The online auction for the former Dooralong School site was pulled at the last minute by the Department of Education last week, amid news that Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council (Darkinjung) has explored options to lodge an Aboriginal Land Claim for the site.
The auction, through agents Capital One, was cancelled with less than five minutes to go on 9 March, with three buyers apparently lined up and raring to go.
Darkinjung has revealed it is one of the interested parties, while the other two are believed to be operators of other educational institutions on the Coast.
It is also believed that all three interested buyers had just started to engage the local community in a dialogue about maintaining community access to the Dooralong School site, however, the auction deadline did not allow for enough time for discussions to be completed.
The school site has been previously used for community meetings, fairs and art shows.
The announcement of the auction on February 10 rallied the community that has been waiting for almost 10 years for an outcome on the site and its heritage-listed buildings.
Approximately three weeks ago, David Harris MP, who is also a former Principal at the school, gave a notice of motion in Parliament calling for the NSW Government to halt the sale and consult with the local community on possible community uses.
Several parties allege that they contacted the Department of Education to back Mr Harris’ calls for a temporary halt to the sale, but they were not granted a response.
Mr Harris advised the community to put pressure on the Department of Education by directing their concerns, ideas and concepts to Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch MP.
“I am very pleased that the auction has been postponed. I think this is a good outcome for all.
“This gives the community and any interested parties time to discuss future uses for the school in an open and constructive way,” said Mr Harris.
Mr Crouch confirmed that he had also raised issues surrounding the school with Minister Mitchell while parliament was sitting last week.
“I would like to thank the Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell for listening to the concerns put forward by myself on behalf of our community,” he said.
Darkinjung CEO Brendan Moyle said he understood that there has been concern about the perceived lack of consultation on the future use of the school.
Moyle also confirmed that Darkinjung has explored options to lodge an Aboriginal Land Claim in line with the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983.
“These provisions allow Local Aboriginal Land Councils to claim eligible unused public land and assets for the benefit of Aboriginal people, as First Australians and custodians of the land for more than 65,000 years.
“While we are not in a position to comment on the status of the school, Darkinjung has an established partnership with Barker College as one of Australia’s most prestigious primary and secondary education institutions in Australia.
“The focus of this partnership is to provide world class education for Aboriginal students living in the fastest growing Aboriginal community in Australia.
“If Darkinjung was to obtain the Dooralong Public School it would be used within its original intent from 1903 to provide education to some of the most vulnerable people in the Central Coast community, while preserving Aboriginal and non-Indigenous history in a manner that the whole of the Central Coast community could celebrate and be proud of,” he said.
Nicola Riches