At a time when developers are squeezing every last dollar out of housing sites, a Caringbah South resident has donated part of her property to expand a bushland reserve.
Jean Leyendekkers’s gift of 800 square metres of land to Sutherland Shire Council is valued at about $1.7 million.
The gesture contrasts with what Dr Leyendekkers (she has a doctorate in science) believes is “greed” behind much of the development in the shire, which she has fought for decades.
“I don’t want the developers to get this block – I want it to stay a little bit of greenery in the wilderness,” she said.
Dr Leyendekkers campaigned in the 1990s for the creation of Wattlebird Bushland Reserve, at the rear of her home.
The council, which owns the land between Gannons Road and Saunders Bay Road, relented after unsuccessfully trying to buy the back sections of residents’ properties to get added land to make a sports field.
For many years, Dr Leyendekkers belonged to the bushcare group, which maintains the reserve.
The council endorsed, without comment, a staff recommendation to thank the resident, who was not identified, “for the generous donation to benefit the shire community”.
Dr Leyendekkers and her husband Joost, who died in 2004, bought the property about 60 years ago, and he built a house while preserving most of the dense natural bushland, including many tall gum trees.
He was an artist, and she a scientist and mathematician.
Only recently, she co-authored another mathematics tome for academics.
Neighbours Alan and Lorraine George, whose home of 47 years also adjoins the reserve, which they help maintain, were not surprised by the generosity.
“Jean is a wonderful person, and it shows how much she believes in the shire and trying to keep it as much as possible the way it was originally,” Mr George said.
“She had some huge fights over development with the council, neighbours, the courts, but was outgunned by the developers.”
Mr George said, based on nearby property sales, the donated land could be worth about $1.7 million.
Ms George, who was also a leader in the campaign for the reserve, said they succeeded only because they had the support of Cr Deborah Jenkins.
