The Australian government has launched a design competition for a National Memorial for Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, to be built on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra.
Establishing a national memorial was a key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. In October 2020, the federal government committed $6.7 million to the project to establish “a place of truth and commemoration” and “to provide a dedicated and enduring place to reflect, pay tribute and remind future generations to be ever vigilant in protecting our children.”
Minister for Families and Social Services Anne Ruston said, “Consultation told us the memorial should be a place of remembrance and a place that honours victims and survivors,” Minister Ruston said.
“Without the strength of victims and survivors Australia may have never been able to come to terms with the awful truth about the abuse perpetrated in institutions entrusted to care for young Australians.
“Their voices have created changes in all levels of society to ensure that children are protected from abuse in all institutions now and forever and this memorial will serve as a permanent tribute to them.”
The competition is open to all Australian design professionals and collaborative teams, which may include architects, landscape architects, artists, sculptors, engineers, as well as those who have lived experience of institutional child sexual abuse.
The competition website states that the design is “is of national significance [and] requires a high degree of design exploration, innovation and skill.”
The government has chosen a site on the Acton Peninsula, close to the National Museum of Australia and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
The site straddles Lawson Crescent and the edge of Lake Burley Griffin, and is described as “a foreshore urban woodland with panoramic views across Lake Burley Griffin to Stirling Park, Lennox Gardens and Parliament House. It enjoys glimpses through to the National Arboretum and the Brindabella Ranges to the west.”
The jury will include an architect and landscape architect, as well as representatives from the National Capital Authority and the National Memorial Advisory Group, which includes people with personal experience of institutional child sexual abuse. It will be chaired by Peter McClellan, who was chief royal commissioner of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Submission to the competition open on 12 April and will close on 21 May. Construction of the memorial will start later in 2021, and it is due to open in 2022.
“A national call for submissions has been deemed the most appropriate way to select a suitable design for the Memorial and we encourage those with the skills and expertise to apply,” said Nola Marino, Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories.
