Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last month I was lucky to attend a significant cultural event in my electorate that deserves the attention of the House. Clunes’ Back to Booktown is an event in its second year where the town of Clunes becomes a hub for booksellers and writers from all over Australia. The event attracted some 10,000-plus visitors to the very small township of Clunes. It really was a fantastic event and well worth attending.

Great Australian writers such as John Marsden, Melissa Lucaschenko, Anthony Lawrence, Alexis Wright and Nigel Krauth all made appearances at the event. There were over 50 booksellers in the town over the weekend. The event included all the delights that Clunes has to offer, including fantastic food and wine, beautiful architecture and a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. I particularly want to congratulate the new owners of the Clunes Hotel, who have done an amazing job renovating a historic building in the town. I wish them very well in their new venture. Clunes is one of Victoria’s oldest and most intact gold rush towns, with many beautiful, old, original buildings giving it great character.

I greatly enjoyed my time at the event. I hope that the initiative continues for yet another year, having been such an overwhelming success. The Clunes Tourism and Development Association, Hepburn Shire Council and the Victorian government all deserve great credit for providing the funding and organising the event, as do the people of Clunes. They deserve congratulations for the work that they did in making the event such a large success and in enabling many of the smaller community organisations within the township to raise much needed funds during a period of two days, as opposed to having to do that over the course of a year.

I would also like to take the opportunity to recognise the achievements of St Brendan’s Primary School in Dunnstown, which participated with a number of other schools around the country in a world record attempt for the Jump Rope for Heart program, coordinated by the National Heart Foundation. The attempt was coordinated around Australia in an effort to promote exercise and healthy living. At St Brendan’s, 34 children and parents participated in the event, and they were just superb. The kids of St Brendan’s held up their part of the bargain by skipping continuously for three minutes—something I could not do at the moment—along with 50,000 other kids across the country.

It was a pleasure to be an official witness at such a large and worthy event, and I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate St Brendan’s on their great efforts last Friday. Not only were they part of a successful world record team, an honour I and perhaps everyone else in this place cannot claim; they helped to get the message well and truly out there about the importance of exercise and good health habits for children right the way across the country. Congratulations, St Brendan’s, for your participation in the world record attempt for the Jump Rope for Heart program.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 193, the time for members’ statements has concluded.