The Planning Proposal to list 19 Hawkesbury slab barns as items of local heritage is now on public exhibition. The community is invited to review the proposal and provide feedback between Monday, 20 October and Friday, 14 November 2025.
The slab barns and outbuildings of the Hawkesbury Local Government Area are historically significant as rare surviving evidence of the long-term agricultural development of the Hawkesbury Region from as early as 1794.
In recognition of the importance of these slab barns Council prepared the Hawkesbury Timber Slab Barns & Outbuilding Study, which identified 19 barns that currently have no statutory protection and recommended the local heritage listings for the barns by including them in Schedule 5 Part 1 of the Hawkesbury Local Environmental Plan 2012.
This public exhibition follows the adoption of the study and the consideration of the subsequent Planning Proposal by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure who issued a Gateway Determination allowing the proposal to proceed to public exhibition.
Locations of the historic single and two-storey barns, lofts, sheds and stables recommended for listing are in Bowen Mountain, Cattai, Central Colo, Ebenezer, Freemans Reach (3), McGraths Hill, Richmond, St Albans, Tennyson, Upper Colo, Upper Macdonald and Wilberforce (6).
The Planning Proposal can be viewed online via yourhawkesbury-yoursay.com.au, or in person at the Council Administration Office, 366 George Street, Windsor 2756 between the hours of 9am and 4pm Monday to Friday.
Council will receive submissions online via yourhawkesbury-yoursay.com.au
