CRAG Camden Residents' Action Group Inc.

CRAG was formed in 1973 as a response to the then State Government's proposals to ‘develop’ our historic area, with little reference to the people who actually live and work here. The community was surprised and shocked by some of the ‘innovative’ plans put forward, all in the name of ‘progress’.
These plans showed no understanding of Camden's place in the history of NSW and Australia, and its agricultural nature and unique heritage. Historic features for which the 1836 private town, built on Macarthurs' original Camden Park are renowned were in jeopardy and proposals were so dissonant with the flood plain, scenic hills and rural surrounds that Camden’s character would have been lost forever.
Developers were intent on making their own fortunes, and were indifferent to the environments they wished to exploit, and then leave for the next short-term opportunity. Greed took precedence over any sense of community, of history, and of heritage. It was brutal; it was careless, Developers sought to mindlessly bulldoze our heritage and replace it with arguably lower quality constructions with little aesthetic appeal. All to yield maximum short-term profits with no thought to the legacy left to residents and the loss of competitive differentiation associated with authentic heritage that established small businesses rely on.
This was at a time when it was thought desirable to knock down the Rocks and put high-rise for the new rich, to replace the Queen Victoria Building with a car park, and in our area to surround the highly historically significant St John's Church with a retirement village. This was a time of protests against such madness; it was a time of Green Bans; it was a time of CRAG.
Victory – of a sort.
CRAG, in common with many other groups, waged a David vs Goliath struggle, the ordinary people against the cashed up developers using questionably compliant Councils and government departments to do their bidding. This was done under the banner of ‘progress’. We were told it was better for us. We were told it was for our own good. We were told we didn’t understand, and should let ‘experts’ organize our environments. We were told that commissioned heritage reports were necessarily independent. We were not told about the naked self-interest that was the motivation behind these moves. Nor was it made generally apparent that elegant and outstanding examples of Colonial and Victorian architecture would be wiped out to make way for the generic and common.
In 2006 Camden Council was stopped from building a decked car park near St John's Church, the first archaeologically correct Gothic Revival church built in Australia, when CRAG brought to light a heritage report that had not been tabled that slammed the car park proposal. The revelations of this document, which somehow had not seen the light of day were a source of great embarrassment to those who knew about it but were promoting the inappropriate edifice anyway.
CRAG lobbied for measures to fully protect the Town from the ruthless and the unscrupulous. Council consulted the community and researched the area, listing additional heritage buildings as well as the Camden townscape. In 2010 Camden township was legislated as a Heritage Conservation Area, including in-fill protections and a human scale, 19th Century 7 Metre height restriction. The community, including CRAG and businesses worked in harmony with Council, not just on the township but also the local environment.
Deja vu
Recent events with the current Council have raised ominous shadows from the past. Council have already engaged a consultant to investigate lifting the height restrictions and amending the heritage protection provisions of the Local Environmental Plan (LEP) 2010, and the Development Control Plan (DCP) 2011 of the Heritage Conservation Area, which would pave the way for high-rise and infill development. The national asset of the Camden Township and its verdant floodplain, upon which the Council publicly promoted the proposed major Milk Depot development despite its contravening legislated planning controls, would be lost forever. Council have no mandate to do this, nor has it provided any evidence as to why it should be done. Despite the mantra that the public was consulted it can be shown that there was no true consultation. Plans to "upgrade" Camden township were put in place behind closed doors, well before anyone knew what was afoot. Who will benefit from these changes to the height and heritage provisions???
With this revival of past ghosts, once thought laid to rest (or dead, buried and cremated), CRAG sees it again as necessary to join with the community in a chorus of disapproval.
Pressingly, the Council elections provide a place for Candidates to declare their positions. CRAG is a non-political community-based organization, but seeks to support those candidates who promise to work in a sustainable way with the community to ensure that the past is respected and protected, and the future is a building upon, rather than a building against, the very soul of the Township and its environment.