controversial kangaroo statue in Southbank<\/a> continue to soak up the city\u2019s public art budget.<\/p>\nA report recommending the council push ahead with the Stolen Generations Market will be presented at Tuesday night\u2019s Future Melbourne Committee meeting, outlining a July 2027 completion date for the memorial at Peppercorn Lawn on the banks of the Yarra.<\/p>\n
Designed by leading Victorian Aboriginal artist Maree Clarke, Mitch Mahoney, and OCULUS Studio, the installation will feature 39 bronze sculptures of Aboriginal children and a smoking pit set within a native landscape.<\/p>\n
Melbourne\u2019s recent budget allocated $4.5 million for all of its public art projects including the Stolen Generations Marker.<\/p>\n
At least $2m of that allocation, however, is already set down for a controversial kangaroo statue in Southbank, which has ballooned into a four sculpture installation costing more than $22m.<\/p>\n
The remaining $2.5m in the latest public art budget does not cover the total $3.2m bill of the Stolen Generations Marker, leaving the council to lobby state and federal governments, as well as corporate and philanthropic partners to cover the cost.<\/p>\n
However, Stolen Generations advocacy groups are warning that Melbourne needs to press the accelerator on the project before survivors miss the chance to see it.<\/p>\n
In a letter sent to the council, Connecting Home chief executive Lisa Zammit expressed serious worries over the project\u2019s timeline and recent delays.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy greatest concern with the current anticipated time delays is the ageing of Stolen Generations Survivors,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cConnecting Home now sees time as the essence in any work and project we complete as we recognise the vulnerability and fragility of survivors,\u201d Ms Zammit told council.<\/p>\n
Connecting Home is a support service for survivors of the Stolen Generations.<\/p>\n
Lord Mayor Nick Reece described the initiative as a monumental step for the community that needed broader financial backing to succeed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be the most significant marker of its kind in Victoria. It will be a place of healing for the Stolen Generations, their families and future generations as well as a place truth-telling and learning for the broader community,\u201d Mr Reece said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot change what happened, but we are committed to honouring and supporting our Aboriginal community today.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mr Reece stressed that delivering the project should be a shared governmental responsibility, and not funded by Melbourne ratepayers alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cA project like this deserves to have the backing and support of State and Federal Governments \u2013 and we are engaging with them to deliver a project of national significance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project will also cost a further $20,000 in ongoing annual maintenance for the management of the new native landscape.<\/p>\n
The Stolen Generations were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families, land, and culture by government authorities between 1910 and the 1970s.<\/p>\n
Council originally committed to this project in 2022, following a Victorian Government steering committee report, to address the deep harm caused by these past removal policies.<\/p>\n
The Victorian government was approached to check if it would help fund the memorial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City of Melbourne has put its hand out for state government help to fund a poignant $3.2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[21853,21851,23,133,16817,21854,21845,21835,21844,21836,3740,21843,21849,21841,21830,21829,260,21833,21852,21847,908,120,21834,21828,21848,21832,21850,21838,21840,2043,21839,21842,21837,10179,21846,68,2548,20660,21831],"class_list":["post-23239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-ageing-survivors","tag-aging-survivors","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-brendan-kearns","tag-bronze-sculptures","tag-completion-date","tag-controversial-kangaroo-statue","tag-council-push","tag-ever-escalating-cost-blowouts","tag-first-nations","tag-future-melbourne-committee","tag-government-authorities","tag-lisa-zammit","tag-maree-clarke","tag-melb-council","tag-melbourne","tag-memorial-design","tag-mitch-mahoney","tag-native-landscape","tag-nick-reece","tag-oceania","tag-ongoing-annual-maintenance","tag-public-art","tag-public-art-budget","tag-public-art-projects","tag-removal-policies","tag-sculpture-installation","tag-smoking-pit-set","tag-state-government","tag-steering-committee-report","tag-stolen-generations-marker","tag-support-organisation","tag-support-service","tag-time-delays","tag-victoria","tag-victorian-government","tag-wayne-taylor","tag-yoorrook-justice-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}