Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Recently I had the privilege of visiting a small community in my electorate of Wilmot. A historical shed, which had been down by the Forth Falls and used as a picnic shelter and change room for the swimming hole, has been revived. It was a hayshed when Lake Barrington was formed and the falls went under the lake. This shed has now become part of the Wilmot Museum.

Its interest is in the names of the children who had carved into the back of the shed 50, 60 and 70 years ago. Many of those people were able to attend the opening of this shed and it was great for them to go through the names of people that they had forgotten, had swum with and had played with at the old waterhole. It was a very pleasant thing to be a part of. The shed had been taken away and used as a hayshed on a farm and was brought back and put together by volunteer labour in this wonderful community of Wilmot. There was a bit of a cost to using a carpenter to get it back up so they auctioned a painting of the Forth Falls which hung in the museum. Fortunately the purchaser of that painting donated it back to the museum and it was hung back where it came from.

Also in this local area, the Kentish municipality, there was a wonderful occasion for the local school due to the BER federal stimulus money. They were able to shift the infants' school back onto the full campus of the high and primary schools. That left the old infants' school available for the state government to give to the municipality to turn it into a health centre, with the federal government donating $1.7 million to allow this health centre to be built. The council was very bold and took on the leadership role. Just recently I was there when we opened the first stage of this, which is to have the local GP, Dr Kissalev, there with his staff and allied health workers. This health centre is a wonderful opportunity to get consulting rooms, a dental clinic, X-ray facilities, an allied health treatment room for the elderly, a disabled day service centre, community health and education and of course a little gym for the older people of the community. This is a wonderful thing to have occurred. I look forward to getting the rest of it up and running very shortly.

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