Oatlands crash: Families beg golf course to allow permanent memorial to four dead children
The families of the four children killed in a horrific road tragedy earlier this year have asked Oatlands Golf Club to allow a tasteful shrine under a tree on the course where their bodies were found. Club members are ‘split’ on whether to allow it.
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Oatlands Golf Club members are split about whether to allow a permanent memorial on the course where the bodies of four children where found after being hit by an out-of-control ute.
The families of Abdallah children Sienna, 8, Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, have asked the club for a tasteful shrine under a tree in the rough alongside the 12th hole, where the bodies came to rest.
Grieving father Danny Abdallah has already removed a makeshift shrine at the club’s insistence, where mourners had left crosses, rosary beads, candles, flowers, teddy bears, photos and condolence cards.
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Mr Abdallah still visits the site every morning to reflect on the loss of the children, who were walking to get ice cream in February when they were hit by an alleged drunk driver.
“I go every morning to reflect, say a prayer, and talk to my kids,” Mr Abdallah said.
“We don’t want anything extravagant, just something modest and tasteful in honour of the kids and the community that supported us.
“It would serve as a reminder how precious life can be and how life can be taken away in the blink of an eye.”
The family’s preference is for a short memorial walk from a roundabout being built at the corner of York and Bettington Roads along Bettington Road beside the golf club to the tree on the course where the bodies were found.
The Abdallahs have suggested the memorial walk be called “walk with four angels”.
“The tree is significant,” Mr Abdallah said. “It’s a place of reflection, not necessarily for religious people, and a place of remembrance.
“A memorial is important for our family moving forward — a step forward.”
There is division within the membership base of the club — which describes itself as a “prestigious Tier One golf course, rich in tradition and history”— about whether a memorial should be built at all.
But the Oatlands board will not formally ask members to decide until its insurer weighs in.
While the club is confident it could make any memorial safe from wayward shots, it wants to be sure it would not be liable for any mourner injured on course property while paying their respects.
“We are discussing informally with various member groups to get a sense of the temperature of the members,” Oatlands Golf Club general manager Sam Howe said.
“Opinion is split on what, if anything, should be done, but the formal decision process will not begin until we work through the indemnity issues. It’s private property and not a decision for one person to make; the golf course is owned by members and the members must decide.
“We’re in the ballpark of what’s acceptable in terms of size, scale and roughly what it will look like. But before that goes to the broader membership in a formal sense, we need answers on safety and indemnity.”
Lakemba MP Jihad Dib implored Oatlands Golf Club to show “humanity” and allow for a small memorial, telling parliament last month “Antony, Angelina, Sienna and Veronique deserve no less”.
Both Mr Dib and local Parramatta MP Geoff Lee have been working behind the scenes to broker a deal between the club and the families.
“The decision rests with the club’s board and its members,” Mr Dib said.
“I ask those with the capacity to make this decision to look into their hearts, imagine the grief of the family and do what they can to give them some peace in their otherwise broken lives, and to match the mourning of a nation through their acts of kindness.”
Parramatta Council is currently considering a separate memorial at nearby George Gollan Reserve in Oatlands involving four benches, four trees and a memorial plaque for each child.