Three New Schemes Suggested for War Memorial in Dunedin

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27042, 29 March 1949, Page 4

Three New Schemes Suggested for War Memorial in Dunedin

Three further suggestions have been made by Dunedin citizens for a war memorial for the city. They were sent to the Dunedin War Memorials Committee in response to its public appeal for schemes for consideration. The new suggestions are:— 1. A “Garden of Memories” to be built alongside the Albert street extension on a site adjacent to the tennis courts formerly occupied by the Ivloana Club. 2. A band rotunda in the Market Reserve. ° 3. A Memorial Arch in the centre of the Octagon, spanning Princes street. Of the proposals now before the committee the two which aroused most interest up to the present are a community centre and a sports centre.

The new suggestion for a Garden of Memories was put forward by Mr John Dickinson, of Roslyn. In a letter to the committee, he pointed out that when the new highway from Stuart street to Wakari—the Albert street extension —is completed, a traffic turnaround will be provided at the junction of Albert and London streets. Above this area is a large flat section of land, part of which was formerly occupied by the Moana Tennis Club. Mr Dickinson points out that when the earthworks required to widen and level the site for the traffic turnaround are undertaken, the spoil could be used to level off the upper part of the area, which could form the greater part of the Garden of Memories. Taking his suggestion a stage further, Mr Dickinson said that the hillside on the Queen’s Drive side of the memorial gardens could be terraced towards playing grounds which could be laid down in the present garden space at Littlebourne House. He suggested that the gardens could be laid out in flowers, shrubs, pergolas, trees, and so on. It would also be possible to build a central sound shell for open air concerts. Mr Dickinson estimated that the cpst of laying down a Garden of Memories on these lines should not exceed £20,000. In support of the suggestion that a band rotunda should be built in the Market Reserve, it was pointed out that the two existing band- rotundas were at almost the extreme ends of Dunedin—at St. Clair and the Botanic Gardens. The correspondent proposed that some recognition of the 12 bands in Dunedin should be given by building a vandal-resistant rotunda in concrete, with iron seats, in which they could give public performances with more prospect of having a satisfactory audience. Anticipating criticism of his proposal, he adds that when trolley buses are introduced in - Dunedin the noise caused by trams running past the Market Reserve will be eliminated. Advocating a memorial arch spanning Princes street, in the centre of the Octagon, another citizen adds that a lamp of remembrance could be kept burning on it night and day. Together with a proposal to modify the existing Bowen Street War Memorial, in Wellington, the War Memorial Committee there has adopted a scheme for the setting out of a Garden of Remembrance in a part of the present Botanic Action has been taken to obtain preliminary plans and estimates The Dunedin War Memorial Committee has received several letters from organisations in the city giving opinions on the original suggestions for a war memorial. The appeal to the public for suggestions was warmly received, and the committee has extended the date for the submission of suggestions to the end of April.