3 hours ago
1
A $2.5 million taxpayer-funded memorial honouring people killed at work has been labelled a missed opportunity to showcase Australian talent.
The five-metre tall, eight-metre wide stone structure was designed for an “underutilised” spot on the corner of Russell and Victoria streets outside RMIT University – one of the CBD’s busiest intersections.
The winning design, by Canadian artist Jill Anholt, features a curved structure to honour the approximately 60 Victorians who are killed at work each year.
Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari said the design stood out from more than 100 other proposals. Including eight benches and a table which will allow mourners to “inhabit” the structure, the memorial features glass panels where the sun will shine through for eight hours a day, in a nod to the standard workday.
“It was close between Australian artists and international artists. They’re all terrific, but Jill just had that better sensitivity, and I think it’s because she’s built monuments like this before,” he said.
“It’s tracking time and tracking place and really trying to create a place for people to feel a sense of connection to the greater world beyond it,” Anholt said of her design.
Hilakari described the spot as “underutilised” and said the families and friends of those lost deserve to have place to remember their loved ones and likened it to public memorials for police and emergency services.
He also said he hoped the incomplete circular structure would spark wider conversations about worker safety.
“We like that it’s [the design] an incomplete zero, that thinks about our aspirations for no workplace fatalities,” Hilakari said.
However, not everybody is convinced with the winning proposal.
Deakin University head of art and design Professor David Cross described it an as “international, generic” design and a missed opportunity to showcase the work of an outstanding Australian artist, as public works like this are rare.
“For artists working in this country to have had a commission of this scale would have been excellent,” Cross said of the $2.5 million work.
The memorial was funded by the Victorian government in the 2023-24 budget and is being developed in partnership with Trades Hall, Worksafe Victoria and the City of Melbourne. It is due to be finished by the end of 2026, with the construction tender opening next week.
The memorial will be placed next to the city’s existing Eight Hour Day Memorial, with submissions on the heritage impact to the site closing on Tuesday.
Made from local stone, the structure will replace an older monument to workers featuring a cross that had been given to a camel sanctuary connected to the late Father Bob Maguire.
Cross credited the design for “trying to create a place of contemplation … in an extremely busy traffic area” and its proximity to Trades Hall, but questioned placing it next to an existing monument.
“I would certainly be of the view that it is too close to the eight-hour memorial, and it feels like the two are kind of being connected together,” Cross said.
The land it will be built on is owned the City of Melbourne and Lord Mayor Nick Reece said the thoughtful design represented the “void” left by those who should have come home.
Deputy Premier and WorkSafe Minister Ben Carroll said every workplace death was preventable, and the memorial cemented the state government’s commitment to reducing workplace harm.
“Positioning the new memorial alongside the Eight Hour Monument connects Victoria’s historical fight for workers’ rights and gives a place where Victorians can come to grieve, remember, and reflect on the importance of worker safety,” he said.
Hilakari described the $2.5 million cost as reasonable, but noted he was conscious of possible price escalation due to war in the Middle East.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
