A NORTH Stradbroke Island reserve at Adder Rock will be named for a Dutch plane that crashed off the island in 1947.
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The crash claimed six lives, prompting Redland City councillors to agree to name the reserve NEI Dakota Memorial Park.
But the proposal has prompted controversy, with the Friends of Stradbroke Island writing to the council, arguing about the validity of yet another memorial.
FOSI president Sue Ellen Carew said the proposal to name the area after the crash was reminiscent of many tribute seats and plaques on rocks dedicated to people at Point Lookout.
“It appears that the bushland around Point Lookout is rapidly becoming a hotchpotch of private memories of the past and beginning to take on the appearance of a cemetery,’’ she wrote.
People wishing to leave a mark by placing a tribute on public infrastructure has become problematic for councils around the world.
Memorial plaques have been screwed on to the landmark Wellington Point jetty, the boulders at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast and boardwalks at Coolum.
People driving to the tip of Cape York have changed the landscape by piling rocks into cairns to mark their visit and the Pont des Arts footbridge in Paris became so weighed down with locks hung by tourists that part of it broke away.
Mayor Karen Williams said naming the park after the Netherlands East Indies Air Force Dakota aircraft that crashed, claiming all six on board was a fitting tribute for next year’s 70th anniversary.
"(It) was a terrible peace-time tragedy and today's decision ensures a lasting tribute is in place to educate people about this chapter in local history," she said.
"The Royal Australian Air Force Amberley Scuba Club approached us with the initial request to place a memorial in the park near Adder Rock at Point Lookout and we have consulted with stakeholders including Traditional Owners to gauge community support.’’
North Stradbroke councillor Peter Mitchell said many people had not heard the NEI Dakota story.
"I'm sure there are many people who are unaware the plane lies at the bottom of the sea somewhere near Point Lookout,’’ he said.
FOSI believed the crash would be better remembered with an exhibit in the nearby North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum.
Ms Carew said said policy in regard to memorials had to be revisited.
