Vale Jack Mundey (1929-2020)

Jack Mundey AO became a national figure in the early 1970s when he led the Builders' Labourers Federation's famous "Green Bans". This extraordinary conservation campaign redefined the development of Australia's major cities. The BLF refused to work on developments thought to be destructive of the environment or requiring the demolition of buildings considered part of our social heritage. Under Jack's guidance, they joined with local communities to preserve such significant sites as Sydney's historic Rocks area, Centennial Park, Victoria Street in Kings Cross and the last stretch of public bushland on the Parramatta River.

A crusading unionist and Communist Party member, Jack also fought for safety reforms on building sites and helped usher in a new era of union activism for wider social issues, from feminism and gay liberation to land rights and international politics. In 1976, he was a speaker at the first United Nations Conference on the Built Environment. 

Jack was elected to the City of Sydney council in 1984, ending his term in 1987. 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. 

In the 1990s Jack was made a Life Member of the Australian Conservation Foundation and in 1995 he was appointed Chair of the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. He was a lecturer at London's Centre of Environmental Studies and he supported community groups, indigenous Australians, educational institutions, and anti-nuclear campaigns, and he spoke regularly at launches of environmental initiatives throughout Australia.

In 2000, Jack was made an Officer in the Order of Australia “for service to the identification and preservation of significant sections of Australia's natural and urban heritage through initiating ‘Green Bans’ and through the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales”.

A specially created degree of Master of Environment (honoris causa) was conferred upon Jack by the University of Sydney in 2001.

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."

In 2014 Jack was named Patron of the Friends of Millers Point when he joined the fight to save the Sirius apartments which were built for the people of The Rocks when the Green Bans saved them from eviction and The Rocks from demolition forty years ago.

Jack Mundey had a lifelong commitment to social justice. May he rest in peace. Solidarity forever.

I Know That Place. Portrait of Jack Mundey in the Rocks

I Know That Place. Portrait of Jack Mundey in the Rocks

selfie scar

In 1984, while backpacking in Europe, I contracted anthrax. Thankfully, due to a kind stranger who cared for me, I survived. I have scars from the lesions caused by the disease, most notably on my left jaw line. The presence of covid-19 in the world reminds me of that time.

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NIRIN

Biennale patrons get inkless tattoos of the names of activists murdered or assassinated for protecting the environment ... NIRIN Biennale of Sydney on Wareamah (Cockatoo Island).

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Aunty Sharon Minniecon

Aunty Sharon Minniecon is an Ugar (Stephen Island, Torres Strait) woman born in Ayr, Queensland. She exemplifies the pursuit of access and equity for all. 

This portrait of Aunty Sharon was made in her workplace at St John’s Church in Glebe where she is Indigenous Ministry Coordinator, community worker and pastor in their emergency relief program. 

For the last 12 years she has also helped shape and promote the Gawura School for Indigenous children.

Most of her life work has focused on women and children, to encourage and empower them to make positive change and achieve their goals and dreams.

This portrait was selected for Loud and Luminous 2020.

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Jonathan Jones

Wiradjuri-Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones’ new public art installation – untitled (maraong manaóuwi), which means emu footprint in Gadigal – required a team of a dozen people to cover 2500 sq metres of the Hyde Park barracks courtyard with stones, to symbolise shared black and white history.

In a design repeated on each square metre of the courtyard, workers have used stencils to embed white stones in the shape of what might be interpreted as an emu’s footprint – but which is also reminiscent of the colonial broad arrow printed on convict uniforms.


From 1819 until 1848, Hyde Park barracks housed some of Sydney’s convict labour force, their toil helping to displace and decimate the First Nations Gadigal people. When First Nations people resisted the British colonisers, former and serving convicts sometimes joined armed soldiers and free settlers in murderous retaliation.

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Santa's FOMO

It’s hard to be jolly at a time like this but I think Santa is pining for the fjords, wishing he could bring rain and revolution everywhere they’re needed. 💜💚

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Dance Rites

Dance Rites festival is a coming together of traditional customs, language and contemporary culture, with hundreds of First Nations dancers from all around Australia and performers from around the world.

Held annually on the Forecourt of the Sydney Opera House at Dubbagullee, this year celebrates the UN International Year of Indigenous Languages.

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Eric Avery and Yo-Yo Ma

Profoundly moving. Eric Avery and Yo-Yo Ma collaborate on the lullaby for a sick child that Eric's great-grandfather sang.
Rising Temperatures: The role of art in a frayed world presented by Urban Theatre Projects in collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma’s Bach Project. Poets, artists and activists; Evelyn Araluen, Joel Davison and Kirli Saunders led this urgent panel discussion on the way art intersects with social agency and the challenges ahead. The voices of First Nations thinkers, storytellers, poets and musicians articulated what it means to make art and tell stories at this crucial moment in time, with special guest contributions from musicians Eric Avery and Yo-Yo Ma. Moderated by Blak Box Momentum Curator Daniel Browning.

In The Cuttaway at Barangaroo, Sydney.

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