Update September 2025
The Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich recently commented on the outcome of the NSW Court Case.
Update 3 September 2025
High Court Upholds La Perouse Land Claim Over Disused Paddington Site
The ABC has reported that the High Court of Australia has delivered a landmark victory to the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC), ruling that the former Paddington Bowling Club site in Sydney is “claimable Crown land” under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act.
Hight Court of Australia (Photo: Matt Roberts, ABC News)
The decision, delivered on Wednesday, overturns a 2023 NSW Court of Appeal ruling and reinstates the 2021 determination by then-Minister Rob Stokes. The High Court held that an unexpired lease alone—as held by Quarry Street Pty Ltd—does not constitute “lawful use” of Crown land under Section 36 of the Act since there was no substantive physical use of the land.
“A lease alone, without actual physical use of the land, does not constitute lawful use” – NSW Aboriginal Land Council chair Raymond Kelly
NSW Aboriginal Land Council chair Raymond Kelly hailed the outcome as “a win for common sense and justice for Aboriginal people,” adding that “a lease alone, without actual physical use of the land, does not constitute lawful use”. The ruling is expected to expedite the resolution of up to 30,000 similar outstanding claims across the state.
Update 19 September 2024
In late 2021, the Planning and Public Spaces Minister, Rob Stokes, determined that the site of the abandoned Paddington Bowling Club in Quarry Street should be returned to the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC), clearing the path for the title to be transferred to La Perouse LALC as freehold land. The decision was hailed as a win for public space by Sydney MP Alex Greenwich.
The NSW Government Crown Lands Department stated:
“The transfer of 7,788 square metres of Crown land in central Sydney to the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council is a fantastic outcome for the Aboriginal community.”
However, nearly three years later, the High Court is involved in a legal battle over the ownership. When the former planning minister Rob Stokes determined that the site was claimable Crown land, paving the way for its return to Indigenous ownership, the leaseholder, Quarry Street Pty Ltd, challenged this in the Land and Environment Court.
While that challenge was rejected, the NSW Court of Appeal subsequently quashed the minister’s decision and ordered that the Indigenous owners’ land claim be rejected.
Now, in a further development, The High Court has granted the La Perouse LALC special leave to appeal that decision. A date for the hearing is expected to be March 4 2025.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on 12 September 2024:
“In 2021, news that an abandoned bowling club site in Paddington would be returned to a local Indigenous group provided a salve for inner-city Sydneysiders saddened by the cannibalisation of public space by rapacious property investors. Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said he “could not be more proud. But nearly three years on, the fate of the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council’s ownership of that prime parcel of eastern suburbs real estate sits with the High Court after a legal battle involving Australia’s (former) fourth-richest woman…..”
Further updates will follow as the case progresses.
