Shrine rejects Games car park plan Author: PETER KER, COMMONWEALTH GAMES REPORTER Date: 08/08/2005 Publication: The Age
THE dignity of the Shrine of Remembrance will be preserved during the Commonwealth Games, after Shrine management rejected State Government plans to use the memorial grounds as a car park.
Barricades will also be set up to stop spectators using the Shrine as a makeshift grandstand for the cycling events that will pass nearby.
The Shrine will be open during the Games. But with the finish line for the road cycling event to be nearby on Birdwood Avenue, management was conscious of the need to preserve the dignity of the building, Shrine chief executive Denis Baguley said.
"We are taking precautions to ensure we're not getting people parking themselves on the Shrine, because that's not appropriate," he said.
"We don't want people sitting down and picnicking on the side of the Shrine."
The grass mounds on the sides of the Shrine and the eastern forecourt will be barricaded off.
Mr Baguley said the barricades would be "low key" and would not be an eyesore. "It will be similar to what we do on Anzac Day," he said.
Proposals from the State Government about using the Shrine grounds as a parking area created a storm in June.
But Mr Baguley confirmed there would be no parking on the site, after his organisation suggested that the State Government look elsewhere for a more appropriate parking location.
Parking in Yarra Park around the MCG has already been ruled out during the Games for logistical and security reasons.