Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for the opportunity to speak, Madam Deputy Speaker. Thank you to the member for Mayo for his kind wishes. They are also extended to you and your family and to all those on the other side and to everyone in this House: a Merry Christmas to all. I am really pleased to have this opportunity today, in that we are in a celebratory mood around Christmas, and I hope on Monday I will be able to celebrate it even more—if we are not sitting here—in Burnie.

Burnie has had a chequered and rugged history over the last 15 years, from having its paper and pulp mill downgraded and still under threat to being labelled one of the dirtiest cities in Australia. It has invested in itself and called upon the spirit that made it in the first place a place of makers and doers. On Monday, I hope to be co-opening what is called the Makers Workshop Burnie, which is worth about $5.8 million, an exciting, innovative, creative centre near West Park, which is right on Bass Strait, overlooking the township of Burnie, which is now vibrant, fresh, invigorated and self-investing.

It is an extraordinary concept because it is trying to encapsulate the past, the present and the future of Burnie. As I said, Burnie’s history is made up of makers and doers, very practical people, people who do not require a handout so much as some help up sometimes, and they have certainly reflected that. I hope you will all get an opportunity to come and have a look at this makers workshop. It features a number of stands, as I suppose you could call them. I do not want to make it appear as if you are going into a museum; it is not that at all. It is an interactive meeting place. Some of the things that you will be able to see include, for instance, a beautiful six-metre working clock from 1913 in a magnificent glass container. The writing on the glass casing, which tells the history of Burnie, tells that history as the light comes in at different angles, so it is a moving history reflected in the clock, which was made in Burnie by a master clockmaker in 1913. It tells the history and it moves with the light which is so much part of the building itself, because it has a translucent covering on the outside so it changes shape and colour as you look at it. It is absolutely fantastic.

That is one thing, and then you move on to another area which is celebrating commerce and industry. It is actually a pen-ruling machine. As you all know, Burnie is well known for its paper making. It is a massive machine. It used to be able to make ledgers with different colours on them so you could do your figures. You probably used them to do your ABCs when you were a kid—well, you might not have, Member for Mayo, but I certainly did—and, of course, it also made ledgers for accounting. You can walk up and see this machine still working. Whilst you are doing that, and as you are moving up, you can hear and appreciate some of the stories about how paper has been used. It is fantastic.

Another magnificent display which is moving all the time is a bush violin made from myrtle and blackwood. It is very old. It was owned by a guy who used to go around the pubs in Burnie in the 1950s making music. It goes up and down inside the case. You can open up the case, crank up the music with the violin moving and at the same time see the tools that were used to fashion the magnificent timbers there.

I am running out of time, but there is also a section which celebrates global connections. It is the outside of a container, because Burnie is one of the largest container ports in Australia, successfully so. You can go in and see the history, and at the top you have all these beautiful sails reflecting our maritime history as well. Then, of course, there is a plough which is sitting on a bed of potatoes, which are so important in my area. Remember, ‘spud’ comes from Smithton, Penguin, Ulverstone and Devonport. That is celebrated there, and you can actually plough and see that. And then there is a magnificent Italian marble statue or column which celebrates the life of William Jones, who did everything in Burnie. He was Mr Burnie. He created Burnie in the 1860s and so forth. That is just part and parcel of it. And it is surrounded by a number of activity ports for kids and everyone else. Anyway, come and visit, and I certainly—

See this speech in context