Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has pledged $1 million, and the local council has stumped up an extra $500,000 of ratepayers' money to make it happen.

But even the mayor of the council that is spearheading what could become a multimillion-dollar Korean community centre in Sydney's inner west admits he is perplexed by the development, which could consume up to five cricket fields.

A poster of the proposed Australian Korea Commemorative Gardens and Culture Centre, which was on display at the "ground breaking ceremony" at Bressington Park on Friday.

A snap decision by Strathfield Council in December to relocate the entire Australian Korean Memorial Garden and Culture Centre onto sporting fields has triggered the concern.

The development - a community hall, ponds, a playground, and a 113-space car park - was to have been built on an unused hill at the northern end of Bressington Park in Homebush, but has been shifted onto cricket and rugby fields at the southern end.