New dawn for Middle Head lookout with plans for hikes, events and weddings
Middle Head, near Mosman, is being transformed with a new headland walk, food and drink options, music venues and postcard wedding venue to attract visitors and breathe life into one of Sydney’s most iconic vantage points.
A draft master plan released Tuesday calls for demolishing several derelict dormitories at the former military compound and reconfiguring or resurfacing the concrete parking lots to open the site for community festivals, sporting events, concerts and conferences.
Middle Head, with the 10 terminal buildings in the centre, the oval to the right and HMAS Penguin behind the oval.Credit:Nick Moir
The Sydney Harbor Federation Trust, a federal agency that manages former defense land around the waterfront, admits that the headland’s natural, indigenous and military importance is difficult to assess because it is difficult to access and forbidding.
“Right now you don’t get that experience,” says Janet Carding, Managing Director of Trust. “It’s a bit fragmented as a website. Some things you can absorb and some things you can’t.”
Middle Head, or Gubbuh Gubbuh, is on the land of the Borogegal and Cammeraygal peoples. The HMAS Penguin Base, run by Defence, and a parkland managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) cover much of the area – as do two clothing-optional beaches, Cobblers and Obelisk.
The Trust looks after the plateau, including Middle Head Oval (leased to Mosman Council) and 10 Terminal’s old military buildings. From 1923 until World War II the site was a nine-hole golf course. The other end of the headland behind the defense moat is managed by NPWS.
Derelict former military dormitories that have no historical value will be removed as part of the draft master plan.Credit:Nick Moir
Visitors currently arrive at a roundabout directly behind HMAS Penguin with no clear welcome point. The master plan would install a “Welcome to Country” and make the area behind the roundabout largely pedestrianized, “so you don’t feel like you’ve arrived in a parking lot, but in a special place,” says Carding.
The heart of the precinct would be a new overhead structure linking the two “garage” buildings within the old Terminal 10, and a food and beverage outlet in building three, adjoining a south-facing lawn used for weddings, ceremonies and “small… Picnic-style music events”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/new-dawn-for-sydney-lookout-with-plans-for-headland-walk-events-weddings-20230313-p5crn1.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_national_nsw New dawn for Middle Head lookout with plans for hikes, events and weddings
