WAR MEMORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 1, 23 March 1927, Page 22

WAR MEMORIAL

PLANS IN MELBOURNE HIGH SCHOOL SITE FAVOURED Instead of erecting the national war memorial in an Anzac Square, to be created in front of Federal Parliament House at the top of Bourke Street, it has been decided by a sub-committee to transfer the site to that of the old Melbourne High School in Spring Street. The Anzac Square proposal is to be abandoned as too costly in favour of a site which, it is claimed, offers even greater advantages from the point of view of adaptability and commanding position. Plans are being prepared by the subcommittee which would show the vistas from the old Melbourne High School towards State and Federal Parliament Houses. The site was on one of the highest levels in Melbourne, and topographically commanded the city. For many years the High School has been inadequate for the accommodation of scholars. Boy students are to be transferred to the new High School now approaching completion on Forrest Hill, South Yarra, and the question a matter of departmental policy to be

announced later by the Minister fcj Education, Sir Alexander Peacock.

of the transfer of the girl students i* When it became known that thf Education Department contemplated abandoning the Melbourne High School, its suitability as a site for a war memorial was apparent to th« sub-committee. By a slight alteration of the roadway in Victoria Parade and the possible reclamation of small properties in the vicinity, together vith the removal of the plantation in th« parade, a triangular site will be mad* available on which will be possible U erect a noble cenotaph or any other monument chosen by the executive Hitherto the form of the monument has been discussed and decided before the site was finally selected. The executive has now agreed that a wiser plan is to fix the site first and afterwards to invite competitive designs for a memorial to harmonise with the surroundings. A memorial on the Melbourne High School site would face the city at the top of Lonsdale Street and Latrobe Street, and would be on the route of Anzac Day processions proceeding by way of Evelyn Street to the Exhibition Building. A feature that commended itself to the sub-committee was that a comparatively small sum of money would be necessary for th€ acquisition of the site. Almost all the funds to be raised by public subscription therefore will be available for the memorial.