New footings dug

By Lachlan Ellis

The clubrooms at Darley Park have been knocked down, and Councillors have joined State MPs and local sporting club representatives to mark the beginning of the new long-awaited Darley Park Pavilion project.

Mayor Cr Tom Sullivan joined Crs Dudzik, Berry and Edwards, alongside State MPs Steve McGhie (Melton) and Michaela Settle (Buninyong) and tenant club members, to turn the first sod on Wednesday 2 March.

Council and the tenant clubs – Darley Football Netball Club (DFNC), Darley Junior Football Netball Club (DJFNC) and Darley Cricket Club – have advocated for State Government funding for years, culminating in a $2.5 million grant, awarded under the Growing Suburbs Fund (GSF).

A further $1.1 million has been contributed by Council, while the DFNC provided $481,000 for the project.

Cr Sullivan said it was wonderful to see the project finally getting off the ground.

“This project has been a long time in the making, and we’re very grateful to have received funding from the State Government’s Growing Suburbs Fund to go with contributions from Council and the Darley Football Netball Club to give the club a state-of the art facility,” he said.

“These collaborative-type ventures are the best kinds of projects; people have pride and ownership over the project itself…there’s a lot of buy-in from user groups.”

The new multi-purpose pavilion will benefit not just the tenant clubs, but the whole community, with large community rooms and meeting rooms, technology to support learning opportunities, female-friendly change facilities, and upgraded change facilities for umpires in the pipeline.

East Ward Councillor David Edwards played a major role in getting peri-urban councils, including Moorabool, eligible for funding under the GSF, during his time on the Peri Urban Group of Rural Councils (PUGRC).

He told the Moorabool News it was rewarding to see the old clubrooms going down, and was looking forward to seeing the new pavilion later this year.

“I think it’s fantastic, this is something the Peri Urban Group advocated for for ten years, and I was Chair for five of those years. Steve McGhie came along and had a bit of a vision of what it could do for our communities…he advocated strongly and finally convinced the Government,” Cr Edwards said.

To read the full story – Simply click on the following link

https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-03-08/3

in the 8 March 2022 edition
OR
pick up a paper around your town.