Granville: Quanne Diec playground to open at New Glasgow Park
The family of missing schoolgirl Quanne Diec has welcomed a plan to name a neighbourhood playground in her honour. However, there is one condition.
Parramatta
Don't miss out on the headlines from Parramatta . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A playground in the neighbourhood where schoolgirl Quanne Diec went missing 21 years ago will be named in her honour after Cumberland Council received the backing of her family.
Councillor Joe Rahme said her family gave its blessing for the playground at New Glasgow Park, Granville, to be named after Quanne as long as the word “memorial” was not part of its title.
“They just don’t want the word memorial or anything that implies she’s passed,’’ Cr Rahme said.
The request symbolises the hope the family still holds that their daughter, who vanished on her way to Clyde station on July 27, 1998, will one day return.
Cr Rahme, who proposed the title for the new playground, grew up in Sixth St and now lives in Seventh St, where Quanne’s parents remain.
“When people ask why they haven’t left, they say ‘In case Quanne comes home, she knows where to come to’ so it’s a very sad state of affairs and our hearts go out to her parents and her family,’’ he said.
“Quanne Diec grew up in Seventh St in a very, very quiet pocket of Granville and this event really resonated and shocked everyone around her, and throughout Granville and surrounding suburbs.’’
This month, former Kings Cross bouncer Vinzent Tarantino, 52, was acquitted of murdering Quanne, a former Strathfield Girls’ High School student.
The verdict prompted Cr Rahme to propose the playground tribute at the Factory St park so Quanne could “have her place in Granville forever’’.
“She would have walked past New Glasgow Park every day,’’ he said.
“A piece of Granville went with her when she disappeared.
“To this day there is still no closure for the family, in terms of locating the body, locating the child and nobody has been brought to justice.’’
Like many, the mannequin crafted to look like Quanne, at Clyde train station is an enduring image of the investigation’s early stages.
Cr Rahme said he would see Quanne walking to the station most school days.
The council will also look to install a monument at the playground which would outline Quanne’s disappearance.