Photography by Kristina Soljo (portrait, this page), Richard Milnes/Alamy (opposite left), Fairfax (opposite right). * The requirement to pay rent on resumed homes has since been scrapped.
CASE STUDY 1:HOMEBUSH, NSW
L
earning that your house is likely to be resumed and
demolished from the 6 o’clock TV news would be a shock
for anybody. For Aurelia Roper-Tyler, it was the start of an
emotional rollercoaster that began four years ago.
Aurelia and her husband Jeremy had shared eight years of
happiness in their well-preserved Federation bungalow in
Homebush, west of Sydney. The generous block with charming
garden also provided ample play space for their twin boys.
The day after the TV news story, Aurelia answered a knock
at the door from a local newspaper reporter. Did she have any
comment about plans to knock down about
40 houses, including hers, to make way for an
extension of the proposed WestConnex freeway
between Penrith and Silverwater that would
now go through Homebush? No, she did not.
With no official confirmation from the state
government that her house would be in the path
of the construction, Aurelia made a series of
phone calls in the hope of finding some answers. Unable to
make contact with a human being, she protested to her then-
state MP, Charles Casuscelli. She and Jeremy attended an
information centre for WestConnex at nearby Concord, but
their frustration only mounted.
Forty homeowners did receive notification that their properties
would be forcibly resumed. Aurelia’s was the last in the line, a
lame duck as she saw it, with a lane on one side and an ugly
development on the other. Authorities could not tell her whether
her home would be needed or not, she says. “They left us sitting
there for 16 months of hell.”In this climate of uncertainty, Aurelia made a decision.
Reluctantly, she believed the only path to a future quality of life,
and to stave off an inevitable slump in her home’s market value,
was to demand that her home be added to the list of 40 for
resumption. As she and Jeremy debated different plans, the
stress was such that “our marriage nearly ended”, Aurelia recalls.
Jeremyhadmovedtotheareaasachildin1973,wherehelived
two streets away. His parents still lived locally and he did not
want to move. While Jeremy eventually did accept that moving
was the best option, WestConnex officials would not budge.
It took a bitter, prolonged battle, and help from new state MP
Jodi Mackay, before the family’s home was finally
added to the resumption list in June 2015.
Jeremy, a sheriff’s officer, fought hard for a
$1.5 million sale price, plus extras to cover
moving costs and stamp duty on a new home.
But even the agreed “eviction” left a bitter taste.
“It was very rude behaviour,” says Aurelia, a
social worker. “They gave us a set time to move
out or said we’d have to start paying rent!”*Rich indeed, she
thought, for a house that was demolished in May last year.
The Roper-Tyler family now lives in an apartment in the inner-
city suburb of Zetland – all they could afford after moving.
The contrast between high-density living and their spacious
home could not be starker, but Aurelia and her family are
learning to adapt to their new life. >‘THEY LEFT US
SITTING THERE FOR
16 MONTHS OF HELL.
THE STRESS WAS
SUCH THAT OUR
MARRIAGE NEARLY
ENDED.’ABOVE, FROM LEFTA community unites against WestConnex.
Construction on the controversial project forges ahead. The Roper-Tyler
family’s much-loved former home in Homebush, NSW. Aurelia and Jeremy
Roper-Tyler with their sons outside their new apartment in Zetland.