RSL wants laws to protect Cenotaph from being ‘dwarfed’ by Macquarie Point stadium

The national arm of the RSL says legislation should be drafted to protect the Hobart Cenotaph from the impact of inappropriate development like the proposed AFL stadium.

Government-supplied render of one view of proposed Macquarie Point stadium.

The organisation representing the nation’s ex-service personnel says legislation should be drafted to protect the Hobart Cenotaph from the impact of inappropriate development like the proposed AFL stadium.

RSL Australia Deputy President Duncan Anderson has backed local veterans’ concerns about the proposal, saying the Hobart Cenotaph is a sacred site for veterans, their families and for all Tasmanians.

RSL Australia Deputy President Duncan Anderson

He said the site’s heritage values as well as its cultural and spiritual significance must be respected and protected for all time.

“As custodians of this sacred site, RSL Australia and its state branch cannot stand by and allow the Cenotaph to be impacted in this way,” he said.

“It is a prominent Hobart landmark commanding important sightlines across Hobart and is listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register.

“Undoubtedly, it is of great historic heritage significance, marking the service and sacrifice of Tasmanians in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations around the world over more than a century.

“It was purposely sited to command important sightlines across the city and down the Derwent River and many of these would be destroyed and the Cenotaph dwarfed by Stadium 1.0.”

RSL Tasmania CEO John Hardy has written to Premier Jeremy Rockliff pointing out that the construction of the stadium would “desecrate, humiliate and play little more than lip service to our sacred place.”

He urged the government to move the proposed stadium.

Mr Anderson called for better protection for the site – the nation’s oldest capital city war memorial.

CEO of RSL Tasmania John Hardy at Hobart Cenotaph. Picture: Linda Higginson.

The first Anzac Day service was held there in 1916, just one year after the Gallipoli landings.

“RSL Australia encourages the government to consult with RSL Tasmania and stands ready to work with the parliament to develop appropriate legislation to protect Tasmania’s sacred monument to our war veterans and service personnel,” he said.

Also on Thursday, the Friends of Soldiers Memorial Avenue supported the RSL’s position.

“This design is an affront to everything the Cenotaph represents – service, sacrifice, reverence and commemoration,’ said FOSMA president John Wadsley said.

“In discussions with the Macquarie Point Development Corporation earlier this year, we were assured that the design would take the sensitive nature of the Cenotaph as a place of remembrance into account,” he said.

“They informed us, and I quote, that ‘…any visual impacts should be sensitive, softened, sympathetic and minimised’.

“How can anyone consider this design to be sensitive? This will blight the Cenotaph precinct forever.”

“We cannot allow this overbearing, disrespectful structure to be constructed in a place where it will dominate and destroy our most important memorial landscape.”