Page 2702 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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I, of course, have said on several occasions that it would be an ideal site for an annex to the National Museum of Australia. The museum is looking to consolidate the several repositories that it has around the ACT. There is a thought in modern museum display to display in situ, display in place, where the exhibits are actually given the background that they would have been found in in a normal sense. Many of the large agricultural artefacts that the National Museum has could be stored at Tuggeranong Homestead. They could be wheeled out at appropriate times, as could some of the vehicles that they have that come from the area and certainly traverse Australia but particularly relate to rural areas. Indeed, some of the small aviation assets that they have, some light planes, could all be stored at the Tuggeranong Homestead to make it a significant place in Canberra but also make it a significant place for the nation in that regard.
Madam Assistant Speaker Dunne, something dear to your heart of course is the Nolan Gallery. Just south of Tuggeranong is that fantastic asset that is Lanyon. Unfortunately, we seem to have a government that is dithering on Lanyon and its future and in particular what it will do with the Nolan collection. It was the express wish of Sidney Nolan that the paintings be stored and displayed in a place that gives them a context, that they be in the bush. He did not want them in a gallery in the middle of town. He did not want them in the National Gallery. He wanted them somewhere where people could relate to what he had painted in context. It is a tremendous asset that we have. We are not using it wisely and we are not displaying it. I think that is a great shame.
If we had the Nolan Gallery reopened and enlarged perhaps—certainly made safe for the preservation of the artworks and at the same time, as the 2004 report says, allowing some space to take staff that are currently housed in the homestead itself as well as provide a visitor centre and an interpretation centre—we could enhance Lanyon Homestead, which sits on the edge of the Tuggeranong Valley.
We need to come to a decision on what will happen with the Nolan Gallery. I note that the family of the artist have a say in this. I note that technically the collection may well be owned by the commonwealth. But I would hope that something is done that particularly adds to an area on the periphery of Canberra, because we are the bush capital and the ability to go there to enjoy, to relax, to visit the Lanyon Homestead itself and all its history, I think would be a tremendous asset to the people of Canberra.
If you just go beyond Lanyon a little, you get into Tharwa. We have the issues of the Tharwa bridge and we have the issues of the closure of the Tharwa school. This is a very good example of the disdain this government has had for the outer edge of Canberra—this small community. They were far away and they were seemingly out of sight and out of mind. I think the treatment that this part of Canberra’s community has had from their government is a shame. There is a whole story to be told on how not to go about a historical place refurbishment in the case of the bridge and how not to go about a school closure in regard to the local school. Those small country schools are special schools. We should have cherished them and we did not.
Again, we are now faced with the situation, after years of delay, that an even more substantial project will have to be undertaken in regard to the Tharwa bridge,
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