BRUCE Lee is leaving — and some might say none too soon.
The life-size statue of the Chinese martial arts legend caused somewhat of a furore when unveiled at Kogarah Town Square in March 2011, with protests, petitions and threats of vandalism because Lee had no real connection to Kogarah.
But many believed Town Square was a better option than other suggested sites, such as Kogarah Park with its war memorial and sporting walk of fame, or Carss Bush Park, a heritage-listed site of historical and cultural significance.
The statue was a gift from Shunde, one of Kogarah's "friendship" cities which has an ancestral connection to the US-born Lee, who died in 1973.
At the council meeting on Monday (August 25), following a notice of motion from Nickolas Varvaris, the council decided to give Bruce a new home — at least they made a decision to create a new park in which the statue will be the focal point.
The council will apply to the Geographical Names Board of NSW for permission to rename South Street Reserve, on the corner of South Street and Montgomery Street (near the entrance to St George Private Hospital) as Shunde Gardens, to commemorate the "friendship city" relationship between Kogarah and Shunde.
The park will be upgraded to "a standard befitting the significance of this relationship", with a Chinese garden theme.
"He was a gift from our sister city and in honour of that relationship we will move Bruce Lee to his own park," mayor Stephen Agius said.
Former Kogarah councillor Anne Field said many residents thought that the statue should never have been placed in the Kogarah Town Square in the first place.
"Now that Bruce Lee is moving there is an opportunity to acknowledge someone from Kogarah's past," she said.
She suggested Joseph Carruthers, a premier of NSW or Peter Herrmann, a Kogarah mayor who built the now-demolished Griffith House.
What do you think of the statue? What would you like to see in its place?
