Last Wednesday the ACT Equestrian Association discovered by accident that almost the entire cross-country course at Equestrian Park has been provisionally included on the ACT Heritage List because of its proximity to the Yarralumla Woolshed. The nomination is for the Yarralumla Woolshed and Outbuildings and includes their rural setting (ie the cross-country course). You can read this document at http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2015-153/current/pdf/2015-153.pdf.
Neither ACTEA nor the National Capital Horse Trials Association (NCHTA), who manage and develop the course, were consulted about the provisional registration. Nor was the government land custodian, Sport and Recreation Services.
While we are still getting our heads around the detail, it appears that the provisions of the ACT Heritage Act 2004 may hamper NCHTA’s ability to continually upgrade and develop the course, should it be included in the final listing. This is because the legislation controls matters such as changing structures, excavation and modification of a site on the Heritage List. There are 145 jumps on the Equestrian Park course from 60cm through to Three Star level that may need to be moved, demolished, rebuilt or substantially modified over time. While the heritage protection of the Woolshed is a good thing, we are not convinced of the necessity or justification for extending the listing to the cross country course behind it.
ACTEA, EPMG and Sport & Recreation Services are actively working to minimise the harm caused by any inclusion in the Heritage List. In the meantime the public have only until cob 14 May to lodge objections or make comments about the listing. These comments will be considered by the Heritage Council in their decision about final listing of the Woolshed and its landscape setting.
You can help in this battle. If you are a club who hires the cross country course for your events, or a rider who uses it either as a competitor or recreational rider, or a trainer who uses it for clinics, now is the time to make your opinion heard about the cross country course.
You can make comments on the value of the cross country course and its contribution to the larger experience that is Equestrian Park. You can say how it contributes to the quality of equestrian facilities in Canberra. If you are a competitor you can say something about the course in comparison to other national and international courses, and what would happen if NCHTA could not continue to develop this course. Your comments do not have to be long, it’s numbers that count, but anything you say should stress how lucky Canberra is to have such a high class equestrian facility developed and maintained by the entirely volunteer efforts of NCHTA.
Please email the following text to heritage@act.gov.au
I am writing in response to the notice of provisional registration of the Yarralumla Woolshed and Outbuildings, Weston Creek, to the ACT Heritage Register.
I write as [a member of National Capital Horse Trials Association (NCHTA) / a competitor at Canberra Horse Trials] to oppose the inclusion of the equestrian cross country course in the provisional listing. This course is one of the best in NSW and allows riders of all levels to compete in horse trials competitions – from amateurs and juniors just starting out, through to Olympic short-listed competitors. The Three Star course has been used for pre-Olympic preparation and selection since the lead-up to the 2000 Olympics.
The current course comprises around 145 jumps, which are regularly moved, changed and rebuilt. This includes a water jump, which involved substantial excavation, and regular changes to the contour of the land with the creation of mounds, steps and banks. Over the last few years, NCHTA has invested $88,000 in maintaining and upgrading the course.
Anything that undermines NCHTA’s ability to continue to develop the cross country course will inevitably lead to its deterioration over time, and the loss of a world-class equestrian facility to the ACT and to elite equestrian sport.
While the heritage protection of the Woolshed is a good thing, the justification for extending the listing to the cross country course is not clear. The rural setting for the woolshed is already protected in numerous ways, including its zoning as Open Space (Park) under the National Capital Plan and through the recent establishment of an Offset Management Plan to conserve, manage and improve habitat for the Golden Sun Moth.
The current landscape of Equestrian Park reflects development of the cross country course over more than 20 years. While it remains “a rural landscape”, this hardly makes it unique in the Bush Capital. Furthermore, the provisional listing states that the landscaping “helps to block views of encroaching development”, which is clearly not the case.
Before imposing a potentially onerous regime of negotiation and approvals on the small group of volunteers who manage the cross country course, I urge the ACT Heritage Council to take account of very weak case for listing the area, given the substantial changes in the landscape since the 1960s and the existing protection of the land as open space.
