By Ewen McRae
Much loved Sunshine icon Millennium Man is set to be removed.
While the future of the statue -which has stood outside the Sunshine Marketplace since 1997- has been up for debate in recent times as plans for a development of the centre progressed, a statement from Vicinity Centres last week confirmed that the statue would not be restored as residents had hoped.
“Sunshine Marketplace’s Millennium Man is being removed due to significant 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 significant damage that our expert consultants have advised is impossible to repair.
“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 off 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.
“The 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. They 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 Jasuriya 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 of our community in the long term, then they should talk to us,“ he said.
“There’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.“
