Macquarie Mall’s fountain will be ripped out as evening traffic is introduced.
Picture: Liverpool Leader

The children’s fountain will be discarded but the Remembrance Day columns of Liverpool’s cenotaph in the Macquarie Mall will be relocated when the thoroughfare is reopened to traffic as part of a makeover.

South West Voice reported that Labor councillor Anne Stanley wanted the cenotaph and the fountain to be relocated – the first to Casula Powerhouse and the second “somewhere suitable”.

But Liberal councillor Tony Hadchiti won the argument and the vote when he suggested that council only relocate the cenotaph memorial to a “suitable site’’.

Former Labor mayor Wendy Waller told council that even though the fountain was 20 years old – it was built in 1994 – when Liverpool residents were asked to name iconic things locally the fountain was always mentioned.

“These things are a part of Liverpool and should not be discarded,’’ Cr Waller said.

Cr Hadchiti argued that the Casula Powerhouse “may not be the best place for the cenotaph’’.

Which is what Cr Peter Harle thought of the current location in the Mall, opposite St Luke’s Anglican Church and Westfield shopping centre.

Liverpool Councillor Anne Stanley in front of the iconic cenotaph war memorial in Liverpool. Picture: Simon Bennett

“This spot in the Mall has never been the right location for the cenotaph,’’ Cr Harle said.

Cr Stanley disagreed:

“The cenotaph is in a place where a lot of people get to see it, because so many people walk past the spot where it is at present.’’

According to the division, Mayor Ned Mannoun, Cr Gus Balloot, Cr Tony Hadchiti, Cr Mazhar Hadid, Cr Sabrina Mamone, Cr Peter Ristevski and Cr Harle voted for Hadchiti’s motion.

Recorded voting against it were the four Labor councillors: Ali Karnib, Geoff Shelton, Anne Stanley and Wendy Waller.