Planning Sydney Harbour Federation Trust

Harbour Trust: Planning

Management Plans

Management Plan, Mosman No. 7, Middle Head

Publication Details
Title	Management Plan - Mosman No. 7 Middle Head
Publication Details	Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, July 2007
About this Publication	In 2003 the Harbour Trust proposed the creation of a Headland Park to bring together all the former defence bases in Mosman that are managed by the Trust. Middle Head has been identified as the culmination of Headland Park. This management plan provides specific details of what is proposed for this precinct.
To Download PDF Files	Middle Head Management Plan - Part 1 (PDF - 2,315KB) Contents: Introduction, Commencement Date, Land to Which the Management Plan Applies, Aims of This Plan, Relationship with the Trust's Comprehensive Plan, Relationship with Other Trust Management Plans, Related Policies and Guidelines, Relationship with the Headland Park Design Framework, Statutory Planning Context, Non-Statutory Planning Strategies, Plans Prepared for Neighbouring Lands, Site Description, Surrounding Lands, Site Analysis Middle Head Management Plan - Part 2 (PDF - 2,301KB) Contents: Site Analysis continued, Heritage Conservation, Landscape Character, Bush Land and Natural Values Middle Head Management Plan - Part 3 (PDF 1,783KB) Contents: Site Analysis continued, Commonwealth Heritage Values, Outcomes - Access and Circulation Middle Head Management Plan - Part 4 (PDF 1,210) Contents: Outcomes continued, Future Actions, Acknowledgements, Related Studies.

Summary of the Management Plan for Middle Head

Introduction

In September 2003 the Trust completed a Comprehensive Plan for its sites around Sydney Harbour. The Comprehensive Plan sets out a vision for these sites and includes a process for the preparation of more detailed management plans for specific precincts, places or buildings.

The Comprehensive Plan proposes the creation of a Headland Park to bring together all the former defence bases in Mosman that are managed by the Trust. Middle Head has been identified as the culmination of the Headland Park: a gateway to Middle Harbour from the land and water. This precinct will be developed as the next stage of the park.

A Management Plan has been prepared for the Trust’s land at Middle Head and provides specific details of what is proposed for this precinct.

Brief Description & History of the Precinct

The site is approximately 11 hectares, located at the end of the Middle Head ridge on an undulating plateau with commanding views of the Sydney Harbour region. The precinct includes a building complex set within open lawns ringed by the bushland of Sydney Harbour National Park. Other significant features of the site include the former Mosman Golf Clubhouse, Middle Head Oval and the remnant bushland along Middle Head Road.

The Middle Head precinct was most recently used for institutional and military purposes and was home to the former Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) and the 10 Terminal Regiment before being vacated by Defence in 1998.

The precinct’s remaining buildings were largely built during WWII with a number of later additions to adapt the buildings for new uses. More recent structures include the
2-storey Barracks (1950s), the Sports Pavilion (1980s) and the demountable Guardhouse (1990s).

The precinct’s history also includes being part of the area of an early 19th Century Aboriginal settlement known as Bungaree’s Farm; the site of a 1915 Mobilisation Camp; and, during WWII, the site of the Anti-Aircraft and Fortress Engineering School and the Army’s Signals Unit.

During the 1920s and 1930s, much of the precinct’s original vegetation was cleared to create the Mosman Golf Course, which is today evidenced by the Mosman Golf Clubhouse and the open lawns which evoke the former fairways.

The precinct adjoins Sydney Harbour National Park, which at Middle Head includes a collection of buildings and fortifications dating from the 19th Century.

Vision for a Headland Park

The creation of a Headland Park is one of the Trust’s highest priorities. The vision is to create a place where the area’s rich natural and cultural heritage will be protected and interpreted and where access will be provided to areas that have long been inaccessible to most people.

The Headland Park as a whole will include a succession of spaces – open hilltops, enclosed saddles and valleys and places along escarpment edges. A network of paths will give priority to pedestrian access and provide a varied sequence of views. A range of entry and exit points will link the former defence bases and other places of interest within the larger Headland Park.

Proposals for the Precinct

The key outcomes contained in the Middle Head Management Plan are summarised below:

* Improve access to and through the precinct by providing pathways and parking areas. Pathways will be integrated with the network of walking tracks in the adjacent National Park;
* Adaptively re-use buildings in a manner that retains and conveys their heritage values and contributes positively to the experience of visitors to the Headland Park;
* Allow some buildings to be modified, removed or replaced with new buildings;
* Find uses for the buildings that help their conservation and that are sympathetic to their simple, institutional form and the need to open up the site to the public;
* Retain the existing pattern of development to help form the basis of the public access and circulation network;
* Retain the institutional, garden-like character of the landscape;
* Protect and expand the bushland areas around the periphery up to a new circuit pathway, which will also provide a means of controlling run-off from the lawns and gardens; and
* Selectively remove some of the less significant landscape elements to reveal views of the surrounding waterways and headlands, and to improve the setting of each of the elements that make up the site and surrounding lands.

Among other things, the Management Plan also addresses issues such as the management of stormwater, bushfire risk, and remediation of contaminated lands.

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