Fight to preserve historic Don Hearn's Cabins on NSW South Coast as eviction looms

Ms Myer fell in love with Don Hearn’s Cabins during her travels 30 years ago. (ABC Illawarra: Brooke Chandler)

Lexie Myer has never been afraid to tell holiday-makers keen for a getaway south of Sydney that staying at Don Hearn’s Cabins is a little different to most places.

“It’s a bushy beetle block with ticks and fleas and spiders and snakes … nothing meets, nothing matches,” 70-year-old Ms Myer, who owns the business, said.

“It’s like camping with a hard roof.”

With old-fashioned rope clotheslines and an outdoor toilet block, these six-sleeper cabins have maintained their modesty as, around them, Airbnb and caravan parks have gradually changed the character of the NSW South Coast.

“Don Hearn’s Cabins has always been a place that people could afford to come to,” Ms Myer said.

“My mission in life is to get people to just stop, breathe, reconnect with themselves, one another and nature.”

Nestled between the headland of Lake Conjola and Bendalong, the 1.6-hectare park is well-known for housing conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War and “hippie” surfers.

But all could become history if the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) chooses to officially evict Ms Myer from the site in June.

Founder sent PM octopus parcel

In 1961, original owner Don Hearn used second- and third-hand materials to construct the cabins on a recreationally zoned patch of crown land.

Hearn served in Libya and Papua New Guinea during World War II and returned a staunch pacifist.

Surfer and friend Kevin Millar described Hearn as a “real character” and peace activist who supported minorities of that time.

“Conscientious objectors took refuge here with Don, and Don was willing to do that which was not popular at the time,” he said.

“But a couple of years later, when I got called up — and I was in the last call-up before Gough Whitlam changed it — I was going to become a conscientious objector too. So it was nice what Don did.”

Mr Millar recalled the time Hearn made a public statement against the conflict in Vietnam by sending a dead blue-ringed octopus to the then-prime minister in the mail.

“He paid the consequences. But there were helicopters … coming from Sydney to get the story. So that was pretty big for Cunjurong Point at the time,” he said.

The legend of Hearn and his cabins grew until the park became one of the most popular holiday destinations in the area, inspiring Mr Millar to buy a home nearby.

“He’s had an influence on many, many people over the years. Even though he’s been gone, the place still works. It’s still Don Hearn’s,” Mr Millar said.

Owner says eviction would make her homeless

Ms Myer took over stewardship of the holiday park after Hearn died in 1991, but in recent years she has struggled to keep his legacy alive.

The land is leased to her by the state government on a month-to-month basis, despite her efforts to obtain a long-term arrangement.

“It will be 22 years trying to run an accommodation business where people want to book next year but I don’t have more than 30 days’ certainty at any time,” she said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms Myer fell on hard times.

“I didn’t qualify for any assistance during COVID-19 so I had no income for almost 18 months,” she said.

“I had to go to [the St Vincent de Paul Society] for food.

“I owe [the department] about a year’s rent at the moment which is really stressful.”

In December, Ms Myer received the news she had been dreading: the department intended to evict her.

The DPHI said while it understood the cabins had been a part of the coastal community for many years, they did not meet current building standards.

“Detailed assessments identified issues including the poor condition of the buildings, bushfire risk at the site, sewerage infrastructure problems and presence of endangered ecological communities,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said redeveloping the site to meet current Rural Fire Service Planning for Bushfire Protection standards was not feasible given the cost and environmental constraints.  

Ms Myer has until June to appeal the decision but said she was scared to think about what eviction would mean for her.

“I’ll be homeless, unemployed, with a three-legged dog and 70 years old,” she said.

“I thought I’d be here for the whole rest of my life and be carried out in a box.”

Community support key

South Coast MP Liza Butler said it was unacceptable that the government had kept Ms Myer on a 30-day lease for more than two decades.

“I don’t know if anyone would think that that was an acceptable thing to do,” she said.

In December, Ms Butler convinced the DPHI to allow Ms Myer until March to build a stronger business case against the mid-year eviction.

She said it was possible community support for the cabins could prevent their redevelopment — just as it did for the nearby Pebbly, Depo and North Doris Beach cabins.

“National Parks ended up taking them over and people line up to stay in those old fibro shacks on the coast … just to switch off [and] go back in time to a different era,” Ms Butler said.