Page 2201 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 31 October 1989

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Sports Hall of Fame

MR STEFANIAK: My question is to the Minister for sport. The health Minister might even make it into this, with his time of 44 minutes. Has the Government given consideration to the establishment in the ACT of an ACT sports hall of fame?

MR WHALAN: The nomination process, I understand, Mr Stefaniak, does require certain levels of achievement. The sporting heritage of any region needs to be catalogued both for historical reasons and for a proper understanding of the development of a particular sport. In the Australian context sporting events and sporting individuals have assumed the same level of importance as historic places and, indeed, national heroes. The cities of Melbourne and Sydney have established their respective sports persons halls of fame, and recently the city of Bowral undertook a major project in establishing the Sir Donald Bradman museum.

In Canberra the Australian Sports Commission has established an Olympic hall of fame. Canberra has a sporting tradition that predates Federation, with some historical data indicating that sports persons from the region trained for the first Olympics of the modern era. Regrettably, much of that history has not been properly recorded, nor would it appear that there is sporting memorabilia from that period in existence.

One sport, for example - rugby league - has been able to catalogue the history of the game since its inception in the region in the early 1920s. I have asked the ACT office of sport, recreation and racing to actively support any group wishing to undertake an historic study of its sport in the Canberra region. I have also asked the office of sport, recreation and racing to provide me with advice on the establishment of an ACT sports persons hall of fame. I envisage that the office will be able to provide suitable display areas in new office accommodation at Tuggeranong for such a venture.

I would actively encourage members of any sporting organisation that has any historical data or memorabilia relating to their sport to contact the ACT office of sport, recreation and racing. I am sure that in that category, Mr Speaker, a pair of Mr Stefaniak's shorts would be a worthy historical object.

Environmental Impact Assessments

MS FOLLETT: May I add a tiny bit to an answer that I gave to the very last part of Mr Collaery's multi-part question on environmental impact. He asked whether I had seen an environmental impact statement on any project. I have, of course, seen the social impact study which was done some


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