Gungahlin Mosque confirmed on The Valley Avenue

Skid: it was I recall a nearly 2-hour discussion about a range of things including architecture, so the comment you link to was necessarily abbreviated. They asked for the meeting with me because they were concerned about the reactions in Lakemba and southwest Sydney, and wanted the local community to know they intended being part of the community and giving back to it, through providing a general community meeting place. They asked me about design and I offered my thoughts, based in part on an article I had recently read by the head of the RAIA about the role of design in community facilities and the symbolism it can convey. They were excited by the possibilities.

Anyway, they came up with a design that I know they were very happy with, and I personally think looks really good.

kiwilostinaussie said :

I live in Gungahlin and have done for 18 months.

I have not been consulted. I did not get notification of any kind – mail, email, fax, letterbox drop nothing! I am really sick and tired of hearing “extensive consultation” when there is none. I have no problem with a mosque as long as they don’t broadcast their prayer times like they do in Indonesia over loud speakers at EVERY prayer time and the building is not an eye sore. Some people may not agree with me. I have spent a lot of time in Indonesia which has the highest percentage of Muslims in the world whilst I respect everyone’s religions I just don’t need it to be in your face.

You weren’t consulted about it because it is a sorry saga that has dragged on since long before you came to Gungahlin, with the group on the end of some pretty poor treatment and ill-thought-out decisions from certain government agencies.

The location? About 50m up the street to the east from the existing Uniting Church (about which no-one had anything to say) and nowhere near any housing. I would have put it diagonally opposite the police station because of the existing building form and scale around that site, and there being no other use earmarked for it. But the ESDD had other ideas. They wanted that site to be CZ1 – Town Core to provide some degree of linkage to the Business Park behind the Police Station. I felt it was more important to not have a 1 or 2 storey building virtually opposite the main eastern business park, where buildings will go up to 8 storeys. Context… For me it was about protecting the ultimate development potential of the surrounding land so as to ensure the greatest number of jobs can be created locally.

Anyway, Valley Ave is where it is going. And I don’t think Valley Ave falls into the narrow category – it’s a far cry from Kosciuszko Ave. It is a spacious divided street that will form part of the main ring-road around the town centre and business park. And the peak period for a mosque is lunchtime and early afternoon on Fridays each week. Hardly a time that is going to clash with a bunch of other peak periods around the town centre, and bringing a much-needed injection of people for local business operators.

Good on them I say. We have so many churches that hardly ever seem to get used, at least people will turn up to the mosque.

puggy said :

Yep, that’s my main concern as well. But that’s Gungahlin for you.

Ah Gungahlin … the land of roads barely wider than the average SUV, surrounded by limitless grassland protected so that tiny lizards can roam free.

I used to live in Palmerston. Always thought it reminded me of an Israeli settlement – densely packed in and surrounded by semidesert.

I still can’t get past the fact that when Palmerston was first built, the developers built the roads – including the main road, Kosciuszko, which has a school on it – so narrow that buses couldn’t even get through! They head to redo the street at a later date.

montana said :

Can someone show me a map of exactly where the mosque will be built?
Valley avenue seems quite a tight little road for large amounts of traffic.

Yep, that’s my main concern as well. But that’s Gungahlin for you.

yellowsnow said :

jayskette said :

Replace “Mosque” with “Anglican Church” or even “Hillsong” and nobody would bat an eyelid. *sigh*

I would never accept a Hillsong church near my house

The happy clapping would quickly drive me insane.

Christian rock would drive even the most stoic man to a nervous breakdown. I’d prefer the Islam call to prayer broadcast from my own kitchen over that.

Can someone show me a map of exactly where the mosque will be built?
Valley avenue seems quite a tight little road for large amounts of traffic.

jayskette said :

Replace “Mosque” with “Anglican Church” or even “Hillsong” and nobody would bat an eyelid. *sigh*

I would never accept a Hillsong church near my house

The happy clapping would quickly drive me insane.

jayskette said :

Replace “Mosque” with “Anglican Church” or even “Hillsong” and nobody would bat an eyelid. *sigh*

I don’t know, those Anglicans can be dodgy, with all their hymn books and fetes and such. By the way, my eyelids are batty.

jayskette said :

Replace “Mosque” with “Anglican Church” or even “Hillsong” and nobody would bat an eyelid. *sigh*

They happily come on RiotACT and spout crap that they never would in real life, though.

Replace “Mosque” with “Anglican Church” or even “Hillsong” and nobody would bat an eyelid. *sigh*

Eby said :

If you have an issue with it, move somewhere else. For someone that respects everyone’s religions, you’re pretty… disrespectful.

?
Right, so after specifically stating that (s)he doesn’t have a problem with the mosque per se, it’s disrespectful to object to (a) not being consulted (when the claim of consultation has been made), and (b) object to the noise pollution they’ve previously experienced in Indonesia!
‘respect’ should not mean ignoring genuine problems in the name of political correctness.

bigfeet said :

Mysteryman said :

amarooresident3 said :

Just so you know, your views are abhorrent, as well as ignorant, racist and unwelcome.

Regards of how stupid/ignorant the original post was, I feel the need to point out that Islam is not a race. The post was not racist.

Damn, you were too quick. I was going to type “Let’s see how quickly a racist can jump on here with the usual racist catcry of IINAR” and then wait until a racist jumped on to point out that Islam is not a race.

But you were too quick.

How about we use “stupid ignorant redneck bigot” instead?

Do you honestly struggle to understand the difference between a faith and a race? I know people like you enjoy painting everyone with a big, thick “racist” brush when they don’t agree with you, but the fact of the matter is that there is a difference. You’d do well to at least try and understand that.

Captain RAAF said :

‘Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer.’

Though many, if not all religions, have had periods of great violence perpetrated by their hands, the Muslims appear to be the only ones, of any great note, that seem reluctant to evolve and adapt to the new world.
They will either succeed by stealth and persistance or they will be destroyed. While the numbers are not in their favour they will play the waiting game, a mosque here, a mosque there, blow up the odd church here, behead a priest there, never anything on such a grand scale that may unite other religions to take up arms against them but always enough to maintain the mistrust, suspicion and fear by the western world, that is essential to fuel it’s followers into justifying the ‘necessary’ acts of wholesale slaughter in order to ensure their religions survival and the downfall of the infidel!

They have not changed their thinking since the dawn of recorded history, what makes anyone think we can possibly expect anything other than the same old, same old from them? It’s only a mosque, right?………………….

I seen stories when the RAAF used to bomb the crap out of nazis like you.

Skidbladnir said :

Whats wrong with the one in Monash?

I didn’t know there was one in Monash!

‘Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer.’

Though many, if not all religions, have had periods of great violence perpetrated by their hands, the Muslims appear to be the only ones, of any great note, that seem reluctant to evolve and adapt to the new world.
They will either succeed by stealth and persistance or they will be destroyed. While the numbers are not in their favour they will play the waiting game, a mosque here, a mosque there, blow up the odd church here, behead a priest there, never anything on such a grand scale that may unite other religions to take up arms against them but always enough to maintain the mistrust, suspicion and fear by the western world, that is essential to fuel it’s followers into justifying the ‘necessary’ acts of wholesale slaughter in order to ensure their religions survival and the downfall of the infidel!

They have not changed their thinking since the dawn of recorded history, what makes anyone think we can possibly expect anything other than the same old, same old from them? It’s only a mosque, right?………………….

Mysteryman said :

amarooresident3 said :

Just so you know, your views are abhorrent, as well as ignorant, racist and unwelcome.

Regards of how stupid/ignorant the original post was, I feel the need to point out that Islam is not a race. The post was not racist.

Damn, you were too quick. I was going to type “Let’s see how quickly a racist can jump on here with the usual racist catcry of IINAR” and then wait until a racist jumped on to point out that Islam is not a race.

But you were too quick.

How about we use “stupid ignorant redneck bigot” instead?

Holditz said :

Hopefully the Yarralumla mosque won’t close, otherwise it’ll suck to be Muslim and living in Tuggeranong.

Whats wrong with the one in Monash?

Hopefully the Yarralumla mosque won’t close, otherwise it’ll suck to be Muslim and living in Tuggeranong.

amarooresident3 said :

commoner said :

Jihad Jon (Stanhope) strikes again. He’ll be introducing legislation in the ACT Assembly soon to implement sharia law in Canberra, no doubt.
By the way, the Muslims do a great job of vilifying themselves, we don’t really need to do it for them. What about that Muslim guy in Sydney last week who said ‘Julia Gillard should just step aside and let the Muslims take over’ and told us that the Islamic punishment for thieves of chopping off hands was ‘glad tidings’. But no, Jon with his superior morals knows better than us, and if anyone says anything the all-knowing Jon disagrees with, their views are ‘abhorrent’.

Just so you know, your views are abhorrent, as well as ignorant, racist and unwelcome.

Regards of how stupid/ignorant the original post was, I feel the need to point out that Islam is not a race. The post was not racist.

Ian said :

I’m hoping the design includes a 100m tall minaret and a sound system fit to call to prayer everyone in Nicholls.

Don’t you mean Calwell, Banks & Tharwa?

commoner said :

Jihad Jon (Stanhope) strikes again. He’ll be introducing legislation in the ACT Assembly soon to implement sharia law in Canberra, no doubt.
By the way, the Muslims do a great job of vilifying themselves, we don’t really need to do it for them. What about that Muslim guy in Sydney last week who said ‘Julia Gillard should just step aside and let the Muslims take over’ and told us that the Islamic punishment for thieves of chopping off hands was ‘glad tidings’. But no, Jon with his superior morals knows better than us, and if anyone says anything the all-knowing Jon disagrees with, their views are ‘abhorrent’.

Just so you know, your views are abhorrent, as well as ignorant, racist and unwelcome.

I support the Islamic community building another mosque, if the current ones can’t cater .
They pay their taxes, they are good neighbours, and frankly Gungahlin needs all the character it can find.

However, Gungahlin Al telling them to refine their plan to suit his taste in architecture and using colourbond as a feature component was kind of weird.
Let them build it however they want to, and just accept them for what they choose to express.

(From comment 97 in this thread)Gungahlin Al: I also discussed the architectural design aspects, and suggested that the community may be more accepting of the centre if the buildings could be designed as something symbolic of the Islamic faith integrated (note *not* assimilated – something else altogether) within the Australian community. … I understand from the rep I talked with today that it did follow this idea, and he mentioned it featuring colourbond, etc

What is the difference if Mosque or Church? I agree that the use of loudspeakers would constitute noise pollution, but I doubt that would be allowed under the terms of the agreement in our secular society.

There are militant Muslims who sprout the prejudicial “you are either a Muslim or not a Muslim” diatribe, but equally the US has it’s share of militant Christians as well. Hopefully we in Oz are more even-handed.

Has Andrew Barr tweeted about this thread yet?

commoner said :

Jihad Jon (Stanhope) strikes again. He’ll be introducing legislation in the ACT Assembly soon to implement sharia law in Canberra, no doubt.
By the way, the Muslims do a great job of vilifying themselves, we don’t really need to do it for them. What about that Muslim guy in Sydney last week who said ‘Julia Gillard should just step aside and let the Muslims take over’ and told us that the Islamic punishment for thieves of chopping off hands was ‘glad tidings’. But no, Jon with his superior morals knows better than us, and if anyone says anything the all-knowing Jon disagrees with, their views are ‘abhorrent’.

Yes, all Muslims are alike. What about that Christian guy Fred Nile?

You might want to read a little of the history of Northern Ireland for perspective, and add some research in Islam into the mix as you’re not particularly well-informed

I don’t see a problem. I little more traffic on Friday lunch.

The worst thing is having to tolerate all the ridiculous RA posts regarding the Muslim faith.

The guy from Sydney, doesn’t he already post here. He is not satisfied with the laws of the land and wants harsher punishments for criminals. Sounds rather familiar.

commoner said :

But no, Jon with his superior morals knows better than us, and if anyone says anything the all-knowing Jon disagrees with, their views are ‘abhorrent’.

No, just yours.

kiwilostinaussie said :

I live in Gungahlin and have done for 18 months.

I have not been consulted. I did not get notification of any kind – mail, email, fax, letterbox drop nothing! ….

I wouldn’t expect to get direct notification unless you lived damn close.

Tolerance should work both ways.

Jihad Jon (Stanhope) strikes again. He’ll be introducing legislation in the ACT Assembly soon to implement sharia law in Canberra, no doubt.
By the way, the Muslims do a great job of vilifying themselves, we don’t really need to do it for them. What about that Muslim guy in Sydney last week who said ‘Julia Gillard should just step aside and let the Muslims take over’ and told us that the Islamic punishment for thieves of chopping off hands was ‘glad tidings’. But no, Jon with his superior morals knows better than us, and if anyone says anything the all-knowing Jon disagrees with, their views are ‘abhorrent’.

Sorry kiwi but this is a case of NIMBY. You’ve copped it, we havent.

Why I think that would add to the charm of Canberra. Strategically placed architecture that looks so abstract. And the housewives are just going to love the diversity.

kiwilostinaussie said :

I live in Gungahlin and have done for 18 months.

I have not been consulted. I did not get notification of any kind – mail, email, fax, letterbox drop nothing! I am really sick and tired of hearing “extensive consultation” when there is none. I have no problem with a mosque as long as they don’t broadcast their prayer times like they do in Indonesia over loud speakers at EVERY prayer time and the building is not an eye sore. Some people may not agree with me. I have spent a lot of time in Indonesia which has the highest percentage of Muslims in the world whilst I respect everyone’s religions I just don’t need it to be in your face.

If you have an issue with it, move somewhere else. For someone that respects everyone’s religions, you’re pretty… disrespectful.

I don’t even know why this is news. A new church is also being built in Gungahlin, yet that is not considered newsworthy (nor should it be).

@kiwilostinaussie This has been in the Chronicle and also in the Gungahlin Community Council’s Gunsmoke.

If you want to be kept informed on what is happening in Gungahlin I would suggest to you and other Gungahlin residents to attend the Gungahlin Community Council meetings.

I’m hoping the design includes a 100m tall minaret and a sound system fit to call to prayer everyone in Nicholls.

Anything that brings more people in to the town centre is a good thing for the local businesses.

I live in Gungahlin and have done for 18 months. I have not been consulted. I did not get notification of any kind – mail, email, fax, letterbox drop nothing! I am really sick and tired of hearing “extensive consultation” when there is none. I have no problem with a mosque as long as they don’t broadcast their prayer times like they do in Indonesia over loud speakers at EVERY prayer time and the building is not an eye sore. Some people may not agree with me. I have spent a lot of time in Indonesia which has the highest percentage of Muslims in the world whilst I respect everyone’s religions I just don’t need it to be in your face.

The Jews have been getting a run on this site lately. I’m glad the Muslims are getting a turn to be vilified now. Will the Anglicans be next week?

@kevin22

So?

Isn’t there a Church about 2 blocks from the Propose Mosque at the moment?