The new public park being constructed at West Basin on Lake Burley Griffin will be named in honour of an architect from Canberra’s formative years.
The City Renewal Authority said Henry Maitland Rolland OBE had topped a four-entry public poll to choose a name for the new park.
Rolland was a resident architect in Canberra during 1912-16, working mainly on the construction of the Royal Military College, Duntroon.
He was later the Chief Architect in the Federal Capital Commission, from 1925-27, tasked with overseeing the construction of the new city and its centrepiece, the provisional Parliament House.
The Authority said ‘Henry Rolland Park’ collected 684 votes out of a total of 1,495 votes received in the online poll held between 24 September and 27 October.
It said the other three shortlisted candidates – John Gale (548 votes), Dame Sylvia Crowe (219 votes) and John McLoughlin (44 votes) – would still be considered by the ACT Place Names Committee for other sites to commemorate their important legacies.
The new park at West Basin is expected to be open early next year.
Part of the first stage of the ACT Government’s redevelopment of West Basin, the park, and the recently constructed first 150 metres of a boardwalk, significantly improved public access to an area that was previously mostly a car park, the Authority said.
Stage two of the West Basin redevelopment would consist of 500 metres of boardwalk which will form part of a future 55 metre-wide public promenade.
The four shortlisted names for the park were selected by the ACT Place Names Committee and reflected significant contributions to the development and growth of the Canberra region.
The Authority said the poll results would be provided to the committee, which will then make a recommendation to the ACT Government about the naming of the new park.
A short video about Henry Maitland Rolland OBE:
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