New Visitors Centre to be built at Kurnell loses magic with 'refinements'

Recycled bricks will replace proposed rammed earth walls, the frame will be steel rather than timber and a conventional metal roof will be installed instead of a ceramic tile structure that was seen as "connected to Country".

Security is among issues that have been considered as the original concept plans have evolved for the centre, which will house four Gweagal spears being returned from England, along with other valuable artefacts.

The remote location of the facility, which will be on the footprint of the old Visitors Centre, is a factor.

Work is due to start in the middle of this year, with the aim of completing it by the end of 2025. In the meantime, the spears will be kept at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney.

In 2021, the Kamay 2020 Project Board endorsed the selection of the concept design by Neeson Murcutt +Neille.

The architects said: "The visitor building is being developed as a series of environmentally controlled rammed earth pavilions that shelter within a timber-framed insulated parasol roof - connected to Country, welcoming, sustainable and robust".

However, the proposed centre looks different in a project update in March this year by the Department of Environment and Heritage.

A spokesperson for National Parks and Wildlife Service said it was "working closely with the Land Council and local Aboriginal community to design and operate the new exhibition space within the new centre to ensure the facility provides a museum-grade space suitable for housing the spears and potentially other artefacts of similar significance".

"The overall form, position and layout of the building remains the same as the design concepts selected in 2021," she said.

"Some refinements have occurred as the project has moved from concept to approval. These changes were made in consultation with the Project Board."

Cronulla MP Mark Speakman has joined in welcoming the return of the four spears.

"This is wonderful news," he said. "I congratulate and thank all those who've worked so long and hard for this.

"The return of the spears, soon to a home on country at Kurnell, is a culturally significant gesture and conveys a potent message of reconciliation."