Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Y Water Discovery Centre in Yea has taken out the prestigious New Tourism Business category in this year's RACV Victorian Tourism Awards. Opened in August 2014, the Y Water Discovery Centre is the culmination of 16 years of planning, engagement, lobbying and fundraising by dedicated committee volunteers from the Yea Wetlands Committee of Management and the Yea Wetlands Trust. It is a landmark facility for Yea and a brand-new accredited visitor information centre and environmental education centre for Victoria. Staffed and managed by a team of more than 40 local volunteers and two part-time employees, the centre incorporates interactive interpretive displays that inform visitors about water resources and the local wetland ecology. Congratulations to Y Water Centre Association chairman, David Anderson, and to Murrindindi mayor, Margaret Rae, for all their work. The Murrindindi shire was well represented at the awards, with Holmesglen at Eildon's Rural Learning Centre and Conference Retreat awarded bronze in the same category and the fantastic Alexandra Truck Ute and Rod Show announced as a finalist in the Festivals and Events category. The Y Water Discovery Centre will now go on to represent Victoria at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards be held in Melbourne in February 2016. Go Yea! Congratulations on all your wonderful work.