Moorebank residents oppose sculpture at Clinches Pond
Residents say Liverpool Council’s plans to erect an ANZAC memorial sculpture at Clinches Pond in Moorebank have left them disillusioned about the community consultation process.
Liverpool
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Residents say Liverpool Council’s plans to erect an ANZAC memorial sculpture at Clinches Pond in Moorebank have left them disillusioned about the community consultation process.
Moorebank resident Herb Taylor, 84, has lived in the area for 78 years and was horrified to learn of the council’s intention to install the sculpture at the nature reserve, which is also home to a memorial garden dedicated to his late wife.
Liverpool Council recently received a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs to commission a memorial sculpture commemorating the ANZAC tradition.
According to the council’s Liverpool Listens website, the sculpture “symbolises the strength and determination of our young men and women in the defence of Australia” and is set to be unveiled prior to November 11, which marks the centenary of armistice in WWI.
But Mr Taylor said residents had agreed the monument was “confrontational” and “incompatible” with the natural ambience of the reserve.
Mr Taylor has since launched a petition, now with 50 signatures and counting, opposing the sculpture’s location at Clinches Pond.
The elderly resident has volunteered with local environment groups for more than 50 years to “keep the park as natural as possible”.
“I felt very let down,” he said. “We don’t think any structure of that nature has a place in this reserve.”
He also questioned the site’s connection to Liverpool’s military history.
To add insult to injury, Mr Taylor said three council letters sent to residents in the space of a fortnight sought community feedback, but gave them no choice of alternative locations. Instead, residents were asked to select one of two nominated locations within Clinches Pond Reserve.
Mr Taylor wants to know why residents were not consulted before any location was nominated.
Liverpool Council chief executive Kiersten Fishburn said at least eight locations had been considered for the sculpture, seven of which were deemed unsuitable.
“(Council) believes Clinches Pond to be the best place to erect the sculpture because it is a quiet, tranquil location accessible to the public and close to the Holsworthy training camp,” she said.
The council began consulting with residents about the sculpture’s final location at Clinches Pond in July with a letter drop to 200 residents and an online survey.
“Council will carefully consider this feedback before making a decision on the final location of the sculpture,” Ms Fishburn said.
“If residents do not want the sculpture in Clinches Pond Reserve council will consider other
options.”
Ms Fishburn said the council had consulted with Hughes federal Liberal MP Craig Kelly, the Department of Defence, the Liverpool RSL sub-branch, the Army Engineer Museum, Holsworthy Barracks and Moorebank Heritage Group on the project.
But City of Liverpool and District Historical Society president Glen op den Brouw believes other locations should be considered, including the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, which sits between the Casula Army Camp and the former School of Engineering.
“We don’t know of any association the military had with Clinches Pond,” he said.
“It’s been a gazetted nature reserve since the early 1900s.”
Mr op den Brouw is also puzzled as to why the historical society was not consulted on the sculpture’s location.