Residents Remain Vigilant to Save Tama Park

By Amelia McGuinness on June 5, 2012 in News

The Save Tama Park campaign, headed by Paula Marsellos, achieved a major victory last year when Council bought the back lot of 362 Birrell Street to hinder development plans in the area that would potentially see the destruction of Tamarama gully.

Ms Marsellos was “pretty chuffed” with Council’s decision but only saw it as a “partial victory”. Her concern that this was not quite enough to stop the major developments in the area was highlighted in her urge for support from the community.

“As a community we need to remain extremely vigilant… This is a true resident action. It really is a grassroots action,” Ms Marsellos said.

It’s no coincidence that Tamarama beach is consistently decorated by perfectly sculpted, fit-as-a-fiddle young men and women just metres from one of the best butt-shaping and breathtaking (literally) staircases in all of the Eastern Suburbs.

Anyone who has climbed the unforgiving rungs hidden in the back of the gully knows the agony. The breathlessness that increases by each step as you ascend the never-ending Tama stairs is a feeling that both haunts and excites Tamarama locals, who thrive on the image of that shapely rear at the forefront of their mind as they strive to reach the last step.

Most would be shocked by the development plans to eradicate the Tamarama stairs and destroy this beloved piece of land because it truly would make an ugly spectacle of the gully. And if you’re as shallow as I am, you might also be worried that you’ll start getting a bit flabby should any plans go ahead.

The campaign has achieved a lot in thwarting the planned developments in Tamarama Park, but it isn’t over yet. As a community, we must be observant and assertive to ensure that Tamarama gully is not ruined by yet another obnoxious development, if not for the beauty of the park, then for something that Glamarama is so renowned for – the unyielding attention that we pay to our unrivalled rumps.