Jack Mundey

Jack Mundey (born 17 October 1929) is a distinguished Australian union and environmental activist. He came to prominence during the 1970s for leading the New South Wales Builders' Labourers Federation (BLF) in the famous Green Bans, whereby the BLF led a successful campaign to protect the built and natural environment of Sydney from excessive and inappropriate development. Mundey is now Chair of the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales.

Early Years

Jack Mundey was born in Malanda 100km west of Cairns on the Atherton Tableland in far north Queensland and one of five children. His mother died when he was six. He was educated at Malanda Primary School and St. Augustine's Cairns from which he ran away from due to their 'authoritarian methods'. Mundey came to Sydney in the early 1950s when he was 19 and became a metalworker and later builder's labourer joining successively the Federated Ironworkers' Union and Builders Labourers Federation. It was during this period in heavy industry that he " 'became ... concerned about the lack of safety, about the paucity of conditions and where my interest in trade unionism and egalitarian attitudes really developed.' " In that time he also played rugby league for Parramatta under coach Vic Hey for three years. He joined the Communist Party of Australia in 1957.

During the 1960s Mundey was a crusading unionist, who advocated in relation to a wide range of issues, from safety reforms on building sites to wider social issues, such as feminism, gay rights, and the impact of international politics. Mundey considered all of these as subjects worthy of union activism.

The Green Bans

In 1968, he was elected president of the NSW Builder's Labourers Federation. From this position, Mundey became the highly visible individual who, with his union and supportive community members, was responsible for the green bans that saved much of Sydney's heritage and built environment. He insisted that the priorities of development be reversed such that the open community spaces and heritage buildings be preserved and that affordable public housing was more important than accumulating empty or underused commercial buildings.

Jack Mundey has since described the Green Bans as follows:

:"I think the Green Bans were probably the most exciting innovation that the Builders Labourers became involved in. There was so much development taking place and at the outset there was this feeling that 'all development was good - it was progress...' But as historical buildings, and buildings worthy of preservation were knocked down, and whole neighbourhoods were disrupted - for example all the working class people in the Rocks were going to be thrown out for high-rise development - a segment of the population said 'well, we should be concerned about our vanishing heritage."

In 1975 Mundey and other NSW leaders of the BLF were expelled from the union by the federal leadership under Norm Gallagher, who was later to be convicted of corrupt dealings with developers (but subsequently overturned on appeal).

Kelly's Bush

In 1971, the Hunter's Hill community was not the very upper-class suburb it is today, it was a mix of middle and upper classes. An area of bushland called Kelly's Bush on Parramatta River came under threat from a massive luxury apartment firm called A.V.Jennings. They wanted to build 3 eight-storey buildings and 80 two-storey buildings. The park had been used as a buffer zone between the old smelting works, which had moved out to Alexandria in June 1967, and the inhabitants of Hunters Hill. Kelly's Bush had an area of about 20 acres, and it was considered a 'good place for the kids'. The company allowed the residents access to the Sydney Harbour foreshore, and allowed a cricket pitch and scout hall to be constructed. However, the Hunters Hill Trust lobbied the local council, and argued that the number of buildings was impractical. The council rejected this proposal, but the State government bought convert|5.6|acre|m2 of the convert|12.1|acre|m2 available at a cost of AU$125000, but the area was mainly steep cliff side, and was totally unusable to the community. Jennings changed the building plans to 57 townhouses, and offered the land to the local council, but they could not afford the cost.

As Kelly's Bush was one of the few remaining harbour side areas of bushland, and was cherished by the Hunters Hill community, the government demanded that only 25 single townhouses be built on the convert|6.5|acre|m2|sing=on lot. This 'solution' meant only a small amount of people would benefit from the land. However, once the threat of high-rise, ultra modern apartments was abated, the community lost interest, and the movement fell apart.

However, thirteen women formed a group called the Friends of Kelly's Bush, who were intent on stopping all development on the site. They wrote letters to high ranking officials, like Prince Phillip, the Governor-General, the Premier, the opposition leader and their state member, but no serious action was taken to stop the development. As a last resort, the Friends of Kelly's Bush turned to Jack Mundey, who had been recommended to them by a local Labour member. They had heard of Jack Mundey's radical new approach to leading the BLF; that buildings must be benign to the environment and benefit the whole community. The FKB met with Mundey, who decided to hold a meeting to gauge support for the plan, and if there was enough, take action against A.V Jennings. The community approved the idea, and so the BLF placed a green ban on the area. A.V. Jennings threatened to use non-unionist labour to build the apartments regardless, but unionists working on their other projects threatened to stop. Eventually, in 1977, the new premier of NSW, Neville Wran, decided to buy the area and proclaim it a 'State Recreation Area'.

This show of power was the first taste of what was to come, as Mundey would eventually place 42 green bans in total in various parts of Sydney, and played a key role in maintaining it's heritage and natural environment.

Later life

His autobiography Green Bans and Beyond was published in 1981.

In 1982 his only son Michael was killed in a car accident.

In 1988 the University of Western Sydney bestowed an honorary Doctor of Letters and also an honorary Doctor of Science in recognition of his years of service to the environment for the last 30 years.

Mundey was made a Life Member of the Australian Conservation Foundation in the 1990s.In 1995, in keeping with his continued deep interest in Sydney and the state's urban environment and heritage, he was appointed Chair of the NSW Historic Houses Trust.

In February 2007, the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales renamed a portion of Argyle Street in The Rocks "Jack Mundey Place" in recognition of his leadership 'in the fight to preserve such significant sites in the historic Rocks area'. [http://www.nsw.nationaltrust.org.au/news/rocks.asp]

References

Jack Mundey "Green Bans and Beyond" (1981)

External links

* [http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/mundey/ Jack Mundey biography = australianbiography.gov.au]
* [http://www.atua.org.au/archives/ALE1341a.htm Australian Trade Union Archives entry]
* http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jack%20Mundey