@Normal:Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, Lake Mountain Resort CEO Paul Squires and keynote speaker Sam Kekovich look to the future of tourism at Lake Mountain. 73871
By Mara Pattison-Sowden
MARYSVILLE celebrated a double opening on the weekend with the town’s new “all-in-one” community centre and the nearby Lake Mountain Resort Visitor Centre completed and ready for public use.
Locals believe the facilities will see the return of tourists to the region as well as new families to share the strong community spirit, while the government encouraged the potential for social and economic benefits including new businesses and investors to the town.
Australia’s Governor-General, Her Excellency Quentin Bryce, officially opened the new $9.2 million Marysville Community Centre on Saturday along with Sport and Recreation Minister Hugh Delahunty, while Deputy Premier Peter Ryan opened the visitor centre at Lake Mountain on Sunday along with more than 100 children and their families from the Kids With Cancer Foundation.
Past chair of the Marysville and Triangle Community Recovery Committee (MTCRC) Tony Thompson said the opening of the community centre was a huge milestone for the community, and allowed the community to show its appreciation to the donors.
“It’s an absolutely fantastic facility to take us into the future,” he said.
“We’re hoping this and the primary school can attract new families to the area.
“We already have 13 user groups with expressions of interest in using it.”
Mr Thompson said the facility was two and a half years in the planning, “and then a hell of a lot of work to get it up”.
“With this completed now we’ve got a couple of other infrastructure projects that should be finished and then it’s down to the residential side of things,” he said.
The Marysville Community Centre provides a publicly accessible community space to replace a number of meeting places destroyed in the 2009 fires.
It houses a multi-purpose community meeting space, community group office, indoor recreation centre, community health service and doctor’s rooms.
The upstairs multi-use community space is equipped with kitchen facilities, opening out on to a balcony with views over the oval. The downstairs level provides a flexible space for recreation activities, events and indoor sports.
Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said as well as co-locating a number of the town’s community facilities, the new centre would deliver a number of social and economic benefits to the Marysville community.
“The centre will create a central focus for community activities and services allowing for resources to be shared,” Mr Ryan said. “It will also support Marysville’s long-term growth by attracting residents and families to the area and demonstrate confidence in the future of the town to potential businesses and investors.”
The Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund contributed $5.28 million towards the centre as well as funding from state and federal governments and significant contributions from private donors.
Mr Ryan said the nearby Lake Mountain resort had attracted up to 150,000 visitors to the region before the 2009 bushfires, which is why so much work had gone into restoring and upgrading the venue.
“Much of the resort’s buildings and equipment were lost in the 2009 bushfires and the resort’s management board has done a magnificent job in getting this project off the ground and seeing it through to completion,” he said.
“The rebuilding works include an enhanced visitor building and public shelter, new gateway entry, improvements to walking tracks and lookouts and new snow-making system.”
The new summer program at Lake Mountain is expected to significantly boost visitor numbers over the holiday period, with adventure activities such as mountain quad biking, flying foxes and laser skirmish.
“The resort is now truly a year-round destination that will drive significant economic activity in Marysville and surrounding communities,” Mr Ryan said.
