Nearly two centuries of New South Wales prison history is at the heart of a tug-of-war in the historic town of Berrima. From a small shop in the main street of Berrima, a local resident, Eric Savage, is trying to raise awareness about the plans for the adaptive reuse of the historic Berrima Gaol and the need to protect this local treasure.
Savage, who has received the Citizen of the Year award for his community advocacy, would prefer the jail remain a community and cultural asset, utilising the space to sustain its history while opening it for shops and a museum, offering tourists a glimpse into Australia’s criminal justice system.
The walls of his shop are thick with documents detailing plans for a property developer’s proposal for the Berrima Quarter, including photographs and information about the history of the site – which operated as a correctional centre between 1839 and 2020 with some breaks, including use an internment camp for German prisoners of war in the first world war. From here, Savage has spoken with hundreds of residents and visitors about his preferred plans for the site and its cultural value.
Four years ago, the Berrima Residents Association Inc – of which Savage is president – along with the Southern Highlands Chamber of Commerce and the Berrima House Vault submitted an expression of interest for the purchase of the jail for $3m.
“Once the jail was closed, there was an extraordinary opportunity to develop that in a way that really enhanced Berrima and the history of the property itself and Berrima’s heritage,” Savage says. “It would be a major focus for heritage tourism in the highlands. We see that it’s an emblematic development that really places tourism and jobs and heritage at the centre of the future of the shire.”
The site was instead sold to the Blue Sox Group, a family-owned property developer. They plan to transform the jail into a hospitality and entertainment precinct with up to 60 hotel suites, making it one of the largest accommodation venues in the southern highlands.
Dan Szwaj, the project’s architect, says there is a “strong demand” for hospitality venues in the southern highlands.
Szwaj is a director at Turner Studio, the design firm working on the proposed redevelopment, alongside national heritage consultant Urbis, Primary Comms Group and JMD Landscape Consultants. “We’re going through a very lengthy design process and engagement process, and that’s both with key stakeholders at local and government level but just as important or more important the community as well,” Szwaj says.
“We need to listen and look at how we can integrate those stories and the feedback into our design … It’s a balancing act.”
Community engagement sessions were held throughout February and March. Major concerns raised include the interventions into the fortress-like walls of the jail, a three-storey car park and the accommodation buildings on the escarpment due to its proximity to riparian areas (transition areas between land and water) along the Wingecarribbee River.
Szwaj says the design will include connecting with country and considering the views of Indigenous Australians, adding “There is a lot of storytelling, there is a lot that our team is doing … in terms of consultations, but jails within Australia haven’t had a good history in terms of our First Nations people.”
The community bid led by Savage was based on the Old Beechworth Gaol model, in which a consortium of 19 local families and philanthropic organisations raised $2.6m to buy back the historic site. Matt Pfahlert led that campaign.
Pfahlert, through the Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship, now helps support communities to unlock the power of social and local entrepreneurship.
“We’re very deliberate about taking an entrepreneurial approach to things, which ultimately has a business model and a sustainable enterprise,” he says.
“The jail is really about creating that demonstration site and action learning centre for Australia around community asset buyback. The business model for the future orientation of this place is all around cultural tourism.”
This model goes back to Yackandandah, Victoria in 2002 when several community members established the Yackandandah Community Development Company Ltd in response to the closure of the only petrol station in town. Through capital raised and government contributions the new service station was opened in 2003.
It’s a growing movement: the small north-western Victorian town of Nandaly bought back their only pub, and in the coastal Gippsland town of Mallacoota, a community-led wilderness collective has bought a building for coworking and collaboration.
There are few resources to support the community buyback of redundant buildings, Pfahlert says, leading to locals being locked out of their future economies. They are also disadvantaged by underinvestment in rural areas or politicians favouring short-term employment bumps over more enduring community benefits.
In contrast, countries such as Canada, Scotland and the United Kingdom are “trying to encourage community-led rejuvenation of their local economies”, he says.
“When communities own and operate their own asset and become entrepreneurial at a social level they can then start solving other issues that they face as well … and where it’s solved at a local level, it’s usually way more sustainable and way more beneficial to local community members.”
For Berrima residents, memories of the jail extend beyond its use as a prison. “In the 80s and 90s, when I was a little kid, most of the houses on the side street were owned by correctional officers,” local Adam Dickson tells Guardian Australia.
“A lot of prisoners were allowed to come out, mow the lawns and pick up rubbish. My parents used to breed horses, and they used to come pick up the manure and use it for the market gardens.”
Irish migrant and stonemason Mick Ritchie worked alongside inmates who filled labouring positions. “When I came out here, the jail was full of paedophiles, politicians and police officers,” he says.
But unlike some others in town, Ritchie is keen for a reasonable change. “I believe the development should go ahead; it will be better for the community,” he says.
