The father of three of four Sydney children killed on the way to buy ice cream is relieved a memorial garden has finally won approval.
Oatlands Golf Club had rejected several designs for a memorial on the site of the February 2020 crash that killed eight-year-old Sienna Abdallah, her 12-year-old sister Angelina, brother Antony, 13, and cousin Veronique, 11.
However, members of the northwestern Sydney club last week agreed to license a small parcel of land to the Abdallah and Sakr families for a private garden.
"We persisted, we got there," Danny Abdallah told 2GB on Wednesday.
"It was very stressful and it took its toll on us."
The landscape hedge garden will include plants that blossom each February and a plinth for each of the children.
The families hope to complete the memorial by Christmas.
The golf club shut down negotiations in 2021 after rejecting all suggestions for the memorial as too large, saying they would unduly remind neighbours of the tragedy.
The latest agreement was reached with help from Mirvac, which is leading the development of a new clubhouse and residential complex that the club says is essential to its survival.
Mr Abdallah, one of the 10 'everyday' Australians invited to the Queen's funeral last year, did not want to dwell on why the club changed tact.
"I want to move forward," he said.
Samuel William Davidson is serving a 20-year term for killing the Abdallah and Sakr children as they walked on the footpath to buy ice-creams.
The then-29-year-old ploughed into them after his ute mounted a kerb. Witnesses later heard him say "what have I done?"
His non-parole period will expire in 2035.
