THE State Government body overseeing heritage concerns has come out against the 16-lot Lenah Valley subdivision application by former Tasmanian treasurer David Crean.
Heritage Tasmania has lodged what it describes as “informal” comments with the Hobart City Council.
Heritage Tasmania’s works manager Ian Boersma said the subdivision was adjacent to Ancanthe Park, which contains the Lady Franklin Gallery, a place on the Tasmanian Heritage Register.
He said the council should try to ensure the setting was preserved, interpreted and celebrated.
“We feel that the proposed subdivision will complete the process of erosion that is in danger of severing the links between Lady Franklin’s gallery [home of the Tasmanian Natural History Society], the lands around the gallery and those which extend up to the foothills of Mt Wellington,” Mr Boersma said.
“This landscape has the potential to be a landscape of national significance and is one of the earliest colonial landscapes in Tasmania.
“That, together with the links between Lady Franklin’s gift of this land and the establishment of three major educational institutions in Tasmania [Christ College, the Hutchins School and Launceston Grammar], makes its preservation a matter that warrants a high level of priority from council.”
He said it was understood the Hobart council might have the resources to acquire the land, or possibly provide a land swap, as an alternative to approving the subdivision.
“If that opportunity exists we would strongly urge council to pursue it and start undoing the two centuries of poor decisions that have placed this landscape at risk to this degree,” Mr Boersma said.
“With the bicentenary of the Franklins’ arrival in Tasmania in the not too distant future, it would be beneficial if council could show leadership in preserving this evidence of their presence and the ideals they sought to promote in the raw colony that they came to.”
Last month the Hobart council approved the subdivision, but it has since been appealed.
The Saving Ancanthe Action Group says Ancanthe Park was bought 170 years ago on the insistence of Lady Jane Franklin, wife of the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemens Land, Sir John Franklin.
Lady Franklin’s vision was to create a museum and a centre for learning.
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