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Land Council ‘neglecting’ Bennelong Site - Originally Published in The Australian, Tuesday, August 9th, 2022 - Text Transcribed from Article by Nicholas Jensen

The burial site of Aboriginal leader Bennelong has still not been turned into a public memorial four years after it was bought for almost $3m because of inaction by the Aboriginal land council that took control of the site, according to the activists who first lobbied the NSW government to buy the property.

The Bennelong Putney Project, which formed seven years after Bennelong’s burial site was discovered in a Sydney suburb in 2011, has blamed the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council for behaving like a “Cabal” and neglecting the historic site, after it committed to building a memorial four years ago.

Bennelong, a decisive figure in Australia’s early colonial history, was buried under an orchard tree on the estate of James Squire, the country’s first brewer, who befriended the Aboriginal leader in the years before his death in January 1813.

He is buried with his fourth wife, Boorong and Aboriginal boy Nanbarry, believed to be the first Indigenous spy in the colony.

The Putney Project petitioned the NSW government to buy the property in 2018 amid concerns foreigh developers would purchase the site.

The two-storey, four-bedroom brick home in Putney, on the northern banks of the Parramatta River, went to auction in December 2017 but was passed in. The property, which is still occupied, was eventually bought by the Berejiklian government for $29m in November 2018.

A dispute over the Indigenous body responsible for co-ordinating the development of a memorial at the site saw the government replace the Putney Project with the land council.

Desmond Madden, who was a member of the Putney Project before it was disbanded last year, said it was a national disgrace Bennelong had not received the recognition he deserved at the Putney property.

Mr Madden said the Putney Project had already devised objectives for the site, secured some early funding and drafted a preliminary management plan.

“MLALC took an interest in the stie only after the Putney Project achieved our objective of saving the site from desecration … But we were overlooked for the council [MLALC], he said.

The land council is a statutory body that manages the heritage interests of Indigenous people in metropolitan Sydney.

Adam Joseph, one of the Putney Project’s founding members, said the group was “passionately committed” to acknowledging the significance of Bennelong and his relationship with Squire.

We had Labor, Liberal and Greens MPs involved in the process … But all the momentum and energy evaporated after the land council were appointed as the peak consultative body,” he said.

Mr Joseph accused the council of behaving like a “cabal” that had no intention of consulting with traditional owners, as well as bullying several members who had served on the Putney Project.

Land council chief executive Nathan Moran rejected claims it was doing nothing with the burial site, saying plans to establish a committee and develop a management plan were ongoing.

While he applauded the Putney Project for “championing” the cause, Mr Moran said the organisation had no understanding of how “working respectfully with Aboriginal communities is done”.

Ït was confronting because I had federal members and state members of parliament involved (in the Putney Project), and I did have a gasping moment thinking, ‘Why can’t you read your own legislation’,” Mr Moran said.

Environmental scientist Peter Mitchell, who found the long-lost gravesite, said it was disappointing nothing had been done with the site, adding that it could be used as a “powerful symbol for reconciliation”.

“His life has never been more relevant than now with issues like the voice to parliament … It’s a story about reconciliation and it’s not just an Indigenous story but an Australian story,” Dr Mitchell said.