State-sanctioned terrorism, history’s worst atrocities, ISIS and a long list of little-known historical tomes all featured in a somewhat melodramatic debate over Shellharbour council’s efforts to heritage list its “threatened” northern boundaries.
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Shellharbour councillors exercised their dramatic flair at Tuesday night’s meeting, each speaking in support of placing an interim heritage order around some of the properties along Wollongong’s border line in the wake of the NSW government’s merger proposal.
Councillor Paul Rankin took a hard line stance, saying “at the stroke of a pen, these people can wipe out borders”.
“These people are going to rewrite our history, this is no different to what ISIS are doing over in the Middle East, going back and changing the history, wiping out borders, destroying monuments,” he said.
“This government is actually a terrorist organisation.”
Liberal councillor Kellie Marsh said she was acting as “a humble servant of the British Empire” and believed it was her “civic duty to make sure we protect our borders”.
“If you look at some of the biggest atrocities in history, what’s it over? Borders,” she said. “Yet we’re still fighting about it in these modern times.”
Cr John Murray said there were “lifestyle differences” between Wollongong and Shellharbour, which is why the boundaries needed to be heritage listed, while Mayor Marianne Saliba simply began listing off some of the history books which had been written about the area.
She listed off such classics as Tongarra Tales, Oak Flats Garden Suburb, The Albion Park Saga, Voices of a Lifetime: Personal Memories of the Shellharbour Area, Shellharbour Memories, and the follow up, Shellharbour Memories Book Two.
”We have six generations that have lived in this municipality, and I think it would be a terrible shame for us to lose our history,” Cr Saliba said.
“We want our borders to be recognised as having historical significance.”
Greens councillor Peter Moran said the interim heritage order was “a stalking horse” to prevent the merger of the two councils, but supported the move to protect the history of Shellharbour.
He said he also hoped to see all six council chamber buildings within Shellharbour heritage listed in the near future.
The council will now move to have the interim heritage order over the boundaries of 19 private properties in Calderwood and Albion Park gazetted.
It remains unclear if this will prevent the proposed amalgamation with Wollongong.
