Kiama councillor Mark Way would like the disused Sanctuary Place Quarry to become a community garden. Picture: DAVID TEASE
What do you do with an old quarry that is now a prime parcel of community-owned real estate on the Minnamurra Headland?
It is a question Kiama Municipal Council has struggled with for many years.
The Sanctuary Place Quarry is a 2.7-hectare parcel of community land. It has stone walls up to 28-metres high, but is in a neglected state.
In 2000, Kiama council developed a plan of management for the quarry and unveiled a proposal to develop it into a place for "active recreation", with the proposal including a junior cricket field, adventure playground, raised viewing platforms and multi-purpose sporting facilities.
However, neighbouring residents strongly opposed the plans, which included a new access road and two car parks, and the quarry has remained idle since.
Kiama councillor Mark Way believes a community garden would be a productive way to activate the quarry.
"This is a great resource just sitting there waiting to be used," the Kiama Downs resident and newly elected councillor said.
Councillor Way said that for many years the residents of Kiama Downs have talked about the Minnamurra quarry and how it had not been used for anything and was a waste of a council asset.
He said since he was elected to the council a number of residents had approached him with the idea to have a community garden within the quarry.
"A community garden will be low impact, so it is not going to affect neighbouring houses," Cr Way said.
"Most people around Kiama Downs and Minnamurra are well aware of this quarry and want to see it used.
"Council now has a community gardens' policy and it seems like a great idea to me, it would be a great usage for this area."
Just over a century ago on May 28, 1912, the Sanctuary Place Quarry, then known as the Eureka Quarry, was the site of one of Kiama's great tragedies when six men died as a result of a blasting accident.
The explosion was blamed on a "premature explosion of gelignite".
The quarry is believed to have commenced operations about 1880 and was served by a spur line off the South Coast railway line that entered the quarry through a cutting near what is now Robinson Avenue.
The quarry was closed and perimeter fenced in the 1950s.
