Memorial to families

Council asks for community views on new memorial

Orange City Council is beginning a conversation with the community to assess feeling on a suggestion to create a statue to remember those who have lost family members in war.

While most war memorials focus on the courage and sacrifice of men and women who served in the armed forces, this proposal is aimed at exploring the impact of war on their families.

Cr Jeff Whitton, who proposed the original motion to Council, is looking forward to hearing back from the community.

“Both internationally and in Australia there are number of memorials which explore this unconventional approach,” Cr Jeff Whitton said. “There’s a traditional bronze in Ballarat’s ‘Avenue of Honour’ precinct which depicts a mother of the 1920s clutching an image of her fallen son.”

“It’s a way of remembering the mothers and families who experienced the grief and deep anxiety of war.”

Orange has a number of war memorials in local parks, including Cook Park and Newman Park.

“The suggestion of the statue of a mother is one way forward. In Orange there’s an important story around the response of the East Orange Public School community to the impact of the First World War on the neighbourhood community, which might become the subject of a statue,” Cr Whitton said.

Responding to the deaths of sixteen former students, in 1919 the East Orange school principal organised for former students of the school who were also returned servicemen to plant two rows of trees in Newman Park across the road from the school. A hundred years later, that planting now creates a beautiful park setting.

An online community consultation has now opened on the YourSay Orange community engagement site. It's expected the initial online consultation would assess community interest and support for options.

Council would then consider the community response and decide whether to begin to source grant funding for the project.