JUNE 16, 2020 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
Millenium Man to go
North west a virus hot spot
By Ewen McRae Much-loved Sunshine icon Millennium Man is set to be removed. he future of the statue – which has stood outside the Sunshine Marketplace since 1997 – has been a source of debate recently as plans for a development of the centre progressed. However in a statement last week, Marketplace owner Vicinity Centres conirmed the statue would not be restored. “Sunshine Marketplace’s Millennium Man is being removed due to signiicant damage,” the spokesperson said. “Millennium Man is now over 20 years old and over the past two decades the sculpture’s exposure to weather and other elements has resulted in signiicant damage that our expert consultants have advised is impossible to repair.
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The love for him is massive and people don’t understand his value
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- Dinesh Jayasuriya “With the safety of the local community our top priority over the coming days we are taking the necessary steps to remove the sculpture and the area will remain fenced of while these works take place.” Local resident Dinesh Jayasuriya said Millennium Man had become more than just a statue to the Sunshine community, and lamented that a decision on its future had been made in the middle of a pandemic. “If it wasn’t for COVID I think we would have hundreds, if not a thousand people around Millennium Man to protest this,” Mr Jayasuriya said. “he love for him is massive, and people don’t understand his value to the local community unless you are local. “A lot of people that grew up in Sunshine have an emotional connection to him. hey played near him, they met their parents there and he’s a reminder of their childhood, in fact he’s been there long enough that those that were kids when he went in now have kids of their own, and so it continues.” Mr Jayasuriya said he hoped Vicinity Centres reconsidered and made restoring Millennium Man a part of any redevelopment plans. “If Vicinity think they are going to be part
Millennium Man at Sunshine Marketplace is being removed. (Damjan Janevski) 209757_01
of our community in the long term, then they should talk to us,” he said. “here’s no doubt it needs to be restored, and he’s been neglected for a long time, but if you are going to do this massive development of the centre, surely
restoring Millennium Man would be a small fraction of the cost of the overall development. “In return we get a unique Sunshine Marketplace, and not something that can just be found anywhere else.”
Parts of the northern and western suburbs have been labelled as hot spots for “low level” community transmission of COVID-19 by Victoria’s chief health oicer. Professor Brett Sutton said recent cases suggested the area from Keilor Downs to Fawkner and Craigieburn was a current hot spot for community transmission, adding that most of Victoria’s recent virus cases were recorded in the northern and western suburbs. “his indicates there is on-going community transmission in these areas, although it appears to be at low levels,” he said. Professor Sutton said people living in the area should stay home if they are unwell and get tested if they develop coronavirus symptoms. Eight pop-up drive-through testing sites are currently operating across Melbourne, including at Keilor Community Hub, and Highpoint, Paciic Werribee and Paciic Epping shopping centres. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, there was one active case of COVID-19 in Brimbank as of Sunday. he municipality has recorded 73 cases since the pandemic began. In Hume, three cases remained active. he have been a total of 72 cases in the municipality. Neighbouring Whittlesea has recorded no active cases since June 7. here were no active cases in Melton, Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay or Wyndham. Last last month, four school students from the northern and western suburbs tested positive to the virus. Keilor Downs Secondary College was closed for deep cleaning on May 29 ater a student returned a positive test. A student from St Albans Secondary College also tested positive ater taking part in a class with the infected Keilor Downs student. A grade two pupil at Holy Eucharist Primary School in St Albans South also tested positive. Laura Michell
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