Workers’ Memorial gets State funding

IN the wake of recent fundraising efforts, the planned Ballarat Regional Workers’ Memorial in Delacombe has received a major State Government cash injection.

The Acting Premier James Merlino and Minister for Workplace Safety Ingrid Stitt visited the site to announce the a contribution of $50,000, half of the total cost of the memorial.

“This funding compliments the incredible community fundraising efforts, the efforts of Ballarat Trades Hall and the Union movement, and the mates, to produce something quite special,” Mr Merlino said.

“We lost 65 people to workplace injury or disease last year… every worker should be safe and home back home to their families and friends.

“When someone loses their life at work it has a devastating lifelong impact on their families, their friends and colleagues, it’s something they will never forget.”

Commemorating the lives of Jack Brownlee and Charlie Hawkins who lost their lives in a workplace accident in 2018, the memorial will be both a place for remembering the fallen as well as acknowledging the fight against workplace negligence.

“Now it’s happening, it’s amazing and I just want to thank the community, the unions, politicians, everyone’s come on board and shown great support,” Dave Brownlee said.

“It’s about people not coming home from work, so anyone who joins this group now, I feel for them because they have a hell of a fight ahead of them, the time is just so devastating.

“We don’t want anyone to have to be here but it’s a great honour to have Jack and Charlie recognised.”

Both Jack and Charlie’s families advocated strongly to strengthen workplace safety and negligence laws, leading to workplace manslaughter becoming a criminal offence from July last year.

Lana Cormie, Charlie Hawkins’ wife, said while it’s great to have this sort of acknowledgement of those who have died at work, there’s still a long way to go in achieving total workplace safety.

“The reality is that every single day in our country, capitalism is killing our people and they are dying because profit is trumping life,” she said.

“I hope that this memorial will act both as a remembrance but also as an acknowledgement of those that worked for better workplace safety for us and the next generation but also to signify hope that it doesn’t always need to be this way.”

Creator of the memorial, local artist Garry Anderson said he’s currently in the early design and prototype phases of the piece.

“It’s a figurative work and I’ve pieced together one of the figures in the size that it will more than likely be,” he said.

“It’s going to be around for a long time so I would rather get it right as best as I can than be known as the quickest one made.”