Roundabout Upgrade – Survey on location of War Memorial
Mitcham Council and DPTI are undertaking a survey to determine where the War Memorial Soldier will be located as part of the Roundabout upgrade. Residents in Blackwood and some surrounding suburbs will have received information and a survey form in the post. Anyone can also respond by going to the Mitcham Council website “mitchamcouncil.sa. gov.au” which has the information and an “on line” survey form. Copies of the information and survey forms are also available from the Church. All interested individuals are entitled to participate and I encourage everyone to complete the survey before the closing date of 21st March.
The 4 options are –
- Relocate the statue to the area in front of the Uniting Church, Blackwood
- Relocate the statue to the Council reserve on the corner of Station Road and Main Road
- Relocate the statue to the Waite Street Reserve
- Relocate to another location.
The revised DPTI plan, after pressure from Church representatives, now includes a green space on the Church corner which will be large enough to adequately allow the statue to remain close to where it has been for the last 100 years. Option A would involve moving the Memorial a couple of metres closer to the Church and into the centre of this green space. I believe that we should vote for option A.
The Soldier will not be relocated until after this year’s ANZAC Day Service. If the Soldier is moved to the park across the road it will be less obvious and redevelopment of the area will take some years. Another option being considered involves commissioning a new memorial to be located in the Waite Street Reserve with future ANZAC Day services held there.
Bob Lyon (Secretary, Property Committee)