‘Supertall' towers soaring past 300 metres could redraw Sydney's skyline

Inside the Chinatown museum that after four years and millions of dollars never opened

Sydney Morning Herald

a day ago

Sydney Morning Herald

Inside the Chinatown museum that after four years and millions of dollars never opened

But as the institution enters its fourth year of a five-year lease with little progress made, impatience is brewing in some parts of the Chinatown community over the extensive delays. So why hasn't the Museum of Chinese in Australia opened yet? History in the making Sydney's Chinatown is one of Australia's best-known and most frequented, with roots tracing back to the 1870s, when Chinese migrants shifted their fruit and vegetable trading from the Rocks to settle around Haymarket. Chinese people began arriving in Australia as part of the massive migration wave during the gold rush of the 1850s. During the 1900s, they spread into other trades and services, finding prosperity in fruit and vegetable trading, shopkeeping, tobacco farming and clothes laundering. The end of the White Australia policy in 1973 brought another wave of migrants. But unlike Melbourne and regional cities such as Bendigo (which established its Golden Dragon Museum in 1991) and Ararat (which opened its Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre in 2001), Sydney has fallen behind in establishing its own museum to showcase the contributions of Chinese Australians. That looked to finally change in mid-2020. As the pandemic set in, Lord Mayor Clover Moore announced the council would lease the property to the Museum of Chinese in Australia. It would feature a gallery and exhibition space, programming activities, community spaces for events, an artist-in-residence program, and a cafe and shop. It is chaired by 82-year-old Daphne Lowe Kelly, who has spent most of her career serving Chinese-Australian organisations, and was presided over by Dr John Yu, a Chinese-born Australian paediatrician and 1996 Australian of the Year. But neither the council nor the museum's leadership anticipated the challenges of establishing a new gallery in a heritage-listed 19th-century building. While the site has given the museum a spiritual and physical home, with rent subsidised by the council, the lease agreement contains pages of added requirements, heritage restrictions and red tape. 'This is an amazing gift,' new MOCA chief executive Peter Cai said of the building. 'And it came with a lot of conditions, and some conditions are not easy to address. There are a lot of costs to remedy.' The initial renovation proposal, overseen by Tony Stephens, the previous chief executive who departed the organisation in January, came to roughly $4.7 million, said Kelly, who estimates the true cost would have been closer to $6 million or $7 million after factoring in contingencies and other unanticipated expenses. Figures from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) show revenue from donations and bequests came to $1,766,821 in the four years between fiscal 2021 and 2024. This figure doesn't include rent subsidies from the City of Sydney's accommodation grant program, $2.28 million from Create NSW given in 2022, or two grants from the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations that exceeded $400,000. In the absence of local donations, lobbying government has been crucial. 'It was almost impossible trying to raise any funds during COVID,' Kelly said. 'People are now questioning many things' A number of departures on the museum's board has added to perceptions of volatility. Only three inaugural board members remain: Kelly, Joanna Capon and Yin Cao. Dr John Yu, Stephen FitzGerald and Su-Ming Wong have departed the board. Since then, a number of others have come and gone. Loading One former director, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential matters freely, said board members had at times disagreed on the best approach to raising money. 'It's become a fundraising issue. They need a certain amount of money to open. They haven't been able to achieve that yet,' they said. Despite being volunteers for the charity, the former board member described the work as a 'full-time job'. 'It was very intense,' they said. 'I found myself spending a lot of time on the wrong things. 'While I've stepped off the board, I'm still a big supporter and would love to see it open.' An active representative of the Chinatown community, who declined to be named, said the museum had lost a lot of the goodwill it initially had. 'Because it's been years, people are losing interest or faith,' they said. 'People are now questioning many things; where has [the money] gone, how has it been spent?' The same Chinatown community representative feels the museum has had little to show. 'If you can't fix the building with the money you have, what are you delivering in the meantime?' they asked. 'They're not engaging in the community at all.' Kelly is aware of the critiques. 'They don't really know what goes behind the scenes, what has to be actually done, and how difficult it is to achieve a lot of what it takes to actually get it open,' she said. Putting on a show Plans are now being redrawn for a 'reduced scope' refurbishment. Even then, Kelly estimates opening will cost $3 million to $4 million. 'That's still a lot of money,' she said. 'You've got to remember, we also need to have funds for the programs and operational costs.' The race is on to pull the various pieces together for a soft launch. On top of refurbishment plans to be redrawn, costed and commenced, an exhibition director (historian and Chinese art and photography curator Shuxia Chen) has been drafted to conceptualise the museum's first exhibition, which will focus on local stories about Haymarket habitants that have been there for generations, such as the Lam family of Asian grocer Dong Nam A, or the Pang family, which ran a Chinese restaurant in Haymarket for nearly three decades and have donated large sums to the museum. 'We must put on a good show for people,' Cai said. Decisions need to be made about the exhibition's budget. 'You're talking about special lighting, casings, you have to hire expert consultants to put it all together. It's not as easy as hanging something on a wall.' Meanwhile, Kelly is hustling for donations, having visited Canberra to lobby Wong and Plibersek, and sharing bank details in community newsletters. 'I've been lobbied about this so much,' Wong said at the April event. The museum has secured its tenancy for another decade, which Kelly hopes will help to encourage donations after hearing feedback that some felt reluctant to donate money for a building that belongs to the council. 'A refit is not as sexy to the philanthropic community,' said another former board member, speaking on the condition of anonymity. 'We spoke to a lot of other Chinese museums around the world ... The Chinese Canadian Museum took eight years to get running from conceptualisation to open doors. It just takes a little while.' Cai is excited to showcase the many contributions of Chinese Australians over the decades and is at pains to convey the 'complicated nature' of the project to supporters, whom he said had been generous and full of goodwill. 'I can empathise with some of our supporters who just want to see the building open soon,' he said. 'I want as much as I can to speed things up.'

The Age

a day ago

The Age

Inside the Chinatown museum that after four years and millions of dollars never opened

But as the institution enters its fourth year of a five-year lease with little progress made, impatience is brewing in some parts of the Chinatown community over the extensive delays. So why hasn't the Museum of Chinese in Australia opened yet? History in the making Sydney's Chinatown is one of Australia's best-known and most frequented, with roots tracing back to the 1870s, when Chinese migrants shifted their fruit and vegetable trading from the Rocks to settle around Haymarket. Chinese people began arriving in Australia as part of the massive migration wave during the gold rush of the 1850s. During the 1900s, they spread into other trades and services, finding prosperity in fruit and vegetable trading, shopkeeping, tobacco farming and clothes laundering. The end of the White Australia policy in 1973 brought another wave of migrants. But unlike Melbourne and regional cities such as Bendigo (which established its Golden Dragon Museum in 1991) and Ararat (which opened its Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre in 2001), Sydney has fallen behind in establishing its own museum to showcase the contributions of Chinese Australians. That looked to finally change in mid-2020. As the pandemic set in, Lord Mayor Clover Moore announced the council would lease the property to the Museum of Chinese in Australia. It would feature a gallery and exhibition space, programming activities, community spaces for events, an artist-in-residence program, and a cafe and shop. It is chaired by 82-year-old Daphne Lowe Kelly, who has spent most of her career serving Chinese-Australian organisations, and was presided over by Dr John Yu, a Chinese-born Australian paediatrician and 1996 Australian of the Year. But neither the council nor the museum's leadership anticipated the challenges of establishing a new gallery in a heritage-listed 19th-century building. While the site has given the museum a spiritual and physical home, with rent subsidised by the council, the lease agreement contains pages of added requirements, heritage restrictions and red tape. 'This is an amazing gift,' new MOCA chief executive Peter Cai said of the building. 'And it came with a lot of conditions, and some conditions are not easy to address. There are a lot of costs to remedy.' The initial renovation proposal, overseen by Tony Stephens, the previous chief executive who departed the organisation in January, came to roughly $4.7 million, said Kelly, who estimates the true cost would have been closer to $6 million or $7 million after factoring in contingencies and other unanticipated expenses. Figures from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) show revenue from donations and bequests came to $1,766,821 in the four years between fiscal 2021 and 2024. This figure doesn't include rent subsidies from the City of Sydney's accommodation grant program, $2.28 million from Create NSW given in 2022, or two grants from the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations that exceeded $400,000. In the absence of local donations, lobbying government has been crucial. 'It was almost impossible trying to raise any funds during COVID,' Kelly said. 'People are now questioning many things' A number of departures on the museum's board has added to perceptions of volatility. Only three inaugural board members remain: Kelly, Joanna Capon and Yin Cao. Dr John Yu, Stephen FitzGerald and Su-Ming Wong have departed the board. Since then, a number of others have come and gone. Loading One former director, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential matters freely, said board members had at times disagreed on the best approach to raising money. 'It's become a fundraising issue. They need a certain amount of money to open. They haven't been able to achieve that yet,' they said. Despite being volunteers for the charity, the former board member described the work as a 'full-time job'. 'It was very intense,' they said. 'I found myself spending a lot of time on the wrong things. 'While I've stepped off the board, I'm still a big supporter and would love to see it open.' An active representative of the Chinatown community, who declined to be named, said the museum had lost a lot of the goodwill it initially had. 'Because it's been years, people are losing interest or faith,' they said. 'People are now questioning many things; where has [the money] gone, how has it been spent?' The same Chinatown community representative feels the museum has had little to show. 'If you can't fix the building with the money you have, what are you delivering in the meantime?' they asked. 'They're not engaging in the community at all.' Kelly is aware of the critiques. 'They don't really know what goes behind the scenes, what has to be actually done, and how difficult it is to achieve a lot of what it takes to actually get it open,' she said. Putting on a show Plans are now being redrawn for a 'reduced scope' refurbishment. Even then, Kelly estimates opening will cost $3 million to $4 million. 'That's still a lot of money,' she said. 'You've got to remember, we also need to have funds for the programs and operational costs.' The race is on to pull the various pieces together for a soft launch. On top of refurbishment plans to be redrawn, costed and commenced, an exhibition director (historian and Chinese art and photography curator Shuxia Chen) has been drafted to conceptualise the museum's first exhibition, which will focus on local stories about Haymarket habitants that have been there for generations, such as the Lam family of Asian grocer Dong Nam A, or the Pang family, which ran a Chinese restaurant in Haymarket for nearly three decades and have donated large sums to the museum. 'We must put on a good show for people,' Cai said. Decisions need to be made about the exhibition's budget. 'You're talking about special lighting, casings, you have to hire expert consultants to put it all together. It's not as easy as hanging something on a wall.' Meanwhile, Kelly is hustling for donations, having visited Canberra to lobby Wong and Plibersek, and sharing bank details in community newsletters. 'I've been lobbied about this so much,' Wong said at the April event. The museum has secured its tenancy for another decade, which Kelly hopes will help to encourage donations after hearing feedback that some felt reluctant to donate money for a building that belongs to the council. 'A refit is not as sexy to the philanthropic community,' said another former board member, speaking on the condition of anonymity. 'We spoke to a lot of other Chinese museums around the world ... The Chinese Canadian Museum took eight years to get running from conceptualisation to open doors. It just takes a little while.' Cai is excited to showcase the many contributions of Chinese Australians over the decades and is at pains to convey the 'complicated nature' of the project to supporters, whom he said had been generous and full of goodwill. 'I can empathise with some of our supporters who just want to see the building open soon,' he said. 'I want as much as I can to speed things up.'

Sydney skyline to be transformed with two new towers

Daily Telegraph

4 days ago

Daily Telegraph

Sydney skyline to be transformed with two new towers

Sydney's CBD is soaring to new heights with plans for two new skyscrapers that will eclipse the city's tallest buildings and dramatically transform the skyline. The City of Sydney council has endorsed proposed changes to planning rules which will increase the maximum height and floor space of new buildings. Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the proposal is in line with the Central Sydney planning strategy, a blueprint for height and floor space growth – the most significant review of planning in the city centre in over 45 years. The changes will increase the maximum permitted building height on in a precinct on Pitt St to 310m. This would be marginally higher than Sydney Tower – currently the tallest structure in the city. MORE: Sydney tenant slugged with $520k bill The proposal would be for a 70-storey commercial building at 56-60 Pitt St. Included in the proposal would be plans for public spaces and a pedestrian through-site link connecting Pitt St to Spring and Gresham streets. Another proposal to enable a second 300m-plus tower is also being finalised before public consultation. This second tower would be nearby at 1-25 O'Connell St and would be 319m. The 71-storey skyscraper and adjoining development will provide 150,000 square metres of commercial floor space. The space would include a public through-site link and precincts logistics hub, a shared loading dock for businesses in the precinct and adaptive reuse of heritage buildings. Both sites are located in the northern tower precinct of Central Sydney favoured by financial, legal, property and technology sectors, according to the City of Sydney. MORE: Hidden cost bleeding Aussies of $71 a day 'If we want Sydney to maintain its status as a global city and economic powerhouse, its vital that we safeguard economic floor space whilst allowing residential development to continue in the city centre,' Ms Moore said in a City of Sydney release. The strategy works to allow the skyline to rise at the same time as ensuring sunlight continues to reach popular public spaces such as Hyde Park and the Royal Botanic Garden. MORE: $10m blow for pub baron Jon Agdemis after mum's house seized 'It was the product of three years of deep research by City staff, who worked block by block, carefully examining the way our city works and where sunlight falls,' Ms Moore said. According to Ray White Head of Research Vanessa Rader, building skyward is strategic and practical to grow in the city centre. 'Sydney historically has had lower height restrictions in order to keep Sydney Tower as the highest landmark,' she said. 'You look at other cities like Melbourne – they have much higher buildings. 'Sydney Tower is a bit of an ageing building now when you look at the new buildings that are coming up. Just look at Barangaroo and Crown – its great to see that we are competing with the rest of the world in terms of having these landmark structures.' Ms Rader said the development around the CBD and existing public transport also creates hubs which take a leaf out of international cities transport orientated, high density developments. 'We are probably going to go through a period of seeing consolidation of sites – like the one on Pitt Street,' she said. 'A lot of kind of smaller, older style buildings or secondary buildings consolidated into these larger sites in order to cater to these new, beautiful and premium buildings.'

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Inside the Chinatown museum that after four years and millions of dollars never opened

Inside the Chinatown museum that after four years and millions of dollars never opened

Sydney skyline to be transformed with two new towers

‘Supertall' towers soaring past 300 metres could redraw Sydney's skyline

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Inside the Chinatown museum that after four years and millions of dollars never opened

Inside the Chinatown museum that after four years and millions of dollars never opened

Sydney skyline to be transformed with two new towers

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