July 21, 2013
Murgon’s new skate park will be officially opened in the next few weeks in a gala ceremony expected to attract between 600 and 700 schoolchildren from Murgon and Cherbourg, along with many of their parents.
But the skate park’s first customers hit the ramps at 5:00pm last Tuesday when workmen removed safety barriers around the new area and finished up for the day.
The skate park – and the children’s climbing wall located immediately next to it – already look like being instant hits.
And it’s not finished yet. Over the coming fortnight, the South Burnett Regional Council will be installing safety bollards and eight car parking spaces in front of the new park so that parents can easily drop off and pick up their children at the site.
And at some point in the foreseeable future, Council will also be relocating existing children’s playground equipment from Rotary Park in Krebbs Street to create a complete youth park complex on the site.
The new facility in Gore Street is located on reclaimed railway land next door to Murgon’s Town Hall.
Murgon State School School, Murgon State High School and St Joseph’s Catholic School are all located just a block or two away.
The $151,000 skate park and the $35,000 climbing wall immediately next it are the brainchild of the SBRC’s Natural Resources and Parks Manager Greg Griffiths, who is also heading up the CBD revitalisation projects in Wondai and Proston.
But credit for the concept goes to Division 5 Councillor Kathy Duff and representatives from Murgon’s police, ambulance, fire brigade, local schools, South Burnett CTC, the Murgon Business and Development Association, Graham House, Murgon Rotary, the Murgon PCYC and other community organisations who voted for it at a meeting held in Murgon last September.
The SBRC had allocated $150,000 to the town in its 2012-2013 Budget for urban revitalisation, and the community consultation meeting was called to discuss where the money should be spent.
The meeting at Murgon Town Hall voted overwhelmingly for the skate park to address the lack of facilities for young people in the area.
Mr Griffths said that drawing up plans for the complex had taken three months, and waiting for the Australian-designed skate park components to be shipped from the United States had taken a further four months.
But once all the pieces were in place, the skate park building had taken about a month to erect, and final landscaping and touch-ups are expected to take a further two weeks.
The new skate park is made up of “components” which can be moved into new shapes from time to time to give customers new skating experiences.
The same components are also being used in other South Burnett skate parks.
“Apart from allowing us to give kids new skating experiences by shifting things around, these components would also let us assemble a bit of a ‘mega park’ if the kids ever wanted to hold a major skateboarding competition,” Mr Griffiths said.
“We could pick up parts from other parks, bring them to Murgon and create a special track just for the event.”
The building is an open-sided metal shed.
“We thought a shed would give better all-weather protection than a shade sail and also minimise UV risks for skaters,” Mr Griffths said.
“It’s also a more durable structure, which means lower maintenance costs over time.”
Cr Duff said she was “over the moon” about the project.
At last Wednesday’s Council meeting, she reported that local children were already flocking to the new skate park after school and had given the complex an overwhelming “thumbs up”.
“I think the skate park will make a big difference to young people in Murgon and full credit goes to everyone in Murgon who picked it as the town’s project of choice,” she said.
“It’s really nice to be able to bring our residents something they want.”
The relocation of the children’s playground equipment from Rotary Park will also have a spin-off benefit for Murgon’s business community.
The SBRC will use the vacant land to create a 24-hour RV park similar to one planned for Wondai’s Village Green project to encourage more tourists to overnight in the town.
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