RSA debates plans for memorial park
Members set out the non-negotiable features they wnat to see retained at park
Te Awamutu RSA president Lou Brown had to take off his Waipa¯ District councillor hat on Sunday when he hosted a gathering at the club to discuss Te Awamutu and District War Memorial Park.
Lou invited club members and members of Te Awamutu Rotary and Lions Clubs to hear what the RSA executive had approved as its submission on council’s Memorial Park proposals.
He said from the beginning of proceedings his loyalty had lay with the RSA Club and its members.
Lou had organised the first on-site gathering at the park to investigate the extent of the proposals and gauge some of the public feeling.
He said the initial feeling of members was one of horror at the extent of the proposals, and of what would be lost.
They identified what they described as the non-negotiables: The archway entrance; the Sunken Cross memorial; the lake and Peace Fountain; the three bridges; and the bass relief.
Lou said each aspect was a carefully thought out part of the overall memorial to the fallen men of World War II, or a commemoration of an important part of the conflict.
As an example, it is now more well known that the three foot bridges each represent one of the armed forces, Army, Navy and Air Force, but it is less well known the Peace Fountain was designed to resemble a nuclear explosion to commemorate the end of the conflict in the Pacific brought about by the horrific introduction and use of atomic weaponry.
Members of the service clubs had been invited to attend because they had worked with Te Awamutu RSA over the years to enhance park facilities.
This included the construction of the archway entrance in 2002.
The preferred position of RSA is that the non-negotiables be restored of rebuilt to a high standard and nonworking facilities such as the Peace Fountain, lake aeration fountains and the flow of the lake, be restored to working condition.
Lou said the park was named in good faith when it was designed and constructed in 1955, and it is perfectly fitting.
He said it should be a place for family time — of peace, relaxation and remembrance and some of the proposed new features would not be compatible with this.
Murray Olson suggested if there was so much history to the park that was unknown, forgotten or misunderstood any project should concentrate of undertaking the research and making sure that history is recorded on information boards on-site.
Simultaneously with Te Awamutu RSA presenting its submission on the Te Awamutu and District War Memorial Park proposal to interested parties on Sunday afternoon, Waipa¯ District Council was holding a drop in session for the public on-site.
Reports from that session, and correspondence with the editor, would suggest the public do not believe council is paying enough attention to the original intention of the park, and the efforts of those involved in the project.
Council has outlined its Te Wha¯ riki Tuapapa Whakaaro — Foundation of Thought on the ‘have-your-say’ section of its website.
But that isn’t holding much sway with opponents of the proposal who say the original Foundation of Thought was completely appropriate at the time, and still is.
Then Te Awamutu mayor Fred Parsons said, “I need hardly comment on the memorial itself. Not many, if any, of our citizens will need to be reminded of its sentimental and emblematic meanings, and few, if any, as the recently issues brochure indicated, will deem it sufficient or worthy to leave only a wooden cross in a distant or alien land as the only tribute to those gallant men who went from this district and who did not return.”
Opponents have expressed concern that important features within the park have been let deteriorate, and are now under threat. Their general view is those features should be restored or repaired to new, or better than new (by using modern equipment available) condition.
Submissions on the current proposals close on Monday, July 13.
In next week’s edition we will look at the history of the project and significance of park features as researched by Marc Dawson.