Memorial for hope and healing

CITY of Ballarat councillors unanimously endorsed the designs for the Continuous Voices Memorial at the June ordinary council meeting.

The community gathered last week at Victoria Park to recognise the milestone and the design by Amass Architects and Ben Juckes.

The memorial for survivors of sexual abuse is designed to be a place of healing and hope, and the architects were chosen following a competitive selection process.

“It’s clearly been many years in the making and it’s something that really started at a grassroots level,” said Continuous Voices community reference group member, Rebecca Russell.

“It’s through tenacity of survivors that the memorial has gotten to this point.

“To get it to this point feels a bit like a miracle actually but what it means is survivors are being acknowledged on a public scale, and that acknowledgment feels like it’s a new era for survivors.”

The memorial, to be installed at Victoria Park, will include curves which curl around each other and a structure which connects water and the environment.

Each stand of the design aims to represent an individual’s healing journey, and as they come together, it demonstrates the power of the community.

At the centre of the design is an artwork which was informed by survivor contributions and signifies both light and dark, reflecting complex survivor experiences.

Continuous Voices community reference group member, Blake Curran, praised the architects for how they listened to survivors when creating the design.

“I think one of the big things that I learnt throughout the entire process is that survivors’ voices weren’t heard for so many years,” he said. “To have those three architects listen and put everything into it, the empathy, the heart and soul and the connect to nature that survivors really latch onto… everything just came together beautifully.

“It was meant to be.”

The project will be funded with $520,000 from the City of Ballarat and $500,000 from the State Government.

The City of Ballarat is continuing to advocate for more funding for the project.

Read more on council’s endorsement of the Continuous Voices memorial project on page 7.

If you or someone you know is dealing with issues resulting from sexual or physical abuse, help is available from CASA on 1800 806 292 or casacv.org.au, Lifeline on 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au, and 1800 Respect on 1800 737 732.