BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — A memorial to 15 young travelers killed when an arsonist set fire to a backpackers’ hostel will be opened in October, more than two years after the blaze, officials said Monday.
The memorial, which includes a glass wall encasing mementos of the victims, is in a new complex including a tourist bureau and plaza being built on the site of the fire at the Palace Backpackers Hostel in Childers.
Seven backpackers from Britain, two from the Netherlands, three Australians and one person each from Ireland, South Korea and Japan died when flames tore through the timber building on June 23, 2000.
Robert Paul Long, 38, was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for arson and murder after being found guilty of starting the blaze. The trial judge recommended he serve a minimum of 20 years. Prosecutors appealed, calling the 20-year minimum “inadequate.” Long also has appealed saying media coverage of the case meant he could not get a fair trial. Dates for neither appeal hearings have been set.
Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson will open the monument on Oct. 26, said Nancy Calder, spokeswoman for Isis Shire, the municipality that covers Childers.
Calder said the memorial also will feature a painting depicting those who died enjoying a break from their work picking fruit in the fields around Childers, a small farming community 190 miles north of the Queensland state capital of Brisbane.
Childers was a popular stop for backpackers traveling in Australia where they could get casual work picking fruit.
The new complex will house a tourist bureau, art gallery, shops and public plaza which will eventually be linked to a proposed new 120-bed backpackers hostel, Calder said.
