{"id":262364,"date":"2020-06-30T19:19:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T09:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=262364"},"modified":"2023-07-26T19:29:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T09:29:37","slug":"cultural-centre-timeline-unveiled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2020\/06\/30\/cultural-centre-timeline-unveiled\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultural Centre Timeline Unveiled"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien presented Creative Country Association president Richard O’Neill OAM with a certificate to commemorate the Federal Government funding … watching on are CCA secretary Kathy Dora, treasurer Glenda Geraghty with husband Leo, South Burnett Mayor Brett Otto and local councillor Kathy Duff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The next project? Glenda Geraghty and Richard O’Neill with a model of the fossil artwork planned for the Murgon water tower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 30, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

Work on Murgon’s new $1.59 million Cultural Centre is planned to start within the next three months.<\/p>\n

And the project – which will house an art gallery and fossil museum – is expected to be completed within 18 months.<\/p>\n

Member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien joined members of the not-for-profit\u00a0association creating the project on site in Macalister Street, Murgon, on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Creative Country Association (CCA) was formed fairly recently but the dream of a Murgon cultural centre dates back almost two decades.<\/p>\n

The project is being funded entirely under Round 4 of the Federal Government’s Building Better Regions Fund (BBRF) program.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr O’Brien announced the final figure –\u00a0$1,596,514 – during his visit.<\/p>\n

CCA president Richard O’Neill OAM thanked Mr O’Brien for his help in advocating on behalf of the association.<\/p>\n

Mr O’Brien said the project had “stood on its own merits” and was certainly worthy of being funded.<\/p>\n

“It will be a confidence boost for Murgon. I am super excited about it. It is just what Murgon needs,” he said.<\/p>\n

South Burnett Mayor Brett Otto also thanked Mr O’Brien for his support.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said Murgon was the “northern gateway” to the South Burnett and the stimulus this project would provide would flow through the whole region.<\/p>\n

“It will add a add a significant contribution to the Murgon economy and to the South Burnett economy,” Mayor Otto said.<\/p>\n

“It will bring more tourists to our region.”<\/p>\n

Mr O’Brien said the Cultural Centre would be a real drawcard.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis project will create immediate benefit with jobs during the planning and construction phase,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA project of this scale will transform Murgon. (It) is a bold, innovative project that will capitalise on Murgon\u2019s position as a significant Australian paleontological site, and will provide ongoing tourism and economic benefit for the community and the wider South Burnett region.”<\/p>\n

Local councillor Kathy Duff highlighted the importance of the long-awaited art gallery.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“It’s the best project we’ve had in Murgon in the whole 16 years since I’ve been elected,” Cr Duff said.<\/p>\n

She said the lack of an art gallery had been a “huge gap” in Murgon and the project\u00a0would provide an opportunity to showcase local Indigenous art.<\/p>\n

“It’s going to enhance Murgon, enhance tourism. It’s really boosted the morale of the community,” she said.<\/p>\n

CCA treasurer Glenda Geraghty said the Cultural Centre would not only be aimed at tourists.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I want the fossil museum to become an educational thing to attract students to come here. Hopefully, someone will go on to become a paleontologist!” she said.<\/p>\n

Glenda is a bit of an amateur paleontologist herself … she has accompanied visiting scientists to dig sites in the Murgon area and has recovered a crocodile tooth as well as a bird bone which is now being studied in Sydney.<\/p>\n

The Murgon area has remarkable fossil deposits, including some of the world’s oldest songbirds and the oldest marsupial remains in Australia.<\/p>\n

It is the only site in Australia with a range of vertebrate fossils dating from the early Paleocene 55 million years ago, a crucial time in mammalian evolution.<\/p>\n

Dig sites are top secret to deter looters so many South Burnett people have no idea about the incredible finds that have been made in the region – something the fossil museum hopes to rectify.<\/p>\n

The garden courtyard will be the first part of the project to be developed, as it is in the centre of the complex.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CCA has formed sub-committees to develop the different sections: art, fossils and mental health through art.<\/p>\n

Workshops would be held at the complex and the area would be available for hire to the community.<\/p>\n

It will also be able to host movie evenings and travelling art exhibitions.<\/p>\n

Murgon Business and Development Association (MBDA) president Leo Geraghty said the community had been developing the project for 15 or 16 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But he’s now got another project in his sights …<\/p>\n

The MBDA is working on getting approval for fossil-related artwork to be added to the concrete water tower on the western approach to Murgon.<\/p>\n

Plans to paint the water tower were first floated in February last year.<\/p>\n

However, the MBDA had since adopted a second design, prepared by a group of local artists, which will have a fossil theme to link with the Cultural Centre.<\/p>\n

The group is now seeking approval from the South Burnett Regional Council before looking for funding to make this dream a reality, too.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Cultural Centre will house an art gallery, fossil museum, workshop area, gift shop, kitchen and offices surrounding an open-air “prehistoric garden”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n