That Minister is Don Harwin and he has rejected the Heritage Council of NSW's recommendation that the Newcastle Recreation Reserve be an addition to New South Wales' Heritage Register.

The Newcastle Recreation Reserve (NRR) includes the iconic King Edward Park, Arcadia Park, the Obelisk Tennis Courts, Shepherds Hill Defence Military Installations, King Edward Headland Reserve, Obelisk Reserve and part of the cliffside above South Newcastle Beach.

The NRR warrants heritage protection for too many reasons to include all of them here. But protection is more complex than utilising King Edward Park as an unrestricted car park for Newcastle city commuters.

King Edward Car Park. I trust the City of Newcastle's forthcoming car parking strategy will provide a regulatory setting that will ensure cessation of this embarrassing blight.

The Heritage Council recommended in August 2017 that Minister Gabrielle Upton list the Newcastle Recreation Reserve on the State Heritage Register.

But there was an error in the recommendation, and it took until the following March for this error to be addressed and for the Heritage Council to reconfirm the recommendation that the reserve be listed.

In June 2018, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council was granted freehold title to the Headland Reserve and title was transferred to the Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council (Awabakal LALC) who objected to recommended Heritage listing of that land.

Inclusion on the Heritage Register would limit options on what might subsequently be done with that land and therefore reduce the land's commercial value.

One of the criteria upon which the land claim was granted was that the headland reserve was not required for an essential public purpose.

But a draft media release (King Edward Headland Draft Communication Strategy) contained in documents from the Hunter Office of the Crown Lands Division of the Department of Primary Industries - that I obtained through the NSW Government Information Public Access (GIPA) Act 2009 - had departmental comments attached suggesting that there might be contention around the decision being based on the parcel not needed or likely to be needed for an essential public purpose. And that public recreation might possibly be seen as an essential public purpose by the public.

A ministerial briefing provided by the same department back in 2011 for a land claim lodged in January 2010 over the same parcel recommended the Minister refuse the claim because the land was "lawfully occupied".

The zoning and use of the site was subject to costly, lengthy and ultimately successful proceedings by the local community against the state government. In 2015, Justice Terry Sheehan ruled that the building of a function centre would not allow for public recreation as required by law.

While the land being in the hands of the Awabakal LALC is welcome, there remains room for concern that the successful claim was facilitated by government to limit financial compensation payable by the government to the proponent as a result of the failure to build the function centre.

Such concern springs from the documents I obtained via the GIPA. They revealed a possibility that once the claim was successful, then development might proceed.

The Minister stated his reasons for not recommending the listing included the length of time that had passed since the original application, change of ownership of the headland reserve and that the Awabakal LALC objected to the listing. The Minister sent the recommendation back to the Heritage Council and suggested they consider submitting a recommendation for listing.

Last month, the Heritage Council announced an intention to consider listing the Newcastle Recreation Reserve on the State Heritage Register, but the documentation provided shows the Headland Reserve excised from consideration.

The Heritage Council acknowledge the NRR is significant to the history of NSW, including sites of known cultural significance to the Awabakal people.

For the Land and Environment Court hearing in 2014/2015 contesting the building of a function centre, former chairwoman of the Awabakal LALC Debbie Dates provided an affidavit recounting that when her eldest daughter was born, her father took them both to the old Newcastle Bowling Club:

"My father said to me 'The place where I have taken your daughter is the land of the falling rocks and this is a special and strong place for women'."

The excision of the Headland Reserve from potential Heritage listing might be viewed as a failure to recognise the significance of the land.

It is part of King Edward Park, not a detached object.

The public submission period regarding the proposed listing and the significance of the Newcastle Recreation Reserve should be sent to the Heritage Council through heritagemailbox@environment.nsw.gov.au by 7 January 2012.

Paul Scott is a lecturer in the School of Creative Industries at the University of Newcastle.