Antoinette O’Brien, The Nimbin GoodTimes

On Wednesday 21st August the community in North Lismore and beyond was hit with another wave of destruction and devastation as the house at 13 Wotherspoon Street was demolished without notification.

What preceded this action was a notice of intention to carry out asbestos removal and demolition by the company TCDE. On 24th July, residents received a letter in the post to say that 9 and 10 Wotherspoon Street were due for demolition starting on 6th August and that it would take about a week to complete the work.

Everyone concedes that it has taken a long time for this necessary work to be undertaken. Work went ahead as planned with little objection from the neighborhood.

On 6th August, people saw a TCDE company notice going up on the fence of 13 Wotherspoon Street. Notification went out to the community on Facebook. There was an immediate outcry from people far and wide. Sue Higginson, Ruth Rosenhek, Binny Dwyer, many passionate community members contributed to a swell of community concern. They spoke of taking direct action. On 7th August, Miriam Torzillo, a resident, went to find out what was going on. Miriam approached the foreman of the worksite to ask about the intention to demolish 13 Wotherspoon Street, a house she knew to be the home of Luke Asha.

Luke had taken the buyback offer and was not occupying his house at the time. Luke had been given 12 months to organise the relocation of his beloved home and was looking at land in Tenterfield. It is paramount to this breach of confidence for the whole community to know that that 12 months was due to come to an end at the end of October, over two months away.

13 Wotherspoon was a landmark building, including having history as The Rainforest Information Centre. Founded by John Seed and formally established in this house in 1980. Anybody involved in Terania creek, or Chaelundi, worked out of this building. The Rainforest Information Centre was active as the centre of rainforest campaigns around the world, including carrying out research in Ecuador and India, campaigning for the Franklin River and much more.

The foreman assured Miriam that 13 Wotherspoon would not be demolished. The excavators and machinery moved away from the front of Luke’s house and the remainder of the work on the other neighboring houses was completed. The community was relieved, believing there was no threat of destruction.

However it is believed this was a strategic and deceptive tactic, how else could it be taken when on 21st August the excavator returned and had half the work of the demolition of Luke’s house done by the end of the day. A devastating turn of events.

Since this devastating act of destruction two weeks ago, Luke has been contacted by the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA), who said they did try to give Luke a phone call but couldn’t get through (no email correspondence was pursued).

The RA did say they were sorry and offered mental health services to Luke. The RA paid over $600,000 to acquire this property. It wasn’t a small asset, it was a home of considerable value. Value that extended beyond the owner in this case, this house had historical and emotional value.

It’s very sad that no-one could enter into a dialogue to ensure that 13 Wotherspoon could have had a productive future. If Luke found he was unable to find a suitable location for house relocation, there should have been a conversation to explore the option of repurposing it in its current location.

The community and Luke would have advocated for an outcome that complemented the history of the building and the future of the land and river repair, such as the work done by Richmond River Keepers. The building could have been maintained on the floodplain as a community resource used for well-being and day use by grassroots organisations, who when all is said and done, will still be here, planting, restoring and caring.

Living Labs (LL), in conjunction with the RA, recently announced the Circular Timber initiative, conveying their interest in recycling timbers. This announcement was made while 13 Wotherspoon was being levelled. No effort was made to salvage any of the materials or handmade windows and doors, it all went in the skip.

This was a cherished rainforest timber home. People (including friends at Luke’s request) desperate to make some effort, climbed the fence in the night with torches to reclaim what they could.

Why aren’t the same group of carpenters LL employed examining houses on the cusp that could be restored so they can be included for reclocation? Many voices have decried what is currently happening, ‘please don’t demolish these treasured homes, we want relocations and at the very least appropriate salvage’.

When TCDE turned up on 22nd August, they faced a temporary delay when they discovered there had been some attempt to halt their work. An excavator had had the word ‘Shame’ written on the window in yellow spray paint (which turned out to be chalk paint and did no property damage at all). Surely this was a consequence of extreme levels of frustration and disappointment at the action being taken against community interest, coupled with the desperation to be heard.

While the RA say they had trouble contacting Luke before they destroyed his home, we have had no trouble contacting Luke since. Luke said to us of the experience that it is two orders of magnitude worse than the flood.

There are broader concerns about how safe the demolition of these houses which may contain asbestos might be. There hasn’t been any evidence of protective equipment being used. Also there was no asbestos in 13 Wotherspoon Street.

These types of actions carried out in this way is destroying community and destroying trust.

Demolishing this house two months prior to the agreed date, without the owner’s consent, or notifying neighbours in the immediate vicinity, is not just a major concern”¦ it beggars belief.

This article appeared in  The Nimbin GoodTimes, September 2024.