Legal touch to kinder heritage

By Russell Bennett
A HOST of Australia’s top legal minds have thrown their weight behind the local push to heritage-list Cockatoo’s famed symbol of bushfire survival.
Hills residents were expected in their numbers at last night’s (20 February) Cardinia Shire Council meeting to appeal for the McBride Street kindergarten site to have a Heritage Overlay placed on it.
The plea was expected to be a successful one, with shire CEO Garry McQuillan recommending the overlay and $200,000 to go towards a grant to restore the building.
Local residents’ plight was strengthened by letters of support from human rights barrister Julian McMahon and high-profile QC Julian Burnside. In a letter addressed to the Heritage Council of Victoria – before which hills residents will also appear before this Friday – Mr McMahon said one of the most important factors in guiding it “should be to listen to the community affected by its decisions”.
“To all of us in Victoria who remember those fires, and especially to our Victorian community in Cockatoo who represent all of us in that memory, this building is one of those to which we attach the beautiful word ‘saved’,” he said.
“It was saved, it saved others.
“It was already a place of sacred memory, that mattered, that had a meaning in the hearts of the community that went well beyond mere bricks and mortar.
“A community which forgets what matters becomes barren and forlorn.”
Mr Burnside’s appeal was just as stirring.
“The families that survived (the Ash Wednesday fires) and the 120 children who were saved show how that building impacted the community and the future,” he said.
“Its continued determination to stand today after neglect by council, and even after several attempts to demolish it, exhibits the buildings miraculous ability to withstand any assault.”
Mary Farrow, one of the faces behind last year’s kinder survival push, said her fellow fighters wanted Cardinia Shire Council to add the building to the heritage overlay.
“But we also want them to commit to the restoration of the building,” she said.
“During the fight last year they elected to stop at the frame, roof and slab, but we want the building restored.”
Ms Farrow said hills residents had fought an uphill battle, but one that conveyed national significance.
“Being an American, I want to be in the actual place – just like the Alamo,” she said.
“Places are often remembered through all those who died there, but 300 people survived.
“Seventy-five people died on Ash Wednesday, but it would have been 375 (if not for the kinder).
“We just want council to do the right thing – to have the wisdom, the courage and vision to protect this place.”