There was community outrage in 1989 when Sutherland Shire Council considered selling Woolooware Golf Course for housing.
Under the plans, which never came to fruition, some of the proceeds from the sale would be used to build a new and bigger golf course on remediated sand mining land on the Kurnell peninsula.
So deeply did the issue bite, 30 years later some shire residents still believe it’s on the council’s agenda.
The housing option hasn’t surfaced (at least publicly) in recent years but in a 2017 community survey by the council on meeting financial challenges, one option put forward was converting the three council owned golf courses – Woolooware, Kareela and Barden Ridge – for playing fields or other public recreation purposes.
In 1989, then shire president Michael Tynan said the council was “in the preliminary stage of investigating the possibility” of creating a 27-hole, all-weather public golf course on the Kurnell peninsula.
Cr Tynan said Woolooware Golf Club could relocate, with the vacant site to be used for open space and low to medium density density.
He said the projects were “visionary” and dependent on negotiations with sand mining companies and the state government.
Cr Tynan said “the council will only proceed if the projects are financially viable, exposure to risk is eliminated, and the amenity of residents in the Woolooware area will not be affected”.
The issue was among those raised when more than 1600 people attended a mass rally at Gunnamatta Bay in October, 1989, to protest against a range of development plans for the Cronulla area.
The hall could not accommodate the huge crowd, which spilled out into the amphitheatre.
The angry meeting condemned development plans for the Workers Club, The Cecil hotel and Cronulla cinema site and demanded that threatened community facilities at Gunnamatta Park, as well as Woolooware Golf Course and Caringbah swimming pool be retained.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY
Every Friday we delve into the Leader archives to embark on some time travel.
We will bring you photographs of a news event from 57 years of Leader news coverage that you may or may not recall.
Flashback Friday submissions are also welcomed.
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