The curved brick walls at the back of Erindale College were never meant to be a skate park but even US legend Tony Hawk has skated them and they have developed a cult following around the world.
Now, skateboarders want that special part of the Erindale skatepark, aka the Erindale brick banks, heritage-listed because of their unique structure and importance to the "Canberra, Australian and international skateboarding communities".
Canberra Skateboarding Association vice-president Brenden "Woody" Wood said the heritage listing was about preserving the unique curved brick walls of the skatepark from any development.
But it would not preclude an upgrade of the other more recent add-ons to the skate park or stop skaters from using the area.
"The brick banks are pretty iconic to Canberra's skating history and to Erindale's history," he said.
The area was originally a courtyard built around 1985 by technical college students learning how to build curved brick surfaces.
The walls were an architectural feature, first, but they soon attracted the skateboarders with their long, curved surfaces.
They were challenging and exciting to skate on and soon gained a following in the skateboarding community, due to the high level of skill needed to use them
Even American skateboarding legend Tony Hawk skated there in 1988 when he visited Canberra.
Another American skateboarder, Dan Drehobl, has visited the Erindale brick banks four times over the last 20 years.
"The Erindale brick banks have been a world famous destination for skateboarders for decades now," he said.
"Because the banks have been around for so long I feel like they are a piece of history for skateboarders and they hold a uniqueness that cannot be duplicated when building a park solely for the purpose of skateboarding."
The area was converted into a skatepark in the 1990s, with modern concrete features added on. And while the brick banks elsewhere in Erindale were removed, they remained at the skatepark.
ACT Heritage Council chair Duncan Marshall confirmed it had received a nomination for the brick banks at the Erindale skatepark to be heritage-listed.
"It is undergoing active assessment as part of the 2024-25 assessment priority list," he said.
Brenden Wood said the nomination was first lodged in 2016 when a 2012 masterplan for Erindale had proposed a road and associated development that would have destroyed the brick banks.
That plan had since since fallen by the wayside and the nomination had been caught up in a backlog that was now being cleared.
Mr Wood said they still wanted to secure protection for the brick banks.
"We've been contacted by the Heritage Council and we're expecting a decision in the next couple of months," he said.
The fact the Erindale brick banks were not purpose-built for skateboarding is what made them so attractive to skaters.
Mr Wood enjoyed its "imperfections and quirks" which made riding them difficult but also fun.
A new home for the Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation was being built next to the brick banks and was another reason the structures should be preserved so the skate park could be used by local organisations as well as the wider skateboarding community, he said.
