GROUPS fighting to preserve Sunshine’s HV McKay Memorial Gardens vow they are in for the long haul.
Residents and groups are flooding Heritage Victoria with submissions arguing against the removal of a historic footbridge, acquisition of a parcel of the gardens and relocation of a heritage gateway.
Already celebrating support from building unions, campaigners were further buoyed with the Australian Garden History Society joining the fight last week.
Society vice-president Bonnie Gelman said Heritage Victoria must reject the Regional Rail Link application and protect one of the last surviving examples of industrial gardens left in the country.
“There is talk of Regional Rail Link acquiring a wedge of the gardens, but when we look at the heritage value of the gardens it is encapsulated in that small parcel,” she said. “It really is the last remnant of that history and an important link with the past that would be lost forever.”
The Albion Resident’s Action Group fears the project will completely cut Albion off from Sunshine, with King Edward Avenue to permanently lose access to Anderson Road from June.
The council’s general manager of infrastructure and environment, Paul Younis, said its submission to Heritage Victoria listed the shortcomings of the Regional Rail Link application and emphasised the project’s likely heritage impacts on the gardens.
Council opposes relocation of power lines into the gardens and is asking the RRL to consider reducing the width of the grade separation and shared pathway.
But Mr Sully said the existing pedestrian bridge needs to be removed as it does not conform to standards in relation to clearance heights for future double stacked freight trains.
