State tramples horse heritage link

THE Heritage Council of WA has severed a significant cultural link to generations of horse racing families in Fremantle and Cockburn after it deemed Hollis Park unworthy of joining the State’s register of special places.
On June 23, StreetWise asked the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage why the proposed permanent listing of the bridle trail from South Beach to Cockburn Road (pending since 2012) had been overlooked in the latest State listings which included Victoria Quay and the South Fremantle power station (www.streetwisemedia.com.au/state-overlooks-missing-link-in-shared-horse-heritage).
The same day, Heritage Council chair and former Legislative Council president John Cowdell, in a letter to Daly Street resident Terry Patterson, owner of the only remaining horse stables in South Fremantle (opposite), states: “The assessment and preliminary consultation regarding the possible inclusion of Hollis Park in the Register took several years. Formal stakeholder consultation was undertaken in 2018 … after careful consideration of the proposal and stakeholder submissions, the Heritage Council resolved not to progress the proposed expansion of South Beach Horse Exercise Area to include Hollis Park.”
Mr Cowdell (opposite) added while Hollis Park may have some cultural heritage significance, “it is unlikely that it would meet the threshold for entry on the State Register of Heritage Places, and therefore does not warrant full assessment as an individual place”.
News to Mr Patterson who told StreetWise today the Register Committee of the Heritage Council resolved in 2012 that Hollis Park should be included in the South Beach Horse Exercise Area (registered in 2007) from the South Beach groyne to the old powerhouse in Cockburn. And the City supported it after initially rejecting Mr Patterson’s proposal.
“So what changed?” he asked StreetWise. “We never asked for a full assessment. We simply wanted the trail added to the existing South Beach listing. As for heritage values, they should read their own documentation.”
According to Heritage Council assessment documentation for the South Beach horse exercise area, “the site of the first official horse race in WA in October 1833, along with the adjoining dune area, including the bridle path, the former rubbish tip site, Hollis Park, the cycle way and Ocean Road, has played an integral part in the history of the horse racing industry in WA, in particular in the 1830s, and in the period from c.1900 to the mid-1970s, when the industry thrived in Fremantle, with various winners of every major State and national event other than the Melbourne Cup having trained at the place and numerous trainers and jockeys of State, national and international repute having worked horses there”.
No argument there. The area is highly significant.
The department did not respond to StreetWise questions until today when it said: “The Heritage Council of WA resolved in 2018 that Hollis Park, which includes the horse bridle trail, did not meet the necessary conditions to be considered for listing on the State Register of Heritage Places either via an expansion of the registration of the South Beach Horse Exercise Area, or as an individual place. Extensive research and engagement with the owners, City of Fremantle, City of Cockburn, members of the public, and key stakeholders across two rounds of consultation informed these decisions. While the area is recognised as having heritage value by the City of Fremantle, it was considered unlikely to meet the conditions for entry in accordance with the provisions of the Heritage Act 2018.”
Additionally, the department spokesperson confirmed that in July 2012, the Council determined Hollis Park should be considered for possible inclusion in the State Register as an expansion of the registration of the South Beach Horse Exercise Area: “Consultation undertaken in late 2012 resulted in further research, and many years of discussions with the owners and local governments, and a second round of consultation in May 2018.”

Heritage flip-flop

SOUTH Fremantle stables owner Terry Patterson said City of Fremantle staff initially rejected his 2012 application because community group FreoFarm applied to use part of the contaminated tip site to develop a community garden and business eco-village which was supported by the City, also a key stakeholder in the Hollis Park heritage listing application.
Former National Trust boss Tom Perrigo said City staff failed to apply proper heritage standards when they rejected Mr Patterson’s submission: “They’re applying physical observations and ignoring the long-term social values of this site to the local community.”
Mr Perrigo said he was concerned the link to the beach would be severed and potentially adversely affect the values of the already heritage-listed South Beach horse exercise area: “The link is one and the same and should be listed. Failing to do so is against the spirit of the heritage act, so if Fremantle is pro-heritage it will protect it.”
Mr Cowdell disagrees.
Minutes of the December 19, 2012, Fremantle council meeting state: “Given the lack of any other specific references to Hollis Park, it is understood that the proposed registration is based on an assessment that the area shares the same heritage values and degree of significance as the already-registered area west of the railway reserve. City officers accept that informal tracks across the Hollis Park area … are representative of informal routes over a wider area which have been, and to some degree still are, used by horses to gain access to the main horse exercise area on the beach.”
Officers informed State heritage officers they identified issues, “material to the determination of the City’s views on the proposed registration. It is recommended the City does not support the proposed registration on grounds that the Hollis Park area is of local cultural heritage significance but not of sufficient significance in terms of condition or authenticity to warrant State registration”. What these ‘issues’ were is unknown.
The recommendation to reject was moved by former mayor Brad Pettitt, who supported the FreoFarm project and other developments including a solar farm proposed in 2018. Dr Pettitt became a member of the Heritage Council in July 2014.
A final decision was deferred when Mr Patterson criticised staff and elected members for failing to recognise the “living heritage” of the area used by his family and generations of trainers and riders, including members of the 10th Lighthorse Regiment whose descendants still live in the area.
Mr Patterson’s grandfather was a 10th Lighthorseman who rebuilt stables in South Fremantle.
Council deferred the item to the, “next appropriate Planning Services Committee meeting”, moved by South Ward Cr Andrew Sullivan. That meeting did not take place until October 2, 2013 when the Committee’s previous recommendation to reject was moved by former deputy mayor Josh Wilson.
According to the committee minutes, “the matter was discussed at an informal elected member’s briefing in August 2013, with officers from the State Heritage Office in attendance. This discussion assisted in clarifying the City’s understanding of the reasons the Heritage Council of WA considers the area should be included in the State Register, as an expansion of the existing registration of the South Beach Horse Exercise Area”.
At the August 5 ‘discussion’, State Heritage officers stated there was information available regarding the cultural heritage significance of the Hollis Park area, “that was not explicitly identified in the Statement of Significance document previously referred to the City for comment”. Importantly, the heritage officers considered descriptions of the heritage values of the South Beach Horse Exercise Area as a whole already contained in the Statement of Significance, should be read as implicitly applying to the Hollis Park area as well, due to its associations with the horse training and racing industry”.
On this basis, City officers decided the proposed registration could be supported, the recommendation moved by Cr Sullivan who said the decision elevated the importance of the area. “The approval gives it protection in the longer term.” However, he said before a final decision was made, “ it would be appropriate for additional information to be included in the documentation prepared to support the registration process to more accurately and clearly identify the significant physical fabric and heritage values of Hollis Park”.
The matter returned to council on October 16, 2013, when it decided to support, “in principle the proposed amendment to permanent registration of the South Beach Horse Exercise Area in the State Register of Heritage Places to include Hollis Park”, subject to ‘Further information being included in the Statement of Significance.
And that’s where council’s enthusiasm ended, moved by Cr Sullivan and seconded by former Cr Tim Grey-Smith.

Cockell’s Paddock

NAMED after James David Cockell, the father of WA country racing, the 9.27ha Hollis Park reserve skirts Mr Patterson’s property at the end of Daly Street. Cockell lived in stables on Daly Street on the north side of Duoro Road, but during the 1920s and 1930s trained his horses in the dunes next to Mr Patterson’s stables.
Mr Patterson wants the site renamed after the famous horseman whose 91-year-old son Jack says he would be honoured to have his family recognised in name, and history.
Jack told StreetWise in 2016 that when he dies he wants his ashes and those of his mother, a former nurse in Fremantle, spread over South Beach.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Fremantle council leased land south of Daly Street including Thomas, Hulbert, Walker and Hickory streets to leading trainers including Jack Collinson, Arthur Bowden and the Cridlands.
“Collinson and other trainers in the area had established routes to South Beach from the southern end of the various streets to the vacant ground, including present day Hollis Park and the rubbish tip site. This route has continued to be used through into the 21st century,” heritage records state.
Collinson’s stables produced a number of winners such as Gold Patois and Aptofine, Railway Stakes 1948 and 1952, respectively, and Yabaroo, Perth Cup 1955.
Mr Patterson said two Fremantle jockeys won the Melbourne Cup, including Neville Percival who beat Phar Lap on White Nose in 1931, and John James Miller, who scored the Caulfield-Melbourne cups double in 1966 on Galilee.
Mr Percival’s niece Florence Banks and her husband Jim won the 1950 Perth Cup and bought nearby Randwick stables, which they owned for nearly 50 years.
The property and surrounds was owned by Captain George Robb after he arrived in the Swan River colony in 1832. Historical records show the Leda ship captain applied for one of the first land grants and was granted an area of 2000 acres stretching from Hamilton Hill to Bibra Lake.
Various other owners played a part in the property until the Banks bought it and stabled race horses including Go John, winner of the WA Derby. Today, Randwick is owned by Main Roads and leased by Alison Bolas who saved the stables from demolition in 2001. Often seen riding horses to South Beach via Hollis Park, Ms Bolas continues to run the historic stables with Ted Miller, the nephew of double cup-winning Fremantle jockey Johnny Miller.
The State’s inaugural horse race was held on South Beach in 1833 when seven imported Timor ponies, “raced around a half mile course for a purse of five sovereigns” (illustrated below).
Since then, generations of horse racing families have used the bridle tracks leading to the sacred beach where leading riders including CY O’Connor trained and produced state, national and international winners.
Despite ill health, Mr Patterson continues to train horses at Hollis Park.
Additional details at www.streetwisemedia.com.au.