Tate Papworth
The reign of Sunshine’s much loved giant Zeus-like statue is over.
Millennium Man was removed from his post outside the Sunshine Marketplace by Vicinity Centres last week.
Vicinity are preparing to significantly upgrade the Marketplace and had initially promised to restore the statue, however assements concluded it would cost too much.
Despite a plea from the community, he was torn down.
But Brimbank resident Dinesh Jayasuriya, who has been a tireless advocate for returning the statue to the community, believes there is still hope.
“Vicinity agreed to do a 3D scan of him before they pulled him down, which was done, so we’d like that scan released to the community as soon as possible,“ Mr Jayasuriya said.
“From there we can work out our next steps… to see if we can build him again…ideally this should be Vicinity, but I didn’t get sense they’ve even considered doing this.
“If they don’t plan to do it, someone else needs to and I believe the Sunshine Business Assoisation is best placed to do it.“
But Sunshine Business Association president Carson Luk said the association would be taken an advisory approach.
“Sunshine Business Association is happy to provide general advice and referral as the community works through the issues with Vicinity,“ Mr Luk said.
While not everyone was a fan of the statue, Mr Jayasuriya said his importance shouldn’t be underestimated.
“During COVID it’s a bit of a double whammy…. people are holding on to what they know and for a lot of people he’s part of their growing up and childhood,“ Mr Jayasuriya said.
“It’s sad we haven’t been able to figure out next step… some people don’t understand and think he’s ugly and derelict, but they’re missing the point.
“The point is what he means to people and the fact he means so much to so many makes him valuable.“
