant that about a 150ha of the estate would be retained as parkland for the public. The proposal was unanimously supported at a council meeting. It followed talks between a council task force and the developers.
Under the terms of the proposal, McCloys would be able to develop more than 500 housing blocks on the estate including some absolute waterfronts. A retirement village had also been included in the development. McCloys had agreed to drop its plans for a tourist hotel and marina on the estate and reduced the number of residential lots from 600 to 540.
In July 1994 Lake Macquarie City Council secured about 72% of the Green Point estate for about $3 million. Under the $3 million cash/land package deal to McCloys, the Council in exchange would receive 120ha of land and 1.8km of waterfront foreshore. This, after later land rezoning, was expected to see McCloys with about 540 building blocks mainly in a north-south corridor near Belmont. The secretary of GPAC, Mr Bob Phillips, said that the agreement was 'by no means ideal'. In October Lake Macquarie Council and McCloys reached an agreement to develop some of the 220ha estate with council acquiring the rest for public parkland. But the GPAC handed over a petition signed by 11,137 people calling on State Government to provide money to help council bring the whole of the estate into public ownership.
By the end of 1993 the issue had dragged on for
more years than most people cared to remember.
A formal settlement was struck in May 1995 between Lake Macquarie City Council and McCloys Pty Ltd for the title to the Green Point foreshore. Negotiations for the foreshore ended when the State Government gazetted the rezoning of the Green Point estate. The rezoning was to allow for the development of about 120ha of regional park. The remaining 58ha was to be used for residential development. The mayor of Lake Macquarie, Cr John Kilpatrick, said the State Government had promised to give $500,000 a year for the next three years to develop the foreshore park.
The GPAC received $5000 in funding in July 1995, from the Lake Macquarie Catchment Management Committee. It was for the continued regeneration of Green Point. The project was approved for a Total Catchment Management Small Projects Grant. GPAC planned to use the money to employ two people to perform bush regeneration work three days a week for 12 weeks. The total of funds invested by the GPAC is $17,019; in addition to clearing extensively the bitou bush from bushland.
A $250,000 grant to rehabilitate Green Point as a foreshore reserve was given to Lake Macquarie City Council in February 1996. Ms Jill Hall, MLA Swansea, said that during the following two years funding totalling $1 million would be allocated to the council for the foreshore reserve. "This is the beginning of the fulfilment of a long-standing goal, the preservation of one of the most substantial blocks left on the foreshores". Ms Hall also said the grant was being paid to the council by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, whose expertise would be available at Green Point.
In December 1996 it was reported that a reserve the size of Blackbutt, with the enticing addition of 3km of unspoilt Lake Macquarie waterfront, would be developed to cater for everyone from active bushwalkers and campers to the old or disabled. Under the plan 154ha of bush land at Green Point would be developed for a range of low impact recreational activities. Features of the proposed recreation plan include:
- The main Green Point Drive entry to the reserve off Croudace Bay Rd to incorporate a dedicated bike lane, with a boom gate to prevent after hours vehicle access.
- An interpretation centre built of natural materials near the entry, with all walking trails to radiate from there.
- The old Chitter dump to be a major day use area within the park, allowing picnicking with tables, chairs and commercial cooking, informal ball games and kite flying, and car access.
- Cardiff Point to include a communal cooking shelter, picnic tables and a toilet block with a lookout on the upper slopes of the old Cardiff quarry.
- Green Point itself to be kept underdeveloped.
- Black Jacks Point identified as having potential as a low key commercial facility including a jetty east of the existing slipway, a kiosk / eatery, and perhaps an accommodation area for park staff and visitors.
- A company area providing basic facilities for 40 people to be located on the old tailings dam, a flat grassy area surrounded by steep forested slopes.
- Walking trails, a rainforest walk and two types of cycle track.
In 1997 a Work for the Dole project was commenced to assist in the regeneration of bushland and extermination of bitou bush and lantana. The participants also built pathways, steps, bridges and a walkway through the rainforest to protect the understorey from walkers using the trails.
In September 1999, just when the issue of Green Point was thought to be resolved, there was an announcement that Green Point's picturesque fire trails would be converted into cycleways in a $1.3 million program. This program was further boosted in October 2000 when Green Point received a $1 million gift, which comprised a $500,000 grant from the Federal Government and a matching amount from Lake Macquarie City Council. The plans for the cycleways became the official Lake Macquarie Bicentenary Project. It was to be a 3km shared pedestrian path and cycleway through the landmark reserve.
In January 2001 Valentine residents planned to protest over the proposed route of a new Green Point cycleway going past the back of their homes. They claimed that they had been kept in the dark about the path, which they said would create a busy public thoroughfare at their back door by widening an overgrown fire trail and greatly increasing the risk of house break-ins.
A new inland route parallel to the Lake won support from local residents in May 2001. Lake Macquarie Mayor Cr John Kilpatrick (Ind) said the result was a 'good outcome' for the community. Although the project would cost an extra $30,000, many people thought the idea would be a good compromise. Green Point Foreshore Committee member Margaret Seccombe said that the new route, if constructed with 'maximum sensitivity', would be a major asset.
One of the members of GPAC in October 2001 made the comment that while he wasn't totally happy with the final outcome, it was the best that could have been achieved under all the circumstances. It was, certainly, a vast improvement on McCloy's original proposal. He also mentioned that the campaign had become acrimonious with various committee members of GPAC being threatened with law suits for libel.
Another GPAC member expressed disappointment with the outcome, "Reserves are for the future. We got a pretty big area but, as population grows, there will be more pressure on it. Already there is conflict over the cycleway. What we've got left isn't enough for all the demands. This was the last substantial piece of bushland on the northern foreshore of Lake Macquarie and what we've lost, we've lost forever".
Future generations who enjoy the area may, however, pause and remember with gratitude the people who campaigned for over a decade to save a substantial section of Green Point.
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