IN supporting the reinstatement of the 1923 Woolgoolga and District Great War Memorial, members of the Northern Beaches Residents Association (NBRA) are encouraging the community to look beyond the three suggested sites.
A City of Coffs Harbour’s (COCH) Have Your Say survey about the location closes this Sunday, 9 November.
While NBRA members are pleased to see progress after 26 years of equivocation, they have concluded that the three options being offered by Council or the RSL sub-Branch are not the best, especially the option of a small site outside Bluebottles Cafe.
Woolgoolga businessman and Executive Member of both the Chamber of Commerce and the NBRA, Sam Newman, said people must think about the monument being there all year, not just being brought out for Anzac Day.
“I think the best location is on a grassed area at the front of the Pool Block and making a Memorial Park around the monument.
“There is space to do that, and if planned and landscaped properly, it can be used by the town year-round for all types of small events.
“Locally we get around 1500 – 2000 people attending the Dawn Service, which is great for a town the size of Woolgoolga, and we can make the most of that with a park site.”
Mr Newman said that no-one in Woolgoolga is being disrespectful by suggesting a less visible site like the Pool Block off Queen Street rather than the beachfront reserve.
“Suitability for the location of a 5m high structure sitting on a 3m-x-3m concrete platform needs to be thoughtfully considered,” he said.
“While the current Woolgoolga RSL sub-branch board seeks the memorial to be erected right on the beach front, with grand visions of surf boat row-ins at dawn, will it hold the same meaning to future boards in 50 years’ time?
“It’s a ‘forever’ fixture.”
The NBRA urges people to select Option 4, “your own words”, and state their preferred site.
“Consider what criteria the most suitable site should have such as access, costs of infrastructure and maintenance, capacity to take significant numbers of people without gardens and other structures being adversely impacted, ambience, possible benefits or distractions to tourism and relative risk of vandalism,” Mr Newman said.
A City of Coffs Harbour spokesperson encourages people to look at the plans and provide their views at haveyoursay.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/memorial.
Residents can also email council – coffs.council@chcc.nsw.gov.au – or post feedback to: Locked Bag 155, Coffs Harbour, NSW, 2450.
By Andrea FERRARI
You can help your local paper.
Make a small once-off, or (if you can) a regular donation.
We are an independent family owned business and our newspapers are free to collect and our news stories are free online.
Help support us into the future.
