The ADI Residents Action Group was formed in 1993 because of concerns that the 1535 hectare ADI Site at St Marys would be developed.
The ADI Site and the area now known as the Dunheved Industrial Estate were resumed from private ownership for the war effort in the 1940s and 1950s. The site was known from the 1940s as the St Marys Munitions Filling Factory until the name change to the ADI Site in 1989. The munitions factory employed hundreds of local workers right up until it closed in 1994. The Federal Government sold the ADI Site to Lend Lease, Australia’s largest property developer, in 2004 for a sum of around $105 million.
ADI RAG, since 1993, has believed the only way the best social and environmental outcomes could be achieved was if the ADI Site remained undeveloped and was left for conservation and some passive recreation uses. We have been actively campaigning against Lend Lease and various levels of Government to achieve this aim.
The ADI Site has immense conservation value to the nation, providing habitat for many endangered flora and fauna species and ecological communities.
Despite continued overwhelming community opposition to any development Lend Lease were allowed to commence bulldozing land for the first suburb, called Ropes Crossing, in December 2004. Lend Lease believes it will finish its St Marys project around 2016.
Despite development commencing ADI RAG have vowed to fight on to ensure that the best outcomes for residents and the environment are considered and achieved.