We touch history through the tips of our fingers. Today we can all run our fingers over the lives of people who lived, loved and died two centuries ago in the houses being so painstakingly unearthed in Salamanca.
A fleeting privilege, one soon to be bulldozed and obliterated forever.
What we are about to lose is older than central Paris, it predates any other city in Australia other than Sydney by decades and belongs not only to us but to all Australians.
When the trucks cart this away to become landfill they will take with them any tangible link we have to the lives of Rev Knopwood, the very first European settlers and a vital part of our culture: its destruction is nothing short of cultural vandalism.
And for what? A dungeon for cars, a few luxury apartments and shops.
This is not only socially absurd but economically backward.
The question is, which will be the more beneficial, the cumulative economic income derived from of this site over the next fifty years if the ruins are maintained as part of our cultural and tourist infrastructure as opposed a one off development of shops and car parking?
The other issue is how could the City Council approve such a development in this area before knowing what we had a few inches below the surface?
There are alternatives which with clever design could allow us to have both a new development and others to earn a living from the past.
Perhaps the best example is the Athens Museum which is literally build on glass with ancient ruins below for all to see, appreciate and inculcate a sense of humility.
• Greg James, in Comments: I have worked very close by to this site and can only endorse Dr Broinowski’s view. The foundations of Reverend Knopwood’s house are about to be demolished and replaced with a car park. The area will for the next couple of centuries be removed from the public’s attention and access. It will be a shadow, lost to all, paved over as a tribute to the car. If a tourist guru and we have so many, could see value in this history and take it on as a B&B, would that make you all happy and make it worth saving.
• Ian Broinowski, in Comments: Stephan, Central Paris was completely redesigned and rebuilt in the 1850’s but of course its older buildings are still in tack. In my letter I refer to European settlement, of course Aboriginal culture is vitally important and part of my motivation comes from the fact that the Aboriginal Community are so committed to preventing the destruction of their culture with modern development such as the highway and other sites which I find inspiring and made me think more about how I can preserve my culture as well, even it it was a slum for decades.
