A PROMISE IS A PROMISE

A LOT has changed since 1938. One thing that hasn't is the value of a vow.

Gold Coast pioneer Charles Joseph Hicks was a charitable man with a love of Surfers Paradise and its people.

In 1938, a few years after the suburb gained its name, he gifted the land on which the Bruce Bishop carpark now stands to the community so children would have open space on which to play.

Back then the council assured the Hicks family the community would forever respect his wishes and generosity.

They said this in no uncertain terms: “This property would be a recreation reserve and could not be sold or disposed of by the Council.” The pledge was affixed with the council seal.

Over the years that promise was bastardised when a carpark was built on the site. But it still has a park on top and still belongs to the people of the Gold Coast.

Now the council says it is entitled to sell the land entrusted to it all those years ago to fund the cultural precinct.

People often present land, buildings or artworks to governments as perpetual gifts for the benefit of the public.

Unfortunately, the trust placed in governments – local, state and federal – is often misplaced.

The intended purpose of the original gift sometimes is distorted, diluted or occasionally abandoned by politicians who are but a shadow of the fine benefactors who enrich our society.

By trashing a promise made all those years ago, the council sends a message to philanthropists that they cannot be trusted to respect their wishes.

What’s next on the auction block? The fine art collection donated to the city by Pat Corrigan? Other parks donated by generous individuals and families?

Few will doubt that building a cultural precinct at Evandale is a worthy project and an important part of the Gold Coast’s maturation into a global city.

But ‘culture’ implies many things — including an understanding and respect for our past and the people who shaped the Gold Coast.

Tricky lawyers and bureaucrats will no doubt find a way to justify trashing the wishes of Mr Hicks. The rest of us know that a promise is a promise.