Revealed: Gold Coast’s much loved war memorial to be moved due to road upgrades

One of the Gold Coast’s oldest war memorials will need to be moved for traffic safety reasons – but where it should go is in the crosshairs. Have your say.

ONE of the Gold Coast’s oldest war memorials will be moved for traffic safety reasons, but where it should go is in dispute.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) has alerted city councillors about relocating the Upper Coomera war memorial, which has stood at the corner of Tamborine Oxenford Rd and Charlies Crossing Rd North since May 1918.

Council officers said the intersection was over capacity due to population growth in the area. Families drop off schoolchildren for buses nearby.

UPPER COOMERA MARCH

Deputy Mayor Donna Gates told a transport committee meeting on Tuesday that the “safety on that road has really deteriorated”.

Former area councillor William Owen-Jones said about 15,000 vehicles passed through the intersection each day and TMR was moving forward on a road duplication.

Cr Owen-Jones said there were challenges because the relocation would require input from cross agencies and some locations may not work.

He said TMR was seeking feedback and the department would “need to be mindful of the costs”.

Council officers have been asked to review potential locations put forward by the Rotary Club of the Coomera Valley and TMR.

They have asked for Mayor Tom Tate to write to Transport Minister Mark Bailey highlighting the importance of the monument, noting the “community sensitivity to relocation”.

Coomera Anzac Day service

“It’s a really difficult thing,” Cr Gates said.

“The cenotaph is right on the Tamborine Oxenford Ro, and it is the location for the largest northern Gold Coast gathering on Anzac Day every year.

“The growth in the area has meant that there needs to be traffic signals installed at the intersection of the Tamborine-Oxenford Rd and Charlies Crossing Rd, and TMR has allocated the funding for the design of those lights, which will entail the relocation of the cenotaph.

“A couple of parcels of land have been suggested, one being council land at the peninsula east of John Muntz Bridge and other being parkland on the western side of the Tamborine Oxenford Rd.

“There is no road access to the land on the peninsula. Our understanding is the department of Main Roads have suggested they would be willing to provide road access.”

Planning committee chair Cameron Caldwell asked officers whether the cenotaph needed to be moved.

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Cr Owen-Jones told the meeting: “We have a cenotaph that’s close to a lot of moving vehicles. It isn’t ideal for its safety in the long term either.”

Theodore MP Mark Boothman told state parliament the cenotaph was unveiled on May 1918 “under the watchful gaze of William A Foxwell and Sir Edward Henry Macartney MLA”.

“This cenotaph is a testament to a grieving community desperately wanting to honour their loved ones who are buried in faraway lands,” he said.

The recent development of a new fuel station on Tamborine Oxenford Rd near the sandstone memorial had made the situation for motorists leaving Charles Crossing Rd North more precarious, he added.

“I am very hesitant to move a cenotaph that has stood for over 100 years, and many residents have expressed this view. I also understand that making this intersection safer and limiting the chance of a fatality is critically important,” Mr Boothman said.

Coomera Anzac Day service

“Residents have suggested placing the cenotaph at the centre of a roundabout at this upgraded intersection to allow free-flowing traffic.

“Others have suggested moving it to John Siganto Park or Highland Reserve Park. The local RSL has suggested it should be relocated to the Upper Coomera Community Centre.

“The Rotary Club of Coomera Valley has asked it to be moved to parkland between the two lakes.”

Mr Boothman urged TMR to “make sure that the cenotaph is in a position that can be well recognised for generations to come”.

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