News
4 December, 2025
Opportunity lost with Berrima Gaol sale
The NSW Government has been accused of a ‘lack of due diligence’ in protecting the heritage significance of Berrima Gaol.
The NSW Government has been accused of a ‘lack of due diligence’ in protecting the heritage significance of Berrima Gaol.
Berrima resident Eric Savage and Sydney-based heritage architect Anne Warr delivered a paper on the gaol’s sale at the Australia ICOMOS Conference in Ballarat last month (November).
ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation of cultural heritage professions.
The paper, prepared by the Berrima Residents’ Association (BRA), accused the NSW Government of failing to consult with the community about the sale of the gaol or future options for the site.
“In hindsight it appears the NSW Government may have decided to dispose of Berrima Gaol in early 2021 and did not disclose this decision to the public until October 2021 when launching the sale by Expression of Interest (EOI)”.
It ignored a call from the BRA in September 2021 to engage with stakeholders and to “map out a future use of the site which respects its extraordinary place and the story it has to tell in the history of NSW”.
BRA said the gaol could be repurposed “to unlock its economic and social potential for the benefit of Berrima, the Southern Highlands and, indeed, the whole of NSW for generations to come”.
A letter from Wingecarribee Shire Council the following month (October 2021) accused the NSW Government of “deliberately failing to involve the council or engage with the community before a decision was made to sell”.
While local residents formed a company, Berrima Gaol Custodians Pty Ltd, to lodge an EOI on behalf of the community, the paper argues the EOI process was flawed.
Berrima Gaol Custodians lodged a 41-page EOI as required but the Blue Sox Group lodged a one-page document – suggesting it had not fully developed its plans and that it only provided the government with a more detailed submission after the closing date for EOIs on November 26, 2021.
The NSW Government announced in May 2022 that it would be selling the gaol to Blue Sox for $7 million.
According to the paper, the EOI process was supposed to move to a ‘Call for Tenders’ in January/February 2022 but never did.
“If the government had invited the community to join a short-list of bidders to go forward to competitive tender, the community’s tender documents would have included its detailed business plan for the future management of the site that was not submitted with its EOI bid.
“It is our opinion that in not proceeding to tender, the Property Office cut the community out from further consideration.”
The paper argues that Blue Sox failed to adequately engage with the community and held engagement sessions simply to tick boxes.
“The claim in the EIS that the proposed design has rigorous review with community groups, the National Trust and council is somewhat exaggerated”.
The paper also argues that Blue Sox provided limited information on its adaptive re-use plans for the gaol until it lodged its SSD application with the NSW Department of Planning last month.
According to the paper, 80 per cent of people who attended the first meeting of the Berrima Gaol Community Group (BGCG) in March 2024 were opposed to any new buildings outside the gaol walls.
Two new groups were formed in the village – ONE BERRIMA and Berrima Heritage Matters (BHM) – when BGCG was dissolved in 2024.
Blue Sox has engaged with other groups in Berrima but not BHM – despite it supporting the “majority community decision” for there to be no new buildings outside the gaol wall.
The paper argues that despite “years of diligent heritage assessment of the significance of the gaol to Berrima” when it came to the sale the NSW Government “deliberately undertook a process that supported a single developer-driven outcome of the gaol becoming a boutique hotel”.
“The opportunity to use the sale of the gaol to upgrade the heritage values and tourist potential of the town as a whole was lost.
“The lack of respect for the local community has meant that the sale and redevelopment have been a source of continual contention for the town and government, instead of progressive partnership”.
The paper points to the Australia ICOMOS Burra Charter which emphases the importance of not just individual items but ‘the place itself’, the context and surrounding cultural landscape.
UNESCO has also issued numerous documents emphasising the importance of safe-guarding historic area – not just monuments.
“The adaptive re-use of the gaol should have been an opportunity to engage with the local community, including the local council, in a heritage/master-planning process that examined all the ways in which the heritage and tourist potential of the town could be enhanced by new uses of the gaol site.
“This would have led to an exciting outcome for the town, benefitting locals and visitors,” the paper states.
Read More: Berrima, Southern Highlands