Proposals to turn the Barrenjoey Lighthouse cottages into a tourist accommodation have been rejected more than once before, but here’s a new plan for the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and Island Nature Reserves, the second oldest national park in the country, that could just turn things around.
Released by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in September 2022, the draft plan for the 14,977-hectare national park includes a section on the Barrenjoey Headland, which covers 34 hectares of the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. It cites that the area could be considered for visitor or caretaker accommodation as part of the overall plans for the massive reserve.
“There are several buildings at Barrenjoey Head that have the potential to be adaptively re-used for visitor facilities and experiences such as visitor accommodation, interpretation and/or used as caretaker accommodation,” the draft plan underscored. “It is proposed to investigate such use of the buildings and the potential to lease their use for this purpose.”
Currently, the Barrenjoey Lighthouse cottages are only open for guided tours. Whilst National Parks and Wildlife Service made it clear that there are “no plans to change the existing use or increase access to the lighthouse or historic buildings on the headland,” the draft plans for Ku-ring-gai Chase also include supporting documents from a 2019 report.
This report outlines the potential uses of the Keeper’s Cottage, the Boatman’s Collage and the Basin’s Beechwood Cottage for short-stay guests or group functions, including other hospitality venues like a cafe, restaurant, kiosks, or mobile food and drinks operators. Proposals to install tracks and trails for biking, bush walking or horse riding have also been raised.
The Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and Island Nature Reserves is open for public consultation until 22 November 2022 but could be given the go-ahead before the 2023 state elections.
It comes as the National Parks and Wildlife Service also opened a public consultation in May 2022 to construct and install amenities like unisex toilets, baby changing stations, water refilling stations, and screened walls and timber screens at the Barrenjoey Headlands for the personal/health requirements of people who tour the site. Construction of these amenities has been entered into the spring 2022 calendar, pending approvals.
