Memorial concerning Conservation of Nobbys Headland and Nobbys Lighthouse

Please see attached photo image of the Memorial 2007 which is modelled on the Memorial sent to Governor Fitzroy to stop Colonel Barney blowing up of Nobbys with gunpowder in 1853.

The 2007 Memorial was conveyed to her Excellency today Wednesday by Mr Lithgow at 10:10 am on behalf of the memorialists and a copy was later delivered to the office of the Premier the Hon Morris Iemma MP Premier of NSW.

Mr Lithgow was representing the peak environmental organisations in NSW. National Trust, Nature Conservation Council, Parks and Playgrounds Movement and Newcastle Residents.

MEMORIAL from THE INHABITANTS OF NEWCASTLE, AND OTHERS,

Your modern day memorialists have modelled the petition below on the wording and style of the historic memorial that was conveyed to His Excellency, Sir Charles A. Fitz Roy Governor General 22nd November 1853 to prevent the blowing up of the Nobbys Headland by gunpowder.

TO HER EXCELLENCY, PROFESSOR MARIE BASHIR AC, CVO, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

The Memorial of the undersigned inhabitants of Newcastle, and others concerned in the preservation of the Nobbys Headland,

Humbly Sheweth,

That the Port and Harbour of Newcastle is indicated to shipmasters arriving at it, by a remarkable Promontory (formerly an Island,) called Nobby's, which is of the utmost importance to the people of NSW; and further is a most eligible position for a Light House and that Nobbys is the symbol of Newcastle and the centrepiece of the Coal River Precinct (SHR 1674); which is the birth site of the modern city of Newcastle.

That your memorialists have been informed that the Newcastle Port Corporation and the Nobbys Lighthouse P/L have been in breach of the Environmental Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and do intend to build out the unique Nobbys Lighthouse on the said Promontory by means of unsympathetic modern buildings that impact on the Lighthouse. The Newcastle Port Corporation using their powers under s116C of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 have obtained consent from NSW authorities for their proposal without consideration of the Commonwealth Heritage Values of the historic Lighthouse.

The Port Corporation has already excavated and widened the roadway to the summit.

That your memorialists believe that there is a danger of overdevelopment of the said Promontory with modern buildings in front of, and impacting on, the heritage Lighthouse.

Your Memorialists therefore humbly request, Your Excellency will cause enquiry to be made, in order that the Nobbys Lighthouse will be protected and allowed to stand free as a sentinel at the entrance to the Port of Newcastle for many years to come and that any development of Newcastle's iconic headland and signal station cottages be by adaptive reuse rather than by new buildings.

And your Memorialists as in duty bound, will ever pray.

On this day, Friday the 30th March 2007, being the 203rd anniversary of the founding of the city of Newcastle by Lieutenant Charles Menzies under the order of his Excellency Philip Gidley King, Governor of the Colony of NSW at that time.

49 Signatures attached as with the 1853 Memorial.