By ANNA USHER

An Aboriginal claim on a $100 million parcel of land at Balmoral Beach has been formally rejected by NSW Crown Lands.

The prized 2,692 sqm patch is within Lawry Plunkett Reserve, a popular recreational space between Botanic Road and Plunkett Road sitting just off the Esplanade.

The open parkland has a walking track and is located directly across from Public Dining Room.

A spokesperson for NSW Crown Lands told Mosman Collective their assessment found the land was “being lawfully used, occupied for recreation, and maintained at the date of the claim.”

As a result, the land claim was refused, the spokesperson said.

There is now a statutory four-month period for the NSW Aboriginal Land Council to lodge an appeal with the Land and Environment Court should it wish.

The claim blindsided Council in September 2023, when it discovered the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council had lodged a claim for the Balmoral land in 2009 under NSW’s 1983 Aboriginal Land Rights Act, which allows land councils to claim unused crown land.

“It’s taken us all by surprise,” Councillor Roy Bendall said at the time.

“This is an iconic part of Sydney and the size of the area that’s being claimed is about six or seven residential blocks right on the waterfront.

“It backs directly onto homes and our concern is that if it gets approved there’s nothing stopping the land from being rezoning or for bits of it to be sold off.

“It shouldn’t be claimable land, it’s heavily used for recreation.”

Head of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, Nathan Moran, had hoped the Balmoral Beach site would open up a “range of opportunities”.

“We are always looking at it through the eyes of is it cultural, is it social, is it environmental, is it recreation, is it commercial, industrial, or is it residential,” he said last year.

Asked what the cultural significance was of the land at Balmoral, Mr Moran said “Aboriginal land claims are not about cultural significance … (they are) about whether they are able to be claimed.”

“The Aboriginal Land Rights Act was set up as recompense … the Land Councils are here to try and acquire what land we can within our boundaries to really form the asset base that will sustain our councils.”

The Balmoral land claim is one of 3000 currently under review in Sydney, and 40,000 state wide.

The reserve will now continue to be managed by Mosman Council.