MESSAGE
FROM THE
MAYOR
with Tony Bleasdale OAM Mayor Blacktown City
Council is proud to announce the opening our brand new , world-class Blacktown Rehoming Centre – BARC . For local residents , BARC is a one-stop shop for domestic animal welfare and adoption . Our ‘ home for good ’.
Fully funded by Council , BARC delivers best-practice standards in how we rehome animals and in how we care for animals – right here in Western Sydney .
BARC is the largest facility of its type in the Southern Hemisphere and is the first custom-built Council facility of its kind in Australia . BARC has already received strong praise . Animal Services Australasia CEO Mark Slater describes BARC as ‘ a cracking new facility .’
Councils aim was to change and lead the way in how animal facilities are designed and operated .
The number of homeless animals in Blacktown City is at an all-time high , not just
here , but all across Sydney . All these animals need a new home .
Don ’ t spend thousands at a pet shop , bring your family to see our BARC team and adopt an animal who desperately needs a new loving home .
All potential pet adopters are taken through a unique concierge-based process . BARC has plenty of dogs and cats available to suit different lifestyles .
BARC is also helping locals with their future providing local training space for future Vets through partnerships with Richmond TAFE and Western Sydney university .
If you are thinking of taking on the responsibility and joy of adding a pet to your family , please visit our facility at 20 Owen Street , Glendenning and give one of our many abandoned animals a chance at a forever home .
The facility is open on weekdays from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm and 9 am to 1 pm on weekends .
BARC is a major part of transformational change in our city . The facility is built to last and will deliver best practice animal care and serve as a first-class rehoming centre for a generation – here in Western Sydney .
New life for old Prospect Post Office
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An historic Western Sydney building will be given a new lease on life as part of Blacktown City Council ’ s masterplan for the expansion of St Bartholomew ’ s Cemetery .
The heritage-listed Prospect Post Office building will undergo extensive repair and stabilisation works as part of a half a million-dollar project to bring new life to the almost 150-year-old building off the Great Western Highway .
The repairs are part of Council ’ s longterm
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vision to restore and reuse the building as it expands the neighbouring St Bartholomew ’ s Cemetery , to deliver much-needed burial and internment space for Western Sydney .
Mayor Tony Bleasdale OAM said Council had planned to bring the old building back to its former glory since it was transferred to Council from the NSW Government .
“ The old Prospect Post Office is a building of great regional and state
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significance , and is the last surviving building of the original Prospect Village ,” Mayor Bleasdale said .
“ Built between 1880 and 1890 , the building operated as a post office for more than 100 years before the decline of the village in the 1950s .
“ Today , it offers a rare glimpse into the long-lost village lifestyle of Blacktown , and Council is committed to preserving this structure and the history associated with it for future generations .”
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Works will involve rebuilding several walls within the structure , which have over time become severely cracked and unstable due to its location on clay soil .
The building underwent extensive renovation and conservation works in the late 1990s , but has largely been untouched since .
The Prospect Post Office is one of 15 heritage-listed buildings owned by Council .
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20 ISSUE 28 // JULY 2023 theindependentmagazine . com . au BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT