Moore Park war memorial approved

BY PATRICK TOMBOLA
The plan to build Sydney’s first Korean War Memorial in Moore Park has been approved by the City of Sydney, with construction beginning in early 2009.
The project will be funded jointly by the NSW Government, Korean Government, veterans groups and the Korean community of Sydney with the aim of commemorating the Australian and Korean veterans who fought in the 1950-1953 Korean War.
‘It’s Australia’s forgotten war and should be remembered,’ said Nichols Street Community Group spokesman Brian Noad. ‘It’s a great tribute to the 17,000 Australian soldiers who fought in the Korean War, including the 400 that died.’
In 2007, after much lobbying by the Korean community and the RSL, the former NSW Premier Morris Iemma agreed to provide State Government land for the construction of the memorial.
According to the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s website, the winning design for the memorial will focus on ‘commemoration, regeneration and remembrance’. Each theme will be clearly visible as a different physical layer within the overall structural design.
While many veterans have praised for the decision to build the memorial, some local residents have expressed concerns about the suitability of Moore Park as a location.
‘It’s about time that someone gave recognition to that forgotten war,’ said local resident Don Beresford, ‘but I don’t understand why Moore Park of all places.’
And he’s not the only one to be puzzled by the location.
Richard Shuttleworth, from the Friends of Bourke Street group, wrote in a submission that the risk of vandalism from sport fans is just one of several problems that planners should take into account.
Shuttleworth pointed also to the inconvenient location of Moore Park for the Korean community and the creation of car parking spaces to the detriment of parkland.
But according to the Department of Premier and Cabinet, no extra parking will be built and the memorial will be less likely to be vandalised as it has been specifically designed with very resistant materials.