NSW Aboriginal groups have cried foul over “harmful media coverage” of land claims after it was revealed traditional owners are seeking to take control of “every surf club” on Sydney’s eastern beaches along with a swathe of iconic bowlos, RSLs and golf courses.
Local Aboriginal land councils have lodged more than 44,000 claims over crown land across the state, including the famous Bondi Icebergs — one of Sydney’s most popular destinations frequented by global celebrities and local swimmers alike.
Now the NSW Government is seeking to urgently close a legal loophole in order to make it harder for land councils to take control of community facilities.
Premier Chris Minns told News24 on Monday the current legislation had moved away from its intended purpose.
“I don’t believe this was the original intent of the Frank Walker land rights legislation in the 1980s,” he said.
“If these plots of land are handed over, we can’t ever get them back. We can’t replicate our surf life saving clubs or our tennis infrastructure or our bowling clubs. I was hopeful of a landing. I suspect we are not going to get there. We still have to pursue the legislation … I don’t see an alternative, I genuinely don’t.”
St Michaels Golf Club in Little Bay. Picture: Supplied
Established sporting clubs, including a popular tennis centre on the lower north shore, are facing eviction, while other venues have fallen to ruin after being handed back to traditional owners in recent years.
Under NSW legislation, Aboriginal land councils can lodge claims for the return of crown land that can be lawfully sold or leased, not be lawfully used or occupied, not needed for essential public purpose and not subject to native title claims.
Claims are assessed by the Aboriginal Land Claim Assessment Team, which later makes a recommendation to the minister on whether land is claimable.
The Minns Government has made efforts to water down some of the laws, with The Australian reporting in June that Lands Minister Steve Kamper was concerned at “technicalities” like an incorrectly written lease deciding claims.
The government is proposing amendments to the Crown Land Management Act to ensure that established community and sport facilities on crown land can continue to be used for their intended purpose.
Bondi Icebergs in Sydney. Picture: Dylan Robinson
“The local Aboriginal land councils have figured out it only takes one glitch for these sites to become fair game,” 2GB host Ben Fordham said on Monday.
“If the piece of crown land was at any time unused or unlawfully used, their chances of success skyrocket.
“But we’re talking about tiny technical breaches — for example if there were delays in the execution of documents, that could mean that technically the land was unused. If the tenant sublet any of the land, even a kiosk in a surf club, that amounts to unlawful use.”
Fordham first revealed on Friday that La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council (La Perouse LALC) was awaiting an outcome on a claim over Bondi Icebergs made in 2020 — unbeknown to the operators of the popular swimming pool at the southern end of the world-famous beach.
According to Fordham, “every surf club on Sydney’s eastern beaches” is facing a land claim including North Bondi, Clovelly, Coogee, Tamarama, Bronte and Maroubra.
Justin Hemmes was unaware of a claim over Club Rose Bay. Picture: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
On Monday, the talkback host revealed three more locations also facing claims, including St Michael’s Golf Club in Little Bay, a top 50 Australian golf course and popular wedding venue with stunning clifftop views over the Pacific Ocean.
“St Michael’s has been a social hub for tens of thousands of players and three former juniors from the club in Little Bay have gone onto play on the world stage,” Fordham said.
St Michael’s Golf Club has been contacted for comment.
Also facing a claim is Sydney pub baron Justin Hemmes’ trendy new venue Club Rose Bay, which reopened in January as a Merivale-backed retro cocktail bar.
Hemmes told Fordham via text message he was unaware of the claim. Hemmes declined to comment when reached by news.com.au on Tuesday.
“Forbes has called this place one of the hottest spots in town, but now its operator finds out via text message from 2GB he’s caught up in an Aboriginal land claim,” Fordham said.
Meanwhile Matraville RSL, affectionately known as Club Matto, is also facing a land claim, according to 2GB.
Anzac Day Dawn Service at Matraville RSL. Picture: Supplied
“The RSL has been a special place for veterans and the wider local community for more than 60 years,” Fordham said. “On Anzac Day it’s a full house. They host the Dawn Service and games of two-up.”
The Tathra Beach Country Club and the nearby Tathra Beach Bowling Club, on the NSW south coast about six hours south of Sydney, were added to the list by Fordham on Tuesday.
“It’s an absurd situation and the uncertainty it’s creating is profound,” NSW opposition leader Kellie Sloane told Fordham on Tuesday morning.
“It’s destabilising for small community clubs, it’s putting every other club on watch that if they try to sell a few coffees out of a coffee cart they could be in a technical breach of their lease and subject to land claims. Forty-four thousand land claims in NSW is not the intent of the original legislation.
“The original legislation, which has been around for a long time, was designed to free up land that wasn’t being used or had special spiritual significance to Aboriginal land councils as a form of payment back for their land loss.
“What is happening now is not fair and reasonable and it’s unfortunately creating uncertainty, it’s creating division.”
The operators of Talus Street Tennis Centre face eviction. Picture: Supplied
Meanwhile in Naremburn on the lower north shore, the long-running operators of the eight-court Talus Street Tennis Centre will be forced to hand over the keys by September 30 after being issued an eviction notice by the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council (MLALC).
Love’n Deuce, which manages the courts for the Northern Suburbs Tennis Association (NSTA), took out the lease in 1978. The MLALC won its claim over the site in 2022 and inherited existing lease arrangements after a court ruled an “invalid sublease” made the site technically claimable.
“It was a misunderstanding,” Love’n Deuce managing director Paul Francis told News24 on Monday.
“It was portrayed that this tennis centre wasn’t opened to the public, that you had to become a member. That it was a private situation, which, if I can use the word, is absolute crap.”
In 2022, harbourfront Waverton Bowling Club was handed back to the MLALC following a landmark Land and Environment Court ruling, marking the first such successful claim in the North Sydney LGA.
The disused Waverton Bowling Club. Picture: David Swift
The former bowling club, which had closed in 2019 due to dwindling membership, has since sat unused as the building slowly deteriorates.
Paddington Bowling Club was also handed back to the La Perouse LALC in January after the High Court ruled the land was not being lawfully used at the time of the original claim.
And in June it was revealed that a claim had been lodged over the site of North Sydney’s historic courthouse first constructed in 1989.
Parliamentary secretary to NSW Attorney-General Hugh McDermott confirmed the claim in a note, reported by North Sydney Sun.
“The merits of this claim must be determined before alternative uses of the site can be considered,” Mr McDermott said. “The time frame for resolution of this claim is currently unknown.”
One listener told 2GB that in Sydney’s southwest, the historic police station on John Street, built in 1878, was “sitting empty and slowly decaying” after being handed to the local Tharawal Local Aboriginal Land Council 10 years ago.
Under the legislative changes being pursued by the NSW Government, a lease alone would make the land “lawfully used”, blocking off potential claims.
Tathra Beach Country Club on the south coast. Picture: Supplied
Debate on the contentious reforms is set to resume next week.
NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) — the state’s peak body which provides assistance to local land councils in making claims — has opposed the changes and accused the Minns Government of stirring up negative media attention.
“The NSW Government’s assurance that land already granted to LALCs will not be affected fails to protect the significant number of claims awaiting their determination,” NSWALC said.
“At the same time, the NSW Government is creating harmful media coverage about Aboriginal land claims, driving division and deficit discourse rather than addressing their failure in determining claims. NSWALC has written to the Minister outlining these concerns and calling for the bill to be withdrawn.
“NSWALC’s position remains unchanged. We cannot support legislation that retrospectively validates Crown land tenures without adequate protection for undetermined Aboriginal land claims.”
NSWALC, La Perouse LALC and MLALC were contacted for comment.
