‘Everything's slow in Callan Park': despite ambitious plans, Sydney's hidden treasure remains in limbo

The Guardian

3 days ago

On the banks of Iron Cove in Sydney's inner west is one the city's unsung treasures: 61 hectares of rolling lawns, bushland and sandstone buildings that was once home to Rozelle hospital – originally Callan Park hospital for the insane.
For those who dream big, it could be Sydney's next Centennial Park, a vibrant parkland attracting visitors from around Sydney.
Years of disagreements over the site's future, bureaucratic inertia and a highly restrictive Callan Park Act – which prevents any commercial activities, even restaurants and cafes – have left it in stasis.
But change could finally be on its way, for better or worse, as the state government considers changing the Act – described by the planning minister, Paul Scully, as imposing 'the most restrictions of any of our public spaces'.
'Communities have come to expect a degree of activation in their public spaces these days, and while we are committed to protecting Callan Park, that doesn't mean it should be locked away from the public who want to enjoy a cup of coffee in a beautiful inner-city park,' Scully told Guardian Australia this week.
Until 2019, the beautiful 19th-century sandstone buildings that formed the original asylum, many designed by the colonial architect James Barnet, were home to the Sydney College of the Arts. But since its departure, the site has been used only sporadically by film companies. The park itself is used primarily by dog walkers, joggers and local sporting clubs who have access to playing fields on the waterfront.
The site encompasses more than 100 other smaller buildings that were previously part of the hospital. Most are of much more recent vintage than the main buildings (known as the Kirkbride precinct), almost all are boarded up and some are becoming increasingly dilapidated.
The site is jointly owned by the NSW health department and Greater Sydney Parklands Trust, while a small sliver of waterfront is under the control of the transport department.
In a few weeks, the NSW government will release a draft plan of management for the enormous site that will need to grapple with these challenges – as well as how to find millions of dollars needed just to stop further deterioration.
It will complement the landscape structure plan that was completed in 2021 and called for 'strategies to make Callan Park safe and accessible with a network of pathways and more open space along the waterfront,' as well as the demolition of many of the 'intrusive' buildings of no heritage value.
'My expectations for the new Callan Park plan of management are very low,' says the Inner West mayor, Darcy Byrne.
'With an extraordinarily bureaucratic agency like Sydney Parklands writing it, inertia is the likely outcome. Yet another plan for a plan.'
The vocal community group Friends of Callan Park wants to see the park continue more or less as it is – with heritage buildings restored for use by not-for-profit organisations and the parkland free from commercial activity.
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Hall Greenland, a stalwart of the group for decades, says 'the preferred option is to expand its use for NGOs'.
'There are some 1990s cottage wards on the outskirts of Callan Park which would be ideal for step-down facilities in mental health and so on. The RSL are interested in one set of them for mental health services for veterans,' he says.
'So that's welcome, but you know, everything's absolutely slow in Callan Park.'
There have been small steps forward.
The former Coalition planning minister Rob Stokes spent $14m demolishing buildings and revamping the waterfront, but it is hardly bustling.
There are plans for tidal baths funded by Inner West council and the NSW government, but approval for the plan from Greater Sydney Parklands Trust is taking time.
The 2025-26 state budget included $4.8m to knock down nine condemned buildings dating from the 1940s and 50s in the heart of the park over the next two years. This would free up 1.6 hectares of land for recreation, and on this there seems to be agreement.
But like all things involving development in Sydney, there is no shortage of controversy.
The Kirkbride complex, completed in 1885, was home to the Sydney College of the Arts until 2019, when it moved to the main University of Sydney campus. Its departure meant that the Laneway festival, run under the aegis of the arts school, also had to find a new home, because there was no longer a not-for-profit organisation to lodge an application for approval of the festival.
The festival, which was already facing some hostility from local residents as it grew in popularity, moved to the Domain, much to Byrne's chagrin.
'We've had to fight every year against NIMBY opposition & to cut through red tape to get this outstanding event approved,' he posted on Facebook at the time. 'Sadly the fun police have won out over music lovers this time.'
And don't get Byrne started on the saga of the playing fields down by the water's edge, primarily used by the Balmain community football club.
Inner West council wants to install two all-weather playing fields to replace the grass fields, arguing it will ensure much greater usage. It is also trying to help the club revamp a heritage club house.
'We are seeking to invest more than $10m in sport and recreation facilities in Callan Park, but getting approval for these desperately needed improvements is like pulling teeth,' Byrne says.
The field upgrade needs approval from the Parklands Trust and the Heritage Council and is not supported by the Friends of Callan Park.
'The Heritage Council approvals committee has already said they're not very happy with the idea of plastic grass,' Greenland says.
Byrne is unimpressed. 'Local people continually tell me that they are tired of Friends of Callan Park blocking new sport and recreation facilities in Callan Park,' he says.
'They're a tiny and ageing group of activists who really don't speak for local families but they continue to be the self-appointed proprietors of Callan Park. The combination of the Parklands Agency's red tape and Friends of Callan Park's preference for wrapping the whole site in gladwrap for preservation means it's extraordinarily difficult to make good things happen in there.'
Greater Sydney Parklands did not respond to a request for comment.
Whether the plan of management will have to work within the confines of the Callan Park Act may determine the park's future.
Using any of the site for housing – as was floated after the failure of the state government's plan to build on Rosehill racecourse – appears to be out of the question.
The current commercial restrictions seem to also rule out wedding venues, overnight accommodation or even restaurants and cafes, which raises the question of how to fund the part that everyone does agree on: preserving the high-value heritage buildings.
So does the Minns government have the appetite for a political fight that would undoubtedly erupt if it seeks to change the Callan Park Act and the Greater Sydney Parklands' mandate? Will it use the release of the plan of managment as the springboard for a debate?
And would it stand any chance of getting it through the upper house, where minor parties and the Greens hold the balance of power?
A NSW joint parliamentary inquiry quietly tabled its report three weeks ago calling for significant changes both to the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust and to the Callan Park Act. It received almost no publicity, but appears to lay the groundwork.
'We heard that limited funding impacts maintenance and repairs, as well as the delivery of new infrastructure and projects in the parklands,' the committee said.
'We support a balanced approach, with appropriate commercial opportunities providing revenue for the parklands while not being relied on as the only way to achieve financial sustainability.'
It recommended additional and sustained funding for the Trust and amending the act to include 'financial sustainability as a function of the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust'.
It also proposed changing the Callan Park Act to remove provisions that limit development to not-for-profit purposes.
'The committee supported allowing for-profit development in Callan Park. While the committee notes that some stakeholders were concerned about commercialisation of Callan Park and the impact on its unique values, we consider that removing the restriction on for-profit development provides opportunities to raise much-needed revenue,' the committee said.
'New revenue streams could fund maintenance and improvements while also supporting heritage conservation. Appropriate guidance through the park's plan of management and community input on the types of leases that are appropriate, can achieve overall positive outcomes for Callan Park.'
The Greens MP for Balmain, Kobi Shetty, has already come out swinging.
'The whole point of the Callan Park Act was to save the park from privatisation and to ensure it is never again proposed as a site for profit-driven development.
'Any moves to wind back the act's protections are of grave concern. The review committee has absolutely got it wrong on this,' she said.
It's a taste of what's to come if the government tries to legislate, but Scully's comments suggest it may be up for the fight.
'Callan Park's legislation imposes the most restrictions of any of our public spaces,' he said. 'It allows even less activations than the world-heritage listed Parramatta Park.
He described Shetty's comments as 'outlandish', ridiculing any suggestion that allowing a cafe in the park could be a trojan horse.
'For what? Some banana bread and a flat white?'