In the lead up to the 1st anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombings I met a young Australian woman by the name of Lauren who’s mother Tracey was seriously injured and sadly succumbed to her injuries in Royal Perth hospital few weeks later.
Whilst waiting for Lauren a few hours later in front of the Sari club I was approached by an individual that the site was up for sale and the idea of Bali Peace Park was born.
I promised Lauren there and then I would exhaust all avenues to establish a park on the site.
Christmas Eve 2003 we begun the grassroots campaign with the former chief of the village of Kuta ,we headed down to the site piled into a back of truck around 11pm me dressed as Santa Claus with Bintang in hand ,we took all the t-shirts off the fence and hung the banner on the fence with the T-shirts we used wooden sticks I found on the site and pegs to hang on the rope about 10 metres in on the site.
The reason behind it I was told no Balinese would walk on the site because of bad spirits this gave people a reason to walk onto the land. Everybody use to just stop at the fence.
The reason behind it I was told no Balinese would walk on the site because of bad spirits this gave people a reason to walk onto the land. Everybody use to just stop at the fence.
This was a few days later after we hung the banner , I organised a truck and literally got locals off the street to clean up the land and move the t-shirts further back on the land as you can see people started to walk into the site.
The boys I got to help clean up the land I paid them around $5 AUD and shouted them Mc Donald’s nearly everyone of them had never stepped into a Mc Donald’s before it was a real eye opener for me something we took for granted.. I told them they could have anything on the menu.
I would fund regular clean ups of the site over the next 7 years.
The boys I got to help clean up the land I paid them around $5 AUD and shouted them Mc Donald’s nearly everyone of them had never stepped into a Mc Donald’s before it was a real eye opener for me something we took for granted.. I told them they could have anything on the menu.
I would fund regular clean ups of the site over the next 7 years.
The guy in the second photo was carrying a layout of the club I asked him about it … He said he was trying to locate where his father had died.
My stomach sunk and believe me I had tears in my eyes.
The initial idea for the park ,I raised with the village of Kuta heads was to rebuild the club layout as a garden for example where the dance floor was a pond, where the bar was a garden bed.
I would sit down there at all hours of the day and night and watch how people engaged with the land.
My stomach sunk and believe me I had tears in my eyes.
The initial idea for the park ,I raised with the village of Kuta heads was to rebuild the club layout as a garden for example where the dance floor was a pond, where the bar was a garden bed.
I would sit down there at all hours of the day and night and watch how people engaged with the land.
Preparing banners for our midnight run up to the site to hang them.
Our Indonesian Patron I Made Mangku Pastika former chief of police and Governor of Bali when I met him with the team from Yayasan Gus (appointed by the village of Kuta heads ) who helped me on the ground in Bali I never been so nervous in.fact I nearly vomited before going into the meeting to ask him to be our Patron.. he replied after I asked the question ..I’ve been waiting for you to ask me only fitting for the person who caught the terrorists ,I then followed this up with a meeting a few weeks later in Perth with Dr Fiona Wood ,burns specialist at Royal Perth hospital she came on board 2 weeks out from being announced Australian of the year 2005.
The second photo is Operation Frangipani in 2005 after meeting with Made Wijaya aka Michael White expat Australian to design the park his team came on board and he supplied the trees and some amazing photos photos we hung around the site.
The photo of the Peace Centre that was taken in Singapore in January 2004.
The second photo is Operation Frangipani in 2005 after meeting with Made Wijaya aka Michael White expat Australian to design the park his team came on board and he supplied the trees and some amazing photos photos we hung around the site.
The photo of the Peace Centre that was taken in Singapore in January 2004.
