Squatting in Australia

Last updated

Houses 2 and 4, during the 2016 Bendigo Street housing dispute Bendigo street housing campaign houses number 2 and 4 street protest March 31 2016.jpg
Houses 2 and 4, during the 2016 Bendigo Street housing dispute

Squatting in Australia usually refers to a person who is not the owner, taking possession of land or an empty house. In 19th century Australian history, a squatter was a settler who occupied a large tract of Aboriginal land in order to graze livestock. At first this was done illegally, later under licence from the Crown.

Contents

In more recent times, there have been squats in the major cities such as Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. It would be possible in theory for squatters to be charged with criminal trespass under the Inclosed Lands Protection Act, but squatters are simply evicted when they are discovered. As in England and Wales and also the United States, adverse possession exists in Australian law, although it is rarely used by squatters. This means that if a squatter lives uninterruptedly in a property for over 12 years (15 in South Australia and Victoria) and against the wishes of the owner, the ownership of the property can be claimed by the squatter. [1]

Squattocracy

In the 19th century, the British government claimed to own all of Australia and tried to control land ownership, ignoring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Farmers of livestock (some of them ex-convicts) claimed land for themselves and thus were known as squatters – the phenomenon is referred to in the song Waltzing Matilda. [2] Maps of pastoral lands were also known as squatting maps. [3] The successful farmers became wealthy and powerful, setting up empires which extend into the present in some cases. [4]

Squatting runs

Early expeditions of Sturt Sturt-map.jpg
Early expeditions of Sturt

The Atlas Maps of N. South Wales, Queensland, New Zealand, Victoria and South Australia by William Owen was published in Melbourne in 1869. It provides the earliest preserved record of squatting runs in the colonies of eastern Australia and New Zealand. These maps also provide placenames for small 19th century settlements that had vanished. The New South Wales map includes the Riverine District with Squatting Runs. The colonial administration rejected squatting in 1833 but only with regards to trespass on Crown land. The Imperial Waste Lands Act 1846, known as Earl Grey's Act, established additional countries that had the status of intermediate districts and 15 squatting districts in which squatting runs could be taken up. The Waste Lands Repeal Act 1855 transferred the administration of land policy from the British Government to the colonies. In the 1840s squatters traveled along the Murrumbidgee route, which had been documented by the explorers Thomas Mitchell and Charles Sturt, in search for suitable lands. [5]

1946

Following World War II, various individuals and families squatted for housing in Hobart, Melbourne, Port Kembla and Sydney in 1946. The actions were supported by the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) and often resulted in more long term arrangements. [6] [7]

Canberra

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was set up in 1972 on the lawn in front of Parliament House (now Old Parliament House) in Canberra as a protest over Aboriginal land rights. It became a squat later that year in the eyes of the law when the Australian government criminalised the occupation by amending the Trespass on Commonwealth Lands Ordinance. It was then evicted and briefly resquatted several times, before being set up again in 1973. The embassy played a part in the formation of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976. The embassy then moved to different sites but returned to its original site in 1992. It remains as an ongoing protest occupation. [8]

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Squatters' Union was formed in the early 1980s. It had links to the Franklin Dam campaign and was supported by the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF). The South Vietnamese embassy at 39 National Circuit and 14 Hobart Avenue had been empty since 1975 and was occupied after a demonstration in March 1984. [9] The empty Cambodian embassy building on Melbourne Avenue was occupied in 1985 and quickly housed 200 people. [10] The squatters said that they would be careful with their electricity use since at the South Vietnamese embassy they had left behind an unpaid bill of over $1000. [11]

Melbourne

The Squatters Union of Victoria was founded in 1981 and over the next three years coordinated over 170 squats. [4]

Melbourne squats are usually located in the inner suburbs, like Footscray, St. Kilda and Coburg. They tend to be houses that are waiting for demolition. A well-known squat in Carlton was organised by international students in 2008. A Squatter's Handbook was produced by activists in 1993, 2001 and 2010. [12]

The Bendigo Street housing dispute occurred in 2016. When the Government of Victoria wanted to build the East West Link road, squatters occupied a series of buildings in protest. Eventually, the road-building plans were scrapped and the government announced plans for a new package of measures to deal with homelessness. [13]

Sydney

In Sydney, streets of terraced houses in areas such as the Rocks and Potts Point were squatted to prevent their demolition in the 1970s. [14] [15] In the inner city suburb of Pyrmont, the Old Pyrmont Cottages were squatted from the late 1970s until 1994. [16]

Much of the Glebe estate in Glebe was scheduled for demolition as part of road-building plans in the 1970s. A Green Ban was imposed in 1972 and the first house was squatted in 1973. Glebe Point Road had an extensive influx of squatters in the 1980s before its eventual gentrification. [17] The squatters stayed until 1987, when the Department of Main Roads (DMR) shelved the road plans. Karl Kruszelnicki squatted in Glebe. [18] Women's Liberation Movement activists including Anne Summers and Bessie Guthrie occupied a house to use as a women's refuge on Westmoreland Street in 1974. They called it the Elsie Refuge. It was legalised and eventually received funding. [19] A women's refuge was also squatted by the Women's Liberation Movement in Adelaide in 1974. [20]

Also during the 1970s and 1980s, extensive parts of Woolloomooloo and Darlinghurst were also squatted, along corridors of houses bought to make way for new road works. Examples of these include "The Compound" in Darlinghurst and along Palmer Street in Woolloomooloo. Punks, political activists, musicians and artists also started squatting in "The Gunnery", a former Navy warehouse and training facility, in Woolloomooloo, during the early-to-mid-1980s. This squat, a large warehouse with several unusual spaces able to be used as theatres or other venues (thanks to its former use by the Navy) became a critical site for the development of arts and music in Sydney in the mid to late 1980s, with independent musical and art events being held there regularly. It is now an arts centre. [14] [21]

The activists squatting empty buildings on Broadway which were owned by South Sydney City Council were evicted in 2001, a few months after the 2000 Olympics. [22] They had organised art exhibitions, parties, political film nights and a free café. [17]

The Midnight Star on Parramatta Road was built in the 1920s and opened as the Homebush Theatre cinema in 1925, operating until 1959. After being used amongst other things as an ice rink and a restaurant, it became derelict in the 1990s. [23] When squatted in 2002, it was used as an autonomous social centre, hosting music events, a cafe, a library, a free internet space and a Food Not Bombs kitchen. It was evicted in December 2002 following its use as a convergence centre for protests against the November World Trade Organization talks. [24]

In 2003, a legal squat was organised for ten people who moved onto the site of an old incinerator at Green Square. [25]

A five-year-old squat was peacefully evicted in March 2008, when an office block in Balmain was demolished to make way for a park. The council voted to allow the squatters to stay in the building, which they called Iceland, until the plans for demolition were in place. One of the squatters said, "About 20 people have lived here over the years and it's been a place for band rehearsals, art projects, people practising dance routines, bike workshops. Squatting gives you a chance to think about things other than how you are going to pay the rent and ways to contribute to the world." [26]

The "People's Castle" in Redfern had a free shop and a free café before being evicted in 2010. [17] The Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established on National Sorry Day on 26 May 2014, by Aboriginal elders protesting against the gentrification of the area. [27] The protesters demanded affordable housing and in 2017 agreed to leave when a deal was made to build 62 homes for Aboriginal people for the sum of $70 million. [28]

There were estimated to be more than 120,000 unoccupied houses in Sydney in 2011. [29]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting</span> Unauthorized occupation of property

Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally. Squatting occurs worldwide and tends to occur when people find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing. A variation is Street Squatting which is the action of occupying public areas without lawful permission, such as outdoor parks or streets. It has a long history, broken down by country below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aboriginal Tent Embassy</span> Permanent on-going protest in Australia

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a permanent protest occupation site as a focus for representing the political rights of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. Established on 26 January 1972, and celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022, it is the longest continuous protest for Indigenous land rights in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woolloomooloo</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Woolloomooloo is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Woolloomooloo is 1.5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is in a low-lying, former docklands area at the head of Woolloomooloo Bay, on Sydney Harbour. The Domain sits to the west, the locality of East Sydney is near the south-west corner of the suburb and the locality of Kings Cross is near the south-east corner. Potts Point is immediately to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glebe Island Bridge</span> Swing Allan truss road bridge in Sydney, Australia

The Glebe Island Bridge is a heritage-listed disused swing Allan truss road bridge that carried Victoria Road across Rozelle Bay, located in the inner city Sydney suburb of Pyrmont in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The bridge, that connected Rozelle to Pyrmont by road, is one of the last remaining swing bridges of its type in Australia and in the world. It was designed by Percy Allan and built from 1899 to 1903 by Bridges Branch of NSW Public Works Department. It is also known as RMS Bridge No. 61. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 29 November 2013 and was listed on the Register of the National Estate on 19 April 1989.

A green ban is a form of strike action, usually taken by a trade union or other organised labour group, which is conducted for environmentalist or conservationist purposes. They were mainly done in Australia in the 1970s, led by the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) and used to protect parkland, low-income housing and buildings with historical significance. At times, industrial action was used in relation to other issues, such as when a 'pink ban' was placed on Macquarie University due to the expulsion of a gay man from student housing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cahill Expressway</span> Highway in Sydney, Australia

Cahill Expressway is an urban freeway in Sydney and was the first freeway constructed in Australia, first opening to traffic in 1958. It links the southern foot of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, over an elevated roadway and through a series of sunken cuttings and tunnels between the Royal Botanic Garden and The Domain, to Woolloomooloo in Sydney's inner-eastern suburbs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Distributor (Sydney)</span> Motorway in New South Wales, Australia

Western Distributor is a 4.3-kilometre-long (2.7 mi) grade-separated motorway that is primarily elevated for the majority of its route on the western fringe of the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. It links the southern end of Bradfield Highway at the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Victoria Road in Rozelle, at its western terminus near White Bay. It is a constituent part of the A4 route.

Kevin John Gilbert was an Aboriginal Australian author, activist, artist, poet, playwright and printmaker. A Wiradjuri man, Gilbert was born on the banks of the Lachlan River in New South Wales. Gilbert was the first Aboriginal playwright and printmaker. He was an active human rights defender and was involved in the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972 as well as various protests to advocate for Aboriginal Australian sovereignty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting (Australian history)</span> Occupation of Crown land in order to graze livestock in Australia

In the history of Australia, squatting was the act of extrajudicially occupying tracts of Crown land, typically to graze livestock. Though most squatters initially held no legal rights to the land they occupied, the majority were gradually recognised by successive colonial authorities as the legitimate owners of the land due to being among the first white settlers in their area. The term squattocracy, a play on aristocracy, was coined to refer to squatters as a social class and the immense sociopolitical power they possessed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Street, East Sydney</span> Street in Sydney, Australia

Victoria Street is a suburban street located in the inner eastern suburbs of Sydney, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. From south to north, Victoria Street goes through the suburbs of Darlinghurst, Potts Point and the locality of Kings Cross. It is 1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) in length. In the section in Darlinghurst, the street is one-way, from north to south only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in England and Wales</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in England and Wales

In England and Wales, squatting—taking possession of land or an empty house the squatter does not own—occurs for a variety of reasons which include needing a home, protest, poverty, and recreation. Many squats are residential; some are also opened as social centres. Land may be occupied by New Age travellers or treesitters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny Munro</span> Aboriginal Australian activist

Jenny Munro is an Australian Wiradjuri elder and a prominent activist for the rights of Indigenous Australians. She has been at the forefront of the fight for Aboriginal housing at The Block in Sydney and started the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy. She is the sister of activists Isabel Coe and Paul Coe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy</span>

The Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy was a protest camp run by Aboriginal Australians in the inner-Sydney suburb of Redfern. Its aim is to keep an area of land known as The Block in Aboriginal hands, and to ensure the land is used solely for low-cost housing for Aboriginal people. It was started by Aboriginal elder, Jenny Munro, and was named after the original Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Bendigo Street housing dispute</span>

The 2016 Bendigo Street housing dispute concerned a series of occupations of houses in Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia. The properties were owned by the Victorian Government which had made aborted plans to construct the East West Link road. The houses, mostly on Bendigo Street, became the centre of a lengthy dispute between the government, Victoria Police and the Homeless Persons Union.

The Border Police of New South Wales was a frontier policing body introduced by the colonial government of New South Wales with the passing of the Crown Lands Unauthorised Occupation Act 1839.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Pyrmont Cottages</span> Historic site in New South Wales, Australia

Old Pyrmont Cottages is a heritage-listed cottage at 1, 3, 5 Cross Street in the inner city Sydney suburb of Pyrmont in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1879 to 1895. It is also known as Cross & Scott Street Terraces. The property is owned by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA). It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 August 2017.

Criminal activity in New South Wales, Australia is combated by the New South Wales Police Force and the New South Wales court system, while statistics about crime are managed by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Modern Australian states and cities, including New South Wales, have some of the lowest crime rates recorded globally with Australia ranked the 13th safest nation and Sydney ranked the 5th safest city globally. As of September 2018 the City of Penrith (475.7) and City of Blacktown (495.1). Rural areas have comparatively high crime rates per 100,000 with rural shires such as Walgett Shire (1350.3) and Moree Plains Shire (1236.2) having some of the highest violent crime rates in the state. The overall NSW crime rate has been in steady decline for many years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Ireland</span> Occupying without permission

Squatting in the Republic of Ireland is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. In the 1960s, the Dublin Housing Action Committee highlighted the housing crisis by squatting buildings. From the 1990s onwards there have been occasional political squats in Cork and Dublin such as Grangegorman, the Barricade Inn, the Bolt Hostel, Connolly Barracks, That Social Centre and James Connolly House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in the Netherlands</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in the Netherlands

Squatting in the Netherlands is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. The modern squatters movement began in the 1960s in the Netherlands. By the 1980s, it had become a powerful anarchist social movement which regularly came into conflict with the state, particularly in Amsterdam with the Vondelstraat and coronation riots.

A squatters union, settlers association, or claimant club, is an organization of homesteaders or squatters established to protect their interests and property rights. They have been formed in the Australia, England, Poland and the United States.

References

  1. ↑ Farrell, Paul (9 June 2016). "Home free: when 'adverse possession' can mean good news for squatters". Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  2. ↑ "The squattocracy". State Library of Victoria. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  3. ↑ "Using pastoral or squatting maps". National Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  4. 1 2 McIntyre, Iain (2018). "A short history of squatting in Australia". In Squatting Everywhere Kollective (SqeK) (ed.). Fighting for spaces, Fighting for our lives: Squatting Movements today. Edition assemblage. ISBN   9783942885904.
  5. ↑ Australia in Maps: Great Maps in Australia's History from the National Library's Collection. National Library of Australia. 2007. p. 76. ISBN   9780642276353.
  6. ↑ McIntyre, Iain (2005). Disturbing the Peace : Tales from Australia's Rebel History. Parkville, Victoria: Homebrew. ISBN   9780975731901.
  7. ↑ McIntyre, Iain (2019). "Squatting's place in winning Emergency Housing, 1945-48". Commons Social Change Library.
  8. ↑ "Timeline: Aboriginal Tent Embassy". SBS. 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  9. ↑ "Squatters make embassy house 'home'". The Canberra Times . Vol. 58, no. 17, 741. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 25 April 1984. p. 9. Retrieved 30 May 2019– via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ Skitmore, Steve; Cupitt, Emma. "'We Just Needed a Place to Live': Canberra Young People's Ongoing Fight for Affordable Housing". Demos. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  11. ↑ Mannix, Teresa (28 June 1985). "Squatting in luxury at a former embassy". Canberra Times.
  12. ↑ "Melb Squatters Guide". Melbournecio.org. Archived from the original on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  13. ↑ Tomazin, Farrah (12 November 2016). "Labor unveils $109m homelessness package". The Age. Archived from the original on 30 December 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  14. 1 2 Murray, Elicia (23 May 2007). "The world of the squatter". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  15. ↑ McIntyre, Iain (2022). "Victoria street squats: Anti development struggles in Sydney in the 1970s Interview with Ian Milliss". Commons Social Change Library.
  16. ↑ "Old Pyrmont Cottages". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H01986. Retrieved 2 August 2019. CC BY icon.svg Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
  17. 1 2 3 Cush, Liz (14 April 2011). "Revealed: Sydney squatters become visible". CNN. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  18. ↑ Hutton, Dan (2011). "Maroubra's Mad Scientist – Dr Karl Kruszelnicki". The Beast. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  19. ↑ Sayer, Mandy (2014). "40 years of Elsie". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  20. ↑ Kinder, Sylvia (1980). Herstory of the Adelaide Women's Liberation Movement 1969 – 1974. Adelaide: Salisbury Education Centre.
  21. ↑ "State Library of NSW Search – Manuscripts, Oral History, and Pictures Catalogue". Acms.sl.nsw.gov.au. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  22. ↑ "SquatSpace History – Broadway Squats". Squatspace.com. 23 August 2000. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  23. ↑ Berry, Vanessa (2016). "The Excess and Potential of the Movie Theatre Ruin: The Midnight Star" (PDF). Transformations (28). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  24. ↑ "SquatSpace History – Midnight Star". Squatspace.com. 10 February 2002. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  25. ↑ Bryor, Lisa (7 October 2003). "Home for Sydney squatters with fire in its belly". Sydney Morning Herald.
  26. ↑ "Creagh, Sunanda Squatters out as bulldozer start engines". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 May 2008. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  27. ↑ Boarini, Silvia (9 February 2015). "Aboriginal Australians defying gentrification". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  28. ↑ McNally, Lucy (27 August 2017). "Redfern Tent Embassy claims victory with Aboriginal housing deal". Australia Broadcasting Corporation . Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  29. ↑ "The art of setting up home for diddly-squat". Sydney Morning Herald. 21 May 2011. Archived from the original on 20 July 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.