Chance to make unity our legacy
Pedestrian bridge is a way to say thank you, explains Damon Thomas
ONE could be excused for thinking that the new bridge to be constructed across the Tasman Highway from the Cenotaph to the Queens Domain should remain nameless lest the controversy being experienced between the supporters of the Legacy organisation and other community service organisations creates a rift in otherwise collegiate, selfless and serving community organisations.
This would be unfortunate and yet on this occasion the Hobart City Council has been careful to distance itself from passion that the naming process has created.
The council has already considered and determined that it supports the three alternative names now submitted for public voting. Quite wisely, the council will accept the preference of the people and once the period for public opinion is over the administration will simply refer the name which garners the greatest support to the Nomenclature Board for a determination.
There is a strong argument that the bridge ought to resonate the respected zone of the Cenotaph and Memorial Avenue and be named in synergy with that space.
On that basis, the most appropriate name is ideally one that reflects the personal sacrifice of war and Hobart’s unique contribution to the war effort for the purpose of assisting a lasting peace. The three names are (in the order they appear on Your Say Hobart) the Bridge of Remembrance, Legacy Link and Peace Bridge.
Prominent city place making projects are the ingredients for city regeneration and by their nature significant structures that mark the entrance to modern 21st century cities will always be topical.
One only has to recall the controversy created by the red and yellow plinths marking the entrance to Melbourne and the end of the Tullamarine Freeway.
There are many testaments to peace and to remembrance nationally but none to our own ‘home grown’ and much loved Legacy.
It would be a fitting tribute for the Hobart community to support Legacy to create a permanent reminder of the need to serve others in the form of our new connecting bridge.
Those that argue against the bridge being named after a single organisation mistake the fact that the name Legacy Link is being promoted as a recognition of the movement of Legacy, the charity that has reached out to recognise and support hundreds of thousands of Australians servicemen and servicewomen and their families.
Commonly the term ‘legacy’ denotes something handed down from generation to generation. Legacy is predicated on the fundamental belief that veterans have a special obligation to the families of their comrades who have sacrificed their life or health in defence of their nation. Legacy is about actively remembering families all too easily forgotten. It is about helping, caring and protecting from harm legacy kids, widows and service men and women who have suffered the trauma of war.
Legacy had its origins in the Great War of 1914-18, in Gallipoli, Palestine, France and Flanders. Some of the men who returned from those battlefields felt their colleagues in business were failing to assist other returned men adequately. One of those concerned men, who lived in Hobart, decided to do something about it.
In 1923, Sir John Gellibrand founded the Remembrance Club in Hobart. Its aim was to encourage returned servicemen in business.
In 1925, Gellibrand came to the fore in support of the families of Tasmanians who had made the supreme sacrifice. It was suggested that the Remembrance Club, which by then had become known as Legacy, should consider expanding its ambit to care for the children of deceased servicemen. This proposal was accepted and Legacy found its soul and today that legacy of care continues with the Legacy family supporting 528 widows of ex service personnel who are over the age of 100 and
340,500 living veterans from a broad range of conflicts. The public support is reinforced each year when hundreds of Hobartians, from all walks of life, volunteer to assist Legacy in street appeals and other fundraising to give hope and support for the widows and children of lost service men and women and survivors of war and conflict.
Legacy is a much-loved charity and having commenced in Hobart soon after WWI, its link to this city has never faltered. Legacy is a cause, not an institution and Legacy Link would carry forward that cause as a permanent thank you to the dedication of thousands of service men and women. The naming of Legacy Link is not about Legacy the organisation per se but the caring services it is known for throughout the community and the world. The very legacy of service with honour and without regard for self is what our newest bridge of connection ought to symbolise. Legacy is indeed Hobart’s legacy.
If you are moved by the legacy of the giving please show your support simply by registering a vote for Legacy Link on the Your Say Hobart site “Naming the Bridge”on the City of Hobart website by no later than Wednesday.
Sir John Gellibrand came to the fore in support of the families of Tasmanians who had made the supreme sacrifice.