Sunday, July 18, 2010

Oakman Submission

For the Attention of Mr Mark Iles,

Re proposed Clover leaf intersection, lower Baghdad valley.

Dear Sir,

The proposed clover leaf intersection would appear to have been planned from the air and not in simpatico with this area of critical heritage value to the State of Tasmania and Colonial Architecture of Australia. Iconic heritage landmarks –listed on the Australian Heritage Commission’s register of the National Estate (both national and local) and the National Trust Heritage Places list will have their scale, borrowed landscape prior relationship of road and original planning intent lost. The beautiful small town of Pontville, with its cresting of St Marks Anglican Church and Graveyard, The Sheiling, the iconic Shene Stables, Marlbrook, Oakwood and Wybra Hall – are all very close to the proposed outlet of the clover lead junction and will be forever ruined in their context by this roadwork.

Colonial sites are made from the material of the area, and have an interrelated scale. The ‘opening up’ of views, and farmland use of the midlands begins at this very area. This is an area of outstanding Australian importance and is the very reason for European settlement. It was also the hottest area of fighting with the native population as it was the traditional breadbasket of the State.

NSW has all but lost it’s series of small towns on the outer edges of Sydney to vast American style roadworks. The visual spaces and landscapes are critical to the reading of Tasmania and are not lost. Similarly, the ongoing use, enjoyment and conservation of these places depends on them being in a sympathetic environment. In reality – you could not have a worse interaction for Tasmania’s heritage to visitors.

Many of my clients have commissioned good works on these affected properties over the past decade – work of conservation, ongoing use, restoration and addition of land to maintain the integrity of the place. This work, by intelligent and well informed owners, is laughed at in the most heavy handed way possible by this dreary road proposal.

Please reconsider that the current needs of the road are in this proposal, vastly overscaled, that traditional relationships and uses of the highway are completely lost and there is no sense of contextual planning or continuity. The landscape and integrity of this seminally important part of Tasmania’s Colonial buildings and landscape will be lost forever. It requires a more thoughtful solution.

Yours Sincerely
Warwick Oakman. B. Des. (Hons).
Architectural Historian and Heritage Consultant.
62 Sandy Bay Rd. Battery Pt. TASMANIA 7004.

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