RAY Hurst is a storyteller. The walls of his home are coloured with paintings of people and places that he loves.

He is surrounded by stories that reveal his connection to community and delights in their beauty and expression of history.

Ruprecht Park in Taree has been his front yard for 23 years and recently he felt compelled to commit its story to canvas as part of his fight to protect it.

It's been an emotional and challenging few months for Ray.

The discovery of Ruprecht Park in Greater Taree City Council's Draft Open Space Improvement Plan blindsided him. He says he was "shocked and devastated" to read that council sought to dedicate the land to Housing NSW a move that could see the park disappear under a patchwork of properties.

He knew he had to fight the proposal and he knew that his daughter, Krystal, would know how to fight the plan in the arena of local and State government processes.

They are both storytellers Ray with his paints and Krystal with her words and together it looks like they may have saved Ruprecht Park from being erased from the landscape and its history lost in a bureaucratic bungle.

Ray and Krystal know the story of this land today it is Ruprecht Park but it was once Browns Hill.

Ray points to his painting to tell the story.

"The red circles on the left and right represent the traditional living before settlement and then when settlement came, they were forced off their traditional lands and moved up on to Browns Hill into the humpies. The sun surrounding the green represents them being forcibly taken from Browns Hill by police and moved out to Sunrise Station, which is the first name of Purfleet," Ray explained.

"Council knew Aboriginals lived here, it's documented but they didn't do the research," Ray said.

Council defends its research in relation to Ruprecht Park and cites the use of a Department of Planning and Environment database in its assessment of the site.

According to council, the AHIMS database is used by all government agencies and councils and it did not record the park as having any Aboriginal significance.

Ray finds it remarkable that no-one with local knowledge flagged this as an issue before council released the draft plan to the public and questions how it identified land for possible disposal.

"I think they (council) just went to Google, mapped out all the green spots in the Greater Taree City Council area and when they came to Ruprecht Park they decided to just give it to Housing Commission.

"But under their rules they can't touch land that has got white history or has indigenous history.

"This land has got both."

The white history starts and stops with Herb Ruprecht, according to Ray.

"Just over there in Margery Street lives a Mrs Ruprecht, an old lady about my age who was married to the brother of Herb Ruprecht who subdivided this place, the land," Ray said.

"When he subdivided it he named all the streets after his family - that's how you get Ronald and Patricia and Gwenneth .. they are all his children but he named the park after himself and he said in the subdivision that it was never to be touched, that it was to be left to the community.

"So that's white history."

Krystal's language in the fight to save Ruprecht Park differs in tone and style to the words of her father; they are crafted on paper to educate council and the State government about Browns Hill and communicate that it must be protected.

She presented a submission to council and an application to the State government to have it protected as an Aboriginal Place.

"This important part of our history is under threat by proposals outlined within the Draft Open Space Improvement Plan 2014 to develop, sell or embellish areas within the Taree region," Krystal said.

"Most importantly, within the Open Space Strategy 2011 which led to the Draft Open Space Improvement Plan 2014, the criteria and standards for open spaces specify that identified areas must not 'be restricted by Aboriginal or European Cultural Heritage'.

"It is clear that Ruprecht Park's (Browns Hill) heritage was overlooked or was not thoroughly investigated. The heritage values of Browns Hill meets this criterion, thus restricting further development on the park.

"This oversight raises some serious questions about the procedures used to determine Ruprecht Park as having no evidence of Aboriginal or European heritage when substantial evidence shows otherwise.

"Our elected members of council have a responsibility to protect our regions Aboriginal and European heritage, according to Australian law to honour the legacy of our forebears whose contribution shapes our society.

"Aboriginal heritage is more than the conventional 'stones and bones' ideology of a culture that lives in the 'past'.

"It is current and living, which stems from the deep understanding and knowledge of country, stories and connection to landscape. One in which our community and the surrounds still genuinely hold.

"For some Ruprecht Park is just a park with a few trees and a playground, an 'underutilised' open space. But once you know the story attached to that place, it transforms into a place of importance. One that we must protect and acknowledge."

Ray is hopeful they will win their fight to protect Ruprecht Park. The application is now in the hands of the State government.

"It wasn't registered as an Aboriginal Place, we knew that but we didn't bother to do it because it wasn't threatened," Ray said.

"Now we have to protect it. It will now hopefully be on the register so this can never happen again."

Related stories: Ruprecht Park/Browns Hill significant to Biripi and Worimi people

Draft open space improvement plan details