On the morning of Sunday 10 November 2024 (the day before they host a commemorative service for Remembrance Day), RSL Tasmania is holding a vigil to highlight the threat to Tasmania’s Cenotaph posed by a proposed stadium at Macquarie Point. The vigil is supported by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO), with their musicians performing on the day.
At 9.30am on that day, lead walkers from Our Place – Hobart will set out from Elizabeth Mall to walk through Hobart, and across the Brooker Highway Bridge and the Bridge of Remembrance to join the vigil. Will you join us?
For too long now, the RSL has been distracted from its core work by endless impositions on its time as it advocates to prevent the desecration of the Cenotaph. It has been mired in incessant “consultations”, constantly responded to with weasel words as it has stood up to defend its sacred place, Tasmania’s sacred place. And it has been misled by the Macquarie Point Development Corporation (MPDC) as to the height of the proposed stadium.
With every drip-fed release of images from the MPDC, the RSL has increasingly understood what it had suspected all along. Three of the Cenotaph’s critical sight lines will be destroyed by the proposed Mac Point stadium. On 18 September 2024, the MPDC lodged its reports in response to the guidelines for the assessment of the proposed stadium as a Project of State Significance. There is no better evidence of the betrayal of the promise that the RSL’s expressed concerns about the sight lines were being addressed than the inclusion of this image on page 55:
As part of the Our Place submission to the 21 June 2024 Public Accounts Committee hearings on the proposed stadium, award-winning architect, Mat Hinds, explained that the Cenotaph, Tasmania’s shrine of remembrance, is “the most sacred ceremonial axis in the city”, nationally, “a ceremonial sightline of unparalleled significance”. Watch the relevant section of Mat’s in-person submission to fully appreciate the cultural importance of the sight lines the RSL seeks to protect.
RSL Tasmania is fed up with being disrespected and misled. And they are publicly demonstrating that on 10 November. As their CEO, John Hardy, explains: “Come and experience the Cenotaph in all its glory while you still have the chance. The proposed Mac 1.0 stadium plans will destroy that and many other sightlines. Are we prepared to desecrate and humiliate this most sacred of places?” You can read their full Media Release here:
The TSO is joining the RSL in this action as they again express their concern that identified major issues with noise levels continue to be ignored. In the words of their CEO, Caroline Sharpen: “We’re certain there must be a less terrible location for our new stadium. Tasmania is one of the least densely built-up corners of the world. Surely, there is a spot that does not compromise our state concert hall, our Cenotaph and war memorial, and the famous maritime heritage of our waterfront.” You can read their full Media Release here:
The RSL and the TSO need to know that Tasmanians stand with them. Click the button below to sign up for our walk to join them.
At Our Place, we stand with RSL Tasmania as they call for protection of their Cenotaph, everyone’s Cenotaph. Their valuable time can no longer be diverted by the insane idea of a stadium on Hobart’s waterfront, desecrating sight lines that lie at the heart of the Cenotaph’s reason for being. We stand with them not just on Anzac Day or Remembrance Day, but for as long as it takes to get this job done.
A stadium at Mac Point must not go ahead. This madness must be stopped!