Bacchus Marsh Avenue of Honour
A FACEBOOK campaign to stop a roundabout being built on Bacchus Marsh’s Avenue of Honour has attracted almost 4000 members.
The Save the Bacchus Marsh Avenue of Honour group asks members to “voice their disgust at VicRoads plans to destroy the historic memorial”.
The plans include a roundabout at Woolpack Rd as part of the proposed Western Highway realignment, with the loss of about 12 elm trees.
Group member Marion Ingram the online result showed many people cared about protecting the avenue’s integrity as a memorial to World War I servicemen.
“I’m not against progress but I think there’s got to be a better way than this,” she said.
The Facebook group has attracted support from across Australia and overseas.
Ms Ingram urged people to write to the Heritage Council of Victoria supporting the avenue’s bid to join the state’s heritage register. The National Trust of Australia’s Victorian branch has also called on people to make submissions to have the Avenue listed.
Submissions will be accepted until April 20.
The growing campaign has also gained support from literary heavyweight Peter Carey and eminent Australian historian Prof Graeme Davison.
New York-based Carey, born and bred in Bacchus Marsh, described the avenue as a “beautiful tunnel of light” which would be vandalised by a roundabout.
Meanwhile, Prof Davison, who holds the post of Sir John Monash Distinguished professor at Monash University, said he was concerned by the proposed roundabout’s potential impact.
“As a boy driving to visit relatives in the country, the Avenue of Honour at Bacchus Marsh and Ballarat made a strong impression on me,” he said.
“They brought home, as few other things did, the immense impact of the Great War on rural communities of Victoria.
“I found the continuous avenue of trees, each planted for one of the district’s sons, a singularly moving way of commemorating their lives and affirming the continuity of life itself.”
Source: whereilive
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