Page 3383 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 14 November 2007
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It is also worth noting that the society maintains the historic Canberra to Michelago rail line—a line that sustained extensive damage during the devastating storms earlier this year. I understand that volunteers at the society are working hard to make necessary repairs. In addition to preserving the historical and heritage value of rail in Canberra, the society contributes substantially to tourism in the territory. A lot of people are keen to travel to see trains. I remember an uncle, who is no longer with us, who had a fascination with them, as did a number of his friends. A very distinct body of people in our community are keen enthusiasts when it comes to historic rail. It is significant that in the order of 10,000 people travel on historical society operated trains each year.
I have spoken to individuals involved in the historical society, and I understand that the services are utilised by school groups, Probus, other senior organisations, and even by TAFE students, amongst others. I understand that the society will take groups anywhere they want to go, as long as there is a standard gauge track for the locomotives and carriages.
The society represent the ACT on their frequent trips interstate and have in the past impressed people from other larger jurisdictions with the size of the touring parties that they put together. Clearly, the work of the Australian Railway Historical Society in the ACT is invaluable. I take this opportunity to congratulate them on all that they do. I hope to be able to get out and tour their facility in the near future. It is something I have had on the agenda for three years and it will happen. I am determined to do it because I do have a love for trains, although I do not profess to have the level of detailed understanding and knowledge of different models that I know some of those present today do.
I also want to talk about the third point made in Mr Gentleman’s motion. I must confess that I was not fully across the complexity of this issue, and I suspect it is partly because I do not believe the government is quite clear on what it is planning. Mr Gentleman’s motion is a little vague in this area; it uses terms like “possible relocation” and “should it be necessary for the society to be relocated”. I understand that the society have not been formally approached by the government to confirm a move and that at the moment they are operating on rumours that the government wants them off their current site. The current yards, as was pointed out, are 4½ hectares in size, which they need to be, in light of the amount of work that is carried out and which I outlined earlier.
In preparing my remarks today, I also consulted the Hon Tim Fischer, who, in addition to being a former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, is, as most people probably already know, a very keen rail enthusiast. He told me that, world-wide, heritage rail is being interfaced with modern urban development with quite positive results. He pointed out the example of the United Kingdom, where there are 100 separate rail heritage units, compared to 12 in Australia. These units run effectively and show that it is possible to run heritage rail sites, including working trains and museums, at a profit.
It is important to preserve our links with our past. It is important to protect places and things with heritage and historical significance. We do not have a lot of very old
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