The popular sign that marked the home of Canberra's first drive-in theatre will stand again, after a donation offer from the owners was accepted this week by the ACT government.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has agreed to repair the Starlight sign and return it to its home of five decades on the Federal Highway, but fears about light pollution may stall a campaign to return the neon advertiser to its full glory.
Ms Gallagher accepted the offer in a letter to the Starlight Apartments' strata manager on Thursday, and proposed to have it reinstalled at "an agreed site" near its original location as soon as possible.
Independent Strata Management's Clare Wilson said the donation decision by the apartment owners' corporation last month had avoided significant potential repair and maintenance costs.
"To put it back is $30,000-plus – to reinstate it to the condition it was in in 2012 and reinstall," Ms Wilson said.
The three-metre-high sign has sat neglected in a government depot since October 2012 after being blown over in a storm, but the creator of the petition for its repair, Irene Hazilias, said the intention was to restore it to its original condition, not the rundown state it was in 19 years after the last film was shown in 1993.
"We really want ACT Heritage to work with us because we're going to fund-raise and find whatever funds are necessary to get that sign restored to its original condition," Ms Hazilias said.
A spokesman for the Chief Minister said on Friday the repaired sign would not be lit in consideration for nearby neighbours.
The sign's entry on the ACT heritage register states the "capacity for the sign to be illuminated" is one of the three features intrinsic to its heritage significance.
Ms Hazilias, who recalled as a teenager sneaking into the theatre in a car boot, said the sign symbolised happy memories for several generations and was a visible marker for those arriving back in the capital from the north-east.
"You'd see it before you saw the Black Mountain Tower," Ms Hazilias said.
"I'm very passionate about the Starlight sign because I have seen us spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on things like the Skywhale, which we don't even own. This is something that we own, it's ours, and it just disappoints me that it's been left in the state it's been left in."
