In truth, it’s really quite a small building. More of a shed, really. They call it ‘The Big Hut’.
You’ll find it at Fishermans Beach, tucked away on the north side of Long Reef headland, just off the main road as you drive through picturesque Collaroy. Scattered in the sand dunes around it, overgrown with grass and rusted by time, you’ll find the winch bases standing guard. And on a good day, with clear skies and the waves gently crashing on the rock platform, you can forget everything. And you can start to remember. You can start to create.
I’m working with Northern Beaches Council as part of a special program entitled Our Stories: Yesterday | Today | Tomorrow. Together with Bethany Falzon, Council’s Arts & Cultural Development Officer as well as the rest of the Social Planning & Community Development Team, we’re asking how much residents know about the unique place they call home. Our Stories aims to explore the fascinating heritage of the Northern Beaches and offer creative perspectives of engagement between communities, their location and their history.
I hope for my project to pose questions. About how, if at all, communities, local residents and others are engaging with the unique heritage stories at Fishermans Beach and Long Reef more broadly. About how heritage conservation has the dynamic potential to be built around historical storytelling, not just strict preservation ideals.
At the end of the day, stories are the driving force here. They are how we tell history; or, at least, how we’ll tell this history.
And this little Big Hut has so many stories to tell.
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