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  • 6/22/2025
Nestled amid the high-rise apartments and office blocks, the old Parramatta gaol is one of western Sydney’s oldest surviving buildings. But now its future is in doubt. The aboriginal land council that owns the complex has gone into administration. And there are questions about who should foot the bill to maintain the historic site.

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00:00Stephen Knight has lots of stories to tell about Parramatta Jail.
00:09Your TV, that's where you put your clothes.
00:1225 years ago, he was an inmate here.
00:15Today, he's one of the owners.
00:17That clothes I was a bit proud.
00:19Come back, bring back a lot of memories, but after all, you get used to it.
00:25Opened in 1842, the jail once housed some of the state's most notorious criminals.
00:34Ten years ago, the site was handed back to the Aboriginal owners after a successful land claim.
00:40But the old sandstone buildings came saddled with an upkeep bill of half a million dollars a year.
00:48Historically, there's an old saying that the land that they give us back is not fit for growing kangaroos on.
00:54The dollars needed to remedy lots of that are enormous.
01:00Efforts to develop new income streams came up against heritage restrictions.
01:05Last year, the Darebin Land Council was put into administration.
01:09It does have a state heritage listing, which means it must be maintained.
01:14So we can't make too many changes to it.
01:17But we can adaptively reuse the building.
01:20One idea is for the jail to become a tourist attraction.
01:25I think we've got a really good opportunity to do something with the jail.
01:31The state government have put in a light rail, which is only a block from here.
01:36It's a site with so much potential, but funding is a problem.
01:42The Land Council says it wants to work with the government to find a way through.
01:46In the old governor's office, a link to the past in a building now looking to start a new chapter.
01:56So, we can bring all the lumber together.
02:05We can renovate the very Kalau kita.
02:09We can renovate each other in the old partner with the понимizer.
02:15We can renovate each other in a folder.
02:16We can look for the Yep либо mira, check the Kale w treball.
02:19We can spell that out.
02:20We can ship the deutschen Tomalaoos at york.
02:22We can drum it up again.

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