November Council meeting wrap-up

25 November 2020

Plenty of items were debated at the November Council meeting, the second-last Council meeting for 2020.

In exciting news, Council voted to investigate the establishment of a foundation that aims to raise awareness of the historical and heritage value of both Waverley Cemetery and South Head Cemetery and raise funds to assist in their maintenance.

Waverley Cemetery is the main operational cemetery within the Waverley LGA and the first part of the cemetery was officially finished and opened in August 1877.

Since then, around 90,000 interments have taken place in 55,000 gravesites and memorials over the 16-hectare site.

South Head Cemetery was opened around 1845, with the first interment undertaken in 1869. In the early 1940s, the management of South Head Cemetery passed from a private trust to Council.

The Cemetery has over 6000 gravesites and memorials, spread over a total area of just under two hectares. A number of notable people have been laid to rest in the cemetery, including Australia’s first Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton and several members of the prominent Packer and Fairfax families.

A report on the findings on the establishment of a foundation will be presented to Council in May 2021.

For any inquiries for our cemeteries, please contact 9083 8899 or email cemetery@waverley.nsw.gov.au

In other news, Council made some decisions in relation to the North Bondi Mosaic, which it is deaccessioning, including voting unanimously to:

* Retain the Dinosaur skeleton cast by Lloyd Keleman from the bones of a dinosaur provided by the Australian Museum in the Waverley Local History Collection;

* Retain the plaques that outline the artists’ names, history of the artwork, funding bodies who contributed to the development of the work and outline the Indigenous narrative embedded in the linking mosaic tiles in the Waverley Local History Collection;

* and offer all other pieces currently in storage to the artist of their making and pay for any related shipping costs.

Council spent 18 months looking at ways to recommission the community mosaic that local artists and community members, including students from Bondi Beach Public School, created in the 1980s for the wall along the pool.

The mosaic was removed in 2019 as part of urgent asset renewal works to replace the stormwater culvert and promenade at North Bondi due to concrete cancer. Due to the cost and difficulty involved in delivering the recommission, Council decided at its 21 July 2020 Council meeting it would instead call for registrations of interest for a new artwork to be installed in the space.

In October, Waverley Council called on artists to register their interest in developing a concept for a new permanent artwork at the kids’ pool. Registrations of interest were open to all artists, architects, landscape architects, designers, craft persons and community groups interested in creating a site-specific artwork.

In coronavirus news, Council voted unanimously to extend the temporary variation to its Affordable Housing Tenancy Policy applicable from 2 September 2020 to 28 March 2021, to allow its appointed Housing Manager, Bridge Housing, to continue to offer tenants whose income is affected by the coronavirus shutdown rent calculated at 30% of their income.

Waverley Council’s Affordable Housing Portfolio includes 75 dwellings consisting of 25 dwellings (Affordable Housing Program), 47 dwellings (Waverley Housing for Older People program) and three dwellings (Waverley Housing for People with a Disability program).

In sports news, Council voted to investigate any additional work that may be undertaken at the Margaret Whitlam Recreation Centre to improve amenity and line of sight to the playing area.

Council will consult with the Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club and other users of the facility before it receives a report on the findings and outcomes of the consultations.

And finally, Council considered a report into its Q1 Budget Review. Council noted that the projected financial position of Council is satisfactory. It also voted to adopt variations to the 2020-21 Operating and Capital budgets to increase the allocation under the Capital Works Program Expense Budget for the Council’s safety upgrade of Arden Street by $350,000 to a total budget of $727,117.

For more information about items debated at Council, please click here to view Council meeting agendas and minutes.

You can also live-stream Council meetings which commence at 7pm on the third Tuesday of each month. To tune in, click here.