[Marie Sillars]

In 2015 I was living happily on a Housing Estate in Macquarie Park NSW, we had an amazing Community, very little Social problems and the buildings were 28 years old. The NSW Govt decided to sell off the Estate and my Tenant Group there (Incorporated) started to mount some opposition but as you can imagine it was pretty futile and we were inundated with FACS people from Starwberry Hills & there were Meetings where we were told that Community Consultation was important to them. The stories from this time would honestly write a very long book but the day the announcement came we were called to the Community Centre for a Meeting and kept there whilst the Minister was up the road with the Press, we were locked in but I had a Reporter on speed dial  and they came over to photograph the terrible way we were being treated. We had stood beside Millers Point when their time came and knew how these FACS people bully Tenants. Soon after the Officers came around to offer places and you were told not to let anyone know you were moving, they had lotteries where neighbours were against neighbours for properties. I was ordered to take down the Incorporation of my Tenant Group and I refused because I knew I had the Power to keep in contact with the Members of the Group. They moved me pretty quickly to CHP and I was ordered to a “private meeting” which I attended and my Family were threatened (they were in PH) they bullied me to a point where I had a breakdown and it took ages for me to take the Incorporation down, they lied, and were just unrelenting with people, talked many into Head Leasing and eventually got their own way. Those lovely places were left empty for 3.5 years (they could have been used for temporary housing) so I am not a Fan of this Govt. I am now watching Waterloo going through it (about 3,000 tenants) and now Glebe as well, it just breaks my heart to know that these people will suffer the same fate as Ivanhoe Estate. Each time they sell off an Estate, those Tenants go on the Priority List and all the other people waiting go down the List. Public Housing will disappear and it is SO NEEDED as CHPs cannot build enough properties and people are waiting 18+ years! One day I will start writing about the Ivanhoe debacle because this story needs to be told (I still do not know the location of the elderly people from my Estate)

[Wendy]

What a story Marie! We must keep a record here so that you can use it to refer to when you write that story. ….and it MUST be written!!!!

[Marie Sillars]

Thanks Wendy, Uniting want to help write it all, I still have all of the paperwork and boxes of information, it was a unique experience, I am waiting until I am released from Fair Trading as Public Officer of this Group, then it will be time to write this even if it just helps the next Estate to be taken dawn. The folks from Millers Point & myself have offered to help with Waterloo & Glebe, always good to pass on info. Same with “hand overs” to Community Housing, “Knowledge is Power”

[Rebecca C]

Thanks for sharing your story, Marie. Awful that the forced eviction meant you lost a community and and a home where you were happy. Sounds like you’re great at advocating for yourself and others and knowing what your rights are.

I went to a great workshop the other week on the power of storytelling and how to do that in a digital format. It was teaching how you could use stories for social impact by changing the hearts and minds of people, as well as the technical skills to do that digitally. Happy to share some of the key learnings I got from that, if people are interested?

[Wendy]

Looking forward to doing some story telling workshops through HAAG and also locally in WA through and collaboration between the Town of Victoria Park and the Centre for Stories. This collaboration is focussing on stories of homelessness and at risk. Should be very productive!

[Marie Sillars]

There is a Facebook Page that deals with history in my area of Ryde and yesterday they posted photographs from 1987 of the Ivanhoe Estate in Sydney as it was being built. Nick Greiner was there and I was so pleased to see the actual Unit I lived in as it was being built. It highlighted that this Estate was not very old and in very good condition as it was sold, the Minister saying on a News report “It has passed its use by date”. It is something that I did not understand at the time, still don’t and it was such a waste to be honest. Yes there is going to be 3,500 units, mostly private and some Social Housing tucked away in a dark corner but it will never have the thriving Community that we enjoyed at Ivanhoe. I am hoping the Tenants went on to join other Communities but many were heartbroken and I dare say that many of the Seniors are no longer with us 🙁

 

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