Council defends choice of pool developer Continued from page 1 crease in budget for the project, stating that much of it is for contingency and ancillary suppliers. “The initial budget estimate in 2019 for the redevelopment option selected by Council to proceed to Development Assessment was $57.9M. The construction contract entered with ICON Si is valued at $53.5M. However, Council has allowed for an overall final budget of $63.9M, which includes design and development costs, legal and specialist consultancies, project management for the balance of the project and an allowance for contingencies that may arise during construction.” The pool redevelopment project has split the council, with a motion to rescind the tender process to date only narrowly defeated 5-4. Key councillors to speak out against the process were MaryAnn Beregi, Zoe Baker and Tony Carr. They raised arguments around the large costs and debts created by the project and what was seen as the lack of commercial sustainability of its retail component. There are also issues over what is perceived as a lack of scrutiny and transparency, and concerns it may
necessitate asset sales. Beregi, ahead of the rescission vote, said: “There has been a huge abuse of the trust of the community… the business case is flimsy and dodgy.” Councillor Alanya Drummond dismissed these arguments, saying that the redevelopment of the pool has been considered for up to seven years and has been debated at as many as 15 meetings in that period. General Manager Ken Gouldthorp claimed the concerns about cost blowouts for the project were unfounded: “The entire budget allocation, including the design phase, consultation, DA preparation, construction and an allowance for contingencies has increased from $57.9M to $63.9M.” He added: “The cost of construction is within 5% of the estimate provided by Council’s quantity surveyors. This project has been well managed to this point and I am confident that Council has struck the right balance between maintaining the essential character of the pool and upgrading to 21st century standards that meet the needs and expectations of the community.” Mayor Jilly Gibson said: “The North
Sydney Olympic Pool has served our community splendidly for 84 years. Sadly, age has taken its toll and the 50m pool, concourse and grandstand have deteriorated to the point that we can only operate with load restrictions. This redevelopment will mean our regular swimmers will be able to enjoy their harbourside swim for many decades to come. The redevelopment will
also open the complex to new customers. We’ll have better swimming and play options for families, older people will be able to enjoy gentle exercise in warm water pools and we’ll be able to offer more aquatic and fitness classes and an expanded gymnasium. This will be a centre that meets the needs of future generations, not just a fortunate few.”
ABC documentary revives interest in 1979 Luna Park Ghost Train fire The airing of a three part documentary series by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about the Luna Park Ghost Train Fire has revived interest in what really happened on that night of Saturday 9 June 1979. Six children and one adult perished in the flames of the Ghost Train,, which started in an imitation fireplace on the train route. And despite the initial police verdict that it was the result of an electrical fault and a later coronial finding that the “cause of the fire cannot be conclusively stated”, there is still plenty of evidence that foul play may have been the cause of the blaze. The ABC Exposed series focuses on a survivor, Jason Holman, who was just 12 when he attended Luna Park with his four schoolboy best mates from Waverley College - Jonathan Billings, Richard Carroll, Seamus Rahilly and Michael
Johnson. This was the first time the boys had ventured out without their parents. In a cruel twist, Holman survived while his friends perished. Holman has been haunted by their deaths ever since and participated in the documentary via assisting the producers with making sense of the extensive dossier on the fire compiled by the late Martin Sharp, the famous Australian pop artist. Sharp, who died in 2013, painted the iconic laughing face and viewed the place as a form of inanimate muse. Sharp was among the first to suspect foul play and was determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of the fire. Martin’s Sydney estate Wirian is effectively a shrine to the Ghost Train disaster: a whole room is dedicated to it: containing thousands of documents, witness statements, official inquiries, court records, media clippings, hun-
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dreds of hours of audio recordings with key people connected to the story and a treasure trove of art inspired by the fire and its victims. Sharp’s biographer and friend Lowell Tarling says the findings of the Exposed documentary have long been known, and buried, for decades. What’s new now is that Holman, via the ABC, is getting some of the revelations out to the wider world. “I met Jason Holman at Wirian - and he wanted to tell his story, so I guess what’s new is that the story got and the general public got to hear what has been struggling to get out of Wirian for several decades,” Tarling told the North Sydney Sun. “Like many others I helped Martin with his research, ran tapes on him telling the story and did rather a lot of tidying up and labelling tapes and ordering newspaper clippings. Martin would have been so pleased to have this story out,” he adds. According to Tarling, Martin was essential in keeping the story alive because of the persistence he showed all the way to his passing 24 years on. “He taped all the major players, kept the reports, stored a lot of Luna Park's effects. He just wanted to hand the torch over to people who would listen. Back in 1985, I was running around various media trying to get them to run the story. He did too. But they just weren't interested,” Tarling laments. Sharp was first made aware of the fire by Arkie Whiteley, the daughter of
Wendy and Brett Whiteley, who spotted the flames from their nearby Lavender Bay residence. She called Sharp to tell him, and the news was quickly repeated to him by two visitors. He quickly drove over and was taken aback by the scale of the fire, which also claimed the adjoining Big Dipper, itself closed for repairs. Sharp saw a form of religious meaning in the deaths: the four dead boys from Waverley College were like the four apostles, even having attended Mass prior to visiting the park. The other three—a father and two sons—were named Godson. And the deaths occurred where the living poked fun at the deceased in the form of a ghost train. Tarling admits: “Martin didn’t help his case by presenting a whole host of metaphysical and numerological examples to prove his point. Like, there was Continued on page 9
