PCAG arose to protect the Heritage status of Pentridge Prison Coburg from the insensitive and destructive high rise development planned for it.
PCAG was formed in 2015 by a group of concerned residents to protect historic Pentridge Prison from insensitive and destructive high-rise development. Aims:
· To seek protection of Pentridge Prison’s nationally significant heritage and history, including its built environment, internal fabric and historic surrounds.
· In regard to the development of Pentridge, to support implementation of the
International Council on Monuments and Sites’, Burra Charter (2013) particularly article eight:
o Conservation requires the retention of an appropriate setting [including] retention of the visual and sensory setting…New construction, demolition, intrusions and other changes which would adversely affect the setting or relationships are not appropriate.
· To negotiate with relevant authorities, agencies and stakeholders including state and national governments, Moreland Council, Heritage Victoria, Heritage Council of Victoria and the National Trust to ensure the protection of heritage values in and around Pentridge, including the adjoining Coburg Lake Reserve (originally part of Pentridge and created by prison labour).
· To publicise the need to protect the heritage values associated with the Pentridge historic site.
· To advocate against inappropriate or overdevelopment within Pentridge that threatens not only heritage values and interpretation but also resident and visitor amenities, such as:
o visual competition between old and new elements, “landmark” towers that will dominate the heritage precinct and neighbouring vicinities, overshadowing of adjacent apartment blocks, traffic and parking problems both within the site and along access roads, impact on Coburg Lake Reserve, further openings in the listed bluestone wall, failure to provide a variety of housing, and undermining future use of the site for heritage tourist activities.
· To demand a professionally-curated museum (legally required under a covenant between the developer and the Heritage Council) that would highlight not only Pentridge’s criminal history, but also its social importance in relation to the imprisonment of political prisoners, gays and indigenous people, and as the focus of nationally significant campaigns against capital punishment.
· To seek protection of, and public access to, the Ronald Bull indigenous mural in Division F, as referred to in the Victorian Heritage Register Statement of Significance for Pentridge. In addition, to highlight the need to preserve other interior aspects of the Pentridge historic site.
· To assist the preservation of the internationally significant archaeological aspects of the former Pentridge Prison. Vision:
· We want to ensure the protection and development of the Pentridge historic site in such a way that will enable current and future generations to understand and appreciate the full scope of its heritage and social history.
