A petition has been started as a last-ditch effort to get the Northern Midlands Council to save a convict-era well on land at Perth it owns, with hopes of putting it on public display.
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The council plans to subdivide land at 32 Norfolk Street into three blocks: two residential blocks, with one featuring the well, and one block for open space.
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A Launceston descendant of Dolly Dalrymple Johnson, Barb Rees, has taken up the cause and put together a petition to have the well put on public display in-situ for its historic value.
The petition points out the council's own heritage code, which states it should protect and enhance historic cultural heritage, and its responsibility to engage and consult with the community on decisions.
It has gathered 78 signatures in 48-hours.
"This area could have been made a significant historical space for locals and visitors. Where was the community consultation? Where is it at all? These decisions should not be made while the public cannot attend. There is no social licence in these decisions behind closed doors.
"The council should undo the damage it has done. Once our heritage is gone, it's gone forever and future generations will miss out on something historically valuable in a town dating back to 1821," Ms Rees said.
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A report by ratepayer Robert Henley at the September meeting put forward a way to save the well, through a two-lot subdivision, making it part of the public open space.
However, the council decided as the subdivision was already approved and underway, it would only explore renaming the public open space to Dolly Dalrymple Reserve.
Plans to rename the reserve were also quashed, as the name was already in use in Latrobe. The council will consider a new name in December after community consultation.
The well was discovered by workers in March 2019 and an assessment found it was constructed using about 500 convict-era bricks. The council said it conducted extensive research but its exact origins remained unknown.
The petition is part of an effort to get the area recognised as a heritage precinct including the well, mid-1800s 32 Norfolk St cottage, the public open space and the Jolly Farmer Inn opposite.
The Jolly Farmer Inn is already heritage listed.
Ms Rees said although 32 Norfolk St block was opposite Dolly's 20-acre land grant, it was certainly a part of the story of the area with her husband, Thomas Johnson, being a convict sent there.
"With the council proposing a public space here, all of a sudden this small precinct could really come to life with descendants coming from all over Australia back to Perth because of their link and its history, which is still being discovered today, not to mention a beautiful piece of heritage for Perth locals," she said.
"We also believe that the well can be made safe. We understand this is just another well, but this well happens to be in a space that it could be made a feature as part of the whole picture in this precinct. We would like more time to research the history of 32 Norfolk Cottage also."
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Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
