TWO daughters of migrants have made heartfelt pleas for Benalla's former camp for new arrivals to be heritage registered, with one saying “the impact of the site has been sadly underestimated”.
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The calls were put at a Heritage Victoria panel hearing at Benalla on Wednesday.
The organisation is revisiting its executive director's decision not to classify the camp which housed 60,000 migrants from 1949 to 1967.
Rozalie Dean, whose parents came from Poland and who lived at the camp as a small girl, said the site had been underestimated and had “enormous potential as a place to reflect and heal” due to its “strong, social and spiritual connections”.
Friend Wendy Gray, whose mother, father and brother lived at the camp, told of how it provided an “overwhelming” feeling of safety and acceptance after the turmoil of wartime Europe.
Mrs Gray said her late parents were so thankful for Benalla they stayed for the rest of their lives, but her mother could not understand the neglect of the former camp huts which adjoin the airport.
“She said that they looked so unloved for a place that experienced so much love and peace in the 50s,” Mrs Gray said.
“She was confused as to why it wasn't looked after and cherished as a memorial to those who passed through there, as well as to the soldiers who had been based there during World War II.”
Former NSW magistrate Judith Fleming, whose partner Jim Klopsteins was a camp resident, attacked the executive director's logic in not adding the Benalla site to the heritage register.
She said the argument that the already registered Bonegilla and Maribyrnong migrant camps better reflected the post-World War II influx was flawed because it failed to consider different phases of immigration.
Ms Fleming said it was akin to looking at World War II troops in a bloc without examining their varying roles and engagements.
“Would we say that all Australian military forces played similar roles during World War II, because they accommodated military personnel – we don't,” Ms Fleming said.
“We draw distinctions between army, navy and air force.”
Ms Fleming said the Bonegilla camp only retained 23 of 800 buildings, equivalent to 2.8 per cent, while Benalla still had nine of 120 buildings, 7.5 per cent.
The register has 2310 listings but only two are specific to post World War II immigration, Ms Fleming said.
She also noted it has eight fire stations, seven public toilets and five urinals.
The three-member panel will continue hearing evidence on Thursday, with a decision expected at a later date.
