Coogee Beach To Receive A Rainbow Walkway For Mardi Gras
Image: Artists impression
Randwick City Council are planning to install a rainbow walkway along the promenade at Coogee Beach in the coming weeks. The 47 metre long rainbow is part of Council’s partnership with Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, as well as a celebration of diversity, inclusivity, and equality.
The initiative was unanimously supported at the Council Meeting in early December, with Mayor Danny Said saying that it would be a strong statement of support for the local LGBTQI community. The council also plans to hold a flag raising ceremony and fly rainbow banners in the streets to mark Mardi Gras.
Coogee is the latest Sydney destination to receive a rainbow walkway, joining the planned permanent path in Prince Alfred Park that marks the site where 30,000 people gathered to hear the results of the marriage equality postal vote in 2017.
“It will be wonderful to see another beautiful rainbow in greater Sydney at Coogee Beach, joining our permanent curved rainbow crossing and flag at Taylor Square and the planned new rainbow path alongside Equality Green in Prince Alfred Park,” said Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
Plans are also in place for a plaque to be displayed at Oxford Street’s Taylor Square, commemorating the removal of the rainbow crossing there in 2013 as well as the rainbows that were chalked around Sydney in protest.
Other councils around Sydney will be hosting their own Mardi Gras celebrations, with flags being raised by at Summer Hill, Ashfield Civic Centre, and the Marrickville, Newtown, Petersham, and Balmain Town Halls. Sydney Town Hall will be raising their rainbow flag to mark the official start of 43rd Mardi Gras, as they have done for the past 12 years.
Albert Kruger, Mardi Gras Chief Executive, said that support from the councils helped local communities to be more inclusive.
“Each year we take great pride in watching many councils show their support for the LGBTQI+ community through hosting Mardi Gras events, raising a rainbow flag over Town Hall and installing rainbow crossings and walks,” he said in a quote from the Sydney Morning Herald.
The rainbow is set to be painted on February 15-16 but will only remain for an unspecified number of months.
