*Pic: Image from Australian Cruise Association HERE
Macquarie Point is certainly large enough for a dream of amazement, but what should that be?
In a Talking Point article in The Mercury, Ron Banks raises a few interesting points about the fate and future of Hobart’s most significant undeveloped site. [1]
Where is the main sporting and events venue in or near Tasmania’s capital city?
Macquarie Point could be the location of the main sporting and events stadium in Tasmania, with a design that puts our island on the World map.
Is it too late to make a Federal election bid for funding?
It’s never too late when votes are wanted?
When International cricket moved to Bellerive, the long-term needs were clumsily considered.
For years I and others attempted to get support for a museum for Bellerive’s marvellous history, but we could not get critical level support.
The Old Police Station in Cambidge Road was even available for history, but Clarence Aldermen and Tasmanian Politicians must have been too stunned by cricket balls to deal with the details of local history.
It may have been the millions promised by John Howard in a Federal election one year that stood like a solid brick wall in our way.
Money talks.
Critical support and money went to International Cricket to pump up the old and tiny Bellerive Oval into a monster, as if a fiscal pump would overcome the lack of parking and traffic congestion created by any event of significance held.
There is a museum of cricket in the Bellerive Oval, whatever the place is called now, but where is the museum for Bellerive’s history?
Seeing efforts to fit the foot of the ugly sister into Bellerive, we fought like crazy against upgrades of the Bellerive Oval in the 1990s, but our Cinderella town lost, along with the history and heritage of the place.
Cricket won like an invading army, with their own museum included and Bellerive’s history and heritage suffered.
Now Bellerive is home to a huge pumpkin, which simply refuses to disappear at midnight.
Attempts in recent years to expand onto the children park by the beach and maybe even get a jetty for ferries, to overcome the parking problem, were successfully opposed by Bellerive residents, who must live beneath the monster and have their nights filled with its dazzling light towers.
If the politicians can wake up and see the light, maybe there is a better way.
Why not create a stadium at Macquarie Point that can be used for International Cricket matches, with a greater hope of attracting matches, because parking can be located close to the ground, the site accessed by a ferry and cruise ships, and a train run right into the new stadium, to bring patrons from across Tasmania to Hobart.
Let’s not be stubborn about this, because this could also be the very best of venues for AFL games and other sports, along with concerts and major events and include a museum, cafes, restaurants, shops, craft and art galleries.
There are times when a dream must be shared and Macquarie Point could become the home of excellence for many dreams, putting Tasmania on the global map with a sporting and events venue that works better than anywhere else on the planet.
There would also be an element of fun and culture about this site, with a design to rival the Sydney Opera House, if we dare demand a design that good.
Lights at Macquarie Point will dance in the ever changing moods of the River at night.
And maybe Bellerive would finally get a proper museum for the history of the ferry town.
REFERENCE ~
[1] ‘Talking Point: Let’s think big on prime site’
Ron Banks, 13 June 2016, The Mercury
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/talking-point-lets-think-big-on-prime-site/news-story/ff0c6ff76b670eb95d970810f6f2012f#load-story-comments
