The Trial of Susan Stringfellow

It sounds like a wild-west epic, but The Trial of Susan Stringfellow or The Orphan School Creek Rebellion is a tale from inner Sydney.

The charges arose when police arrested Glebe resident Ms Stringfellow, 59, on March 30 for blocking the gates to a worksite in Forest Lodge, preventing a large semi-trailer from entering the site.

In a two-day trial at The Downing Centre last week, Ms Stringfellow was found to have obstructed traffic in a public place but no conviction was recorded under a Section 10 provision.

She and 11 others had been part of a larger protest attempting to block Council’s plans to redevelop the Orphan School Creek gully off Wood Street, formerly forested bushland, into a more manicured reserve featuring a long, wide zig-zag path flanked by low-profile vegetation.

Residents say such a path had never been approved by residents during a ten-year consultation saga dating back to the area’s days under Leichhardt Council. They say the path did not appear on any plans they had been shown. Labor Councillor Meredith Burgmann said Council had “made a terrible mistake – they said the path would affect two per cent of the reserve but it now affects 30 per cent.”

Council says the larger path is required under access rules for wheelchairs and pushchairs.

At the trial, news video of the arrest on 30 March was played. It showed Police arriving at the early-morning protest to find group including Councillors Chris Harris and Irene Doutney (Greens) and Meredith Burgmann inside the locked gates of the worksite. When police threatened to charge them with Trespass they exited but then lined up in front of the wire mesh gates, at one stage linking arms and singing We shall not be moved, and chanting “Less path More trees”.

After further negotiation, police directed them to move or be charged with Obstructing Traffic. The video showed Ms Stringfellow climbing over the gate and standing inside on its crossbar. When police then entered the site, she climbed back outside where she and the group took hold of the gate.

Police again told them to move. They stood their ground and two police grabbed Ms Stringfellow’s hands and prised them off the gate. In the ensuing struggle Ms Stringfellow fell heavily to the ground, badly bruising her arm and suffering a black eye where her sunglasses hit the ground. Police then dragged her to a police car, legs trailing limp along the ground.

A police witness said Ms Stringfellow had thrown herself to the ground. Ms Stringfellow denies this and said she was “stunned” as she was being put into the car.

A few minutes after the arrest the site was effectively shut down by a CMFEU union rep who testified at the trial that there were problems with the electrical service to some of the temporary buildings on the site, and bracing on the temporary perimeter fence was inadequate.

Defending barrister Roger de Robillard asked police who had instigated the radio call summoning them to the site, but the question was disallowed by Magistrate Fleming.

The protesters had accused Council of calling the police, but Cr Harris said Council’s CEO Monica Barone had verbally denied this.

Defence Counsel argued against the charge on technical grounds, finding discrepancies in the times stated by different witnesses and also arguing that if trespass charges had been threatened then the site, surrounded by a fence, was not “a public place” in the terms of the Summary Offences Act. It was argued that the truck had been parked 150–200 metres away at all times and had not attempted to enter the site.

But after deliberating for an hour, Magistrate Fleming rejected the arguments, saying the area “satisfies the definition of a public place”. She cited evidence from the truck driver that the protest group including Ms Stringfellow had obstructed his entry, and that his truck later had to enter the site in order to turn around and leave as it was too big to reverse out of the narrow street.

After the trial Ms Stringfellow said she “still can’t understand why Clover Moore is backing her bureaucrats over the very clear wishes of the vast majority of residents.”

Ms Stringfellow may appeal the Court’s verdict. Work is nearly finished on the reserve but it is still fenced off.

by Michael Gormly