Social and ethnic cleansing in Sydney

The inner Sydney suburb of Waterloo is in line to be gentrified in a big way. Under the cover of building a new train station there, the state government plans to demolish 2,000 public housing units in two 29-storey tower blocks, Turanga and Matavai, four other high-rise towers and other low-rise buildings.

Several thousand people will be in limbo, “relocated” to an unspecified destination for an unknown period. Once the people are gone, the project will be a massive windfall for developers. Resistance to removal is already under way by local organisations such as the Waterloo Action Committee.

Social cleansing of public housing residents is also ethnic cleansing. Developers have long held a desire to drive Aboriginal people out of Redfern and surrounding suburbs such as Waterloo.

A recent photographic exhibition documented the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy, in which veteran Aboriginal activist Aunty Jenny Munro played a central role in the campaign to force developers to provide low income housing for Aboriginal people. Speaking at the exhibition’s closing day, Munro drew attention throughout her speech to what was taking place in Waterloo, calling it “the latest step in the process the Embassy fought against. They want us out”.

One place under threat is what is now popularly known as T.J. Hickey Park. Since T.J.’s death at the hands of Redfern police in 2004, the Hickey family has been fighting for a plaque on the fence line at the base of Turanga.

Since the 10th anniversary rally marking the fight for justice for T.J., the adjoining park has sported a donated sign proclaiming it T.J. Hickey Park. The demolition of Waterloo housing is the latest excuse to wipe out this memory.

After a rally at Parliament House on 8 June, the NSW planning minister has agreed to join the family at the park to discuss how T.J.’s memory can be maintained – a small success for the family and its supporters in a long struggle for justice.