Jack Mundey

John Bernard "Jack" Mundey

Mundey's first wife was Stephanie Lennon; the couple had a son, Michael. 15 months after her son's birth, Stephanie Mundey died at a young age from a brain tumour. Mundey remarried, in 1965, to Judith Ann Willcocks, known as Judy Mundey.^[7] Michael, Mundey's only child, was killed in a car accident at age 22.^[7]

During the 1960s, Mundey was a crusading unionist and an advocate on a wide range of issues from

In 1968, Mundey was elected secretary of the NSW Builders' Labourers Federation (BLF).[9] From this position, he became a highly visible individual who, with his union and supportive community members, was responsible for the green bans that saved much of Sydney's heritage and built environment.^[9] He insisted that the priorities of development be reversed such that the open community spaces and heritage buildings be preserved and that affordable public housing was more important than accumulating empty or underused commercial buildings.^[10]

In 1975, Mundey and other New South Wales leaders of the BLF were expelled from the union by the federal leadership under Norm Gallagher, who was later to be convicted of corrupt dealings with developers.^[11]

According to Senator Bob Brown, former parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens the use of the term "Green" as a political category actually derives from the green bans, by way of Petra Kelly's visit to Sydney in 1977.^[12]

Mundey's autobiography, Green Bans and Beyond, was published in 1981.^[13] In 1981 Mundey joined the Quayhole Committee in their effort to save the landing site of the First Fleet at Circular Quay.^[14]

Politics

Mundey was the lead Legislative Council candidate of the Communist Party of Australia at the 1978 New South Wales state election. His party polled almost 80,000 votes – 2.9 per cent of the statewide total – and outpolled the Australian Democrats. Mundey came close to winning a seat, and was the last candidate excluded from the count.^[15]

Mundey served as an alderman on the City of Sydney council from 1984 to 1987.^[16] He was chairman of the planning committee of Sydney City Council from May 1984 to September 1985.^[14]

Later life

In 1988, the

In 2003, Mundey joined the Australian Greens, citing their opposition to the Iraq War and their environmental stance.^[19] He remained a member until his death.

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."^[20]

During mid 2009, the NSW State Labor Government headed by Premier Nathan Rees, announced the now cancelled CBD Metro rail project for Sydney. Mundey would once again enter the fray to help fight the demolition of historic buildings and space, this time in Sydney's Pyrmont and Rozelle. The government had planned to build a metro style railway between the existing city circle, over to Rozelle. This involved demolishing numerous buildings and businesses along the way. Ultimately, the CBD Metro project was cancelled, after a storm of protest.^[21]

In 2014, Mundey was named Patron of the Friends of Millers Point as he joined the fight to save the

In 2021, the year after Mundey's death, Eastlakes Reserve was renamed Jack Mundey Reserve at the request of Bayside Council.[25]

References