By PAUL MILLAR
ANGRY residents aim to topple plans to erect a telecommunications tower in an historic Geelong cemetery, telling the provider: not near our backyard.
The Geelong Cemeteries Trust has signed an agreement with Telstra to lease a section of the Western Cemetery to install a 37.5m pole at the rear of the graveyard. The City of Greater Geelong is considering a planning application.
Kate Warby, a mother of two youngsters, said it was just not the right place for a “monstrous” tower. Her home backs on to the cemetery, where her grandparents are buried.
“It would almost be in our backyard, every time you went out you would be staring up at it,” Ms Warby said.
“Our major concern is how it would affect the health of our children.”
She rallied locals against the proposal and said a quick walk around a few streets garnered 243 signatures opposing the installation.
“What I also found out was that a lot of locals did not know anything about it,” Ms Warby said.
The cemetery has a heritage overlay, with its first recorded burial in 1858 and has many links to early settlers. It also houses the remains of Willem Baa Niip (also known as King Billy, the head of the Barrabool tribe, who defended his right to live on the land of his people, the Wathaurong.
He died in 1885 at the age of 49. The newly constructed section of the ring road, Baanip Boulevard, is named after him.
Ms Warby said locals were angered at the suggestion of the installation of a tower as the cemetery “holds a special place in the hearts of many local residents”.
Darryl Thomas from the Geelong Cemeteries Trust confirmed that his organisation had signed a lease agreement with Telstra.
However, until a planning application had been finalised it carried no weight, Mr Thomas said.
He said the Trust was not involved in the discussions and it was an issue that would be resolved between Telstra and council.
Mr Thomas said no graves would be disturbed if the tower was installed as the planned site for the mast was in a boundary storage area.
“Victorian cemeteries are here forever and they need to be maintained forever. We do not get government funding and we have to generate our own income,” Mr Thomas said.
Trent Sullivan, another local, who is running for council, accused Telstra of taking advantage of there not being a sitting councillor in the ward, following the departure of Stretch Kontelj.
The application will go before a Council Development Hearings Panel for decision, at a date still to be set, but likely to be within the next month.
