FUNDS GIVE NEW LIFE TO COMMUNITY ICONS

Communities throughout Queensland have been urged to take advantage of the opportunity to recognise and restore local historic icons through the State Government’s Community Memorials Restoration Program.

The Acting Minister for Public Works, Housing and Information and Communication Technology Judy Spence announced today that $1.5 million had been made available to fund the program for next year.

“From July 2007, this $1.5 million will be used to help restore monuments, war memorials, historical gravesites and marking World War Two sites across the state,” Ms Spence said.

Under the program, a dollar-for-dollar State Government grant is given to help local councils and other organisations responsible for community monuments, memorials, and historical cemetery records and sites.

“A community’s pride in its history can often be detected through the parks, gardens and historic buildings that community members value and preserve,” Ms Spence said.

She said the project encouraged community spirit by enabling councils and local groups to care for their monuments and memorials and to publish historical cemetery records, restore settlers’ gravesites and tidy up and re-mark older closed cemeteries

“With the additional funds that have been allocated to this program, even more Queensland communities will be able to preserve historic icons for future generations,” she said.

“We ask interested parties to lodge expressions of interest with the Department of Public Works, which administers the program, by April 18 this year,” she said.

Local authorities and incorporated or formally constituted community organisations may apply for the grants. The grants are for up to $25,000 to care for their monuments and up to $15,000 to care for their cemeteries and historical gravesites.

Since the program began in 2004, $2.2 million has been provided to restore 136 memorial sites.

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