Have your say about the future of Goat Island!

"Goat Island is the largest of Sydney Harbour National Park's five islands. It is a place of national significance. The island has a complex character, with reminders of the harbour's indigenous landscape mixed with more than 40 buildings and structures dating from the 1830s to the 1960s. The Goat Island fact sheet provides more detail on the island's characteristics.

The island was incorporated into Sydney Harbour National Park in 1995.  There has never been any doubt about the need to protect the island's significant heritage, nor of its potential to provide high quality visitor experiences.  However, determining the most appropriate means of achieving these outcomes is perhaps more challenging at Goat Island than in any other part of Sydney Harbour National Park.

A 'hasten slowly' approach has adopted to meeting this challenge.  Key steps have been the preparation of specialist heritage assessments, infrastructure upgrades including new access wharves and sewer connections, a variety of high priority heritage conservation works, and an active program of community consultation.  The focus of the community consultation has been on how the island should be conserved, restored, interpreted and made accessible to the public.

Several studies of the island’s heritage have been prepared over the last 20 years.  These have now been consolidated in the form of the draft Goat Island Conservation Management Plan. This documents the conservation values, management requirements, and visitor use potential of all of the buildings and structures across the island. The draft Goat Island Conservation Management Plan is now on public exhibition www.environment.nsw.gov.au/conservation/goatisland.htm.

The Goat Island Reference Group was established in 2007.  The Reference Group was tasked with reviewing public submissions on the draft Goat Island Masterplan, a document which presented two alternative futures for Goat Island, one in which all existing structures were retained, and another in which some were removed to restore elements of the earlier character of the island. They were also asked to make their own recommendations on the future management of the island. In 2009 they delivered the Goat Island Reference Group Vision and Recommendations for Goat Island. The Reference Group concluded that Goat Island is a place of exceptional national significance, a key part of the green heart of Sydney Harbour, and has great potential as a cultural tourism and educational destination.

The Plan of Management for Sydney Harbour National Park is being reviewed at a decisive moment in the history of Goat Island.  The Conservation Management Plan helps us to understand the heritage values of the island, while the Goat Island Reference Group provides an insightful vision that would establish the island as an iconic destination within Sydney Harbour.

A key task for the Plan of Management is to confirm the strategy and direction for the management of one of the highlights of Sydney Harbour National Park, Goat Island.  Your views of the future of Goat Island are welcomed, so please add your comments to our discussion forum.