Darwin’s rainbow crossing may fade after committee votes against repaint
Image: Dr Emma Young stands proudly on Darwin's rainbow crossing. Image: @AldermanEmmaYoung / Facebook.
The rainbow crossing installed for Darwin Pride Festival last year may slowly fade away after a committee voted not to repaint the mural.
The crossing, which is at Knuckey and Smith St, was installed for the city’s pride week and council later voted for it to remain for a further 12 months.
But that vote was in September 2017, and with the need to recoat the mural to ensure its ongoing vibrancy, the City Operations committee has voted against a repaint, The NT News reported.
Council staff recommended that the committee’s members consider alternative surfacing for the mural in time for Darwin Pride Festival’s 2018 edition in September.
But the committee decided that the money required – around $9500 per year – would be better served across the community more broadly.
Mick Palmer, an alderman on Darwin City Council, said council would have to consider if the crossing’s presence would be extended, or if it should become a permanent fixture.
“As an annual spend and something that needs to be maintained, it needs to be considered by all the aldermen,” Palmer said.
The committee’s decision will go to the city council for deliberation on Tuesday.
The crossing was thought to have been vandalised last year just a day after it was installed, but police later said a can of black paint had accidentally fallen off the back of a truck.
Alderman of Chan Ward, Dr Emma Young, originally put forward the idea of the crossing to celebrate the Pride Festival.
Darwin Lord Mayer Kon Vatskalis later suggested that the rainbow crossing could be a template for more street art celebrating the Territory’s cultural heritage around the city.
In June, it was revealed that the rainbow crossing that once graced Sydney’s Taylor Square would return as a permanent fixture five years after it was suddenly removed in the middle of the night.
Hopefully the Taylor Square crossing’s return sets a precedent that Darwin City Council will follow.
This year’s Darwin Pride Festival runs from September 21 to 29.
But within the Northern Territory, transgender people are still forced to still divorce and a rainbow crossing is a priority? What a joke!
$9500 is a lot of money for a crosswalk! Money that is desperately needed for other lgbtq groups.