HISTORY
The story of a small town with a big idea
- 1999 Tasman District Council invites the community to share their vision for the future of Murchison. At the top of the list is a sporting and community centre. A committee is formed to work through plans, issues and ideas.
- 2002 The committee becomes incorporated. It holds public meetings, meets with Tasman District Council, collects ideas, opinions and spends hours around the committee meeting table trying to make sense of it all.
- 2006 The Tasman District Council gives their approval for the concept as long as the community raise 20% of the budget cost. In real money terms this small community is looking at a fundraising a target of more than $600,000!
- 2006-2008 Let the fundraising begin! The fundraising events are many and varied, ranging from bbqs to moto-x competitions, 4WD trips, a general goods auction, a wine tasting evening, catering for special occasions, Variety Shows, market days and raffles. One of the fundraising highlights is an evening with Silver Fern and National Beach Volleyball rep Anna Scarlett. This is a relentless and driven community that never loses sight of their goal. People just keep on giving and giving and giving for a sustained period of time.
- 10 September 2007 The official ‘turning of the first sod’, by Tasman Mayor John Hurley. Construction officially begins.
- 2007-2008 The community working bees during the construction of the Centre and also local people offering in-kind goods and services for the Centre are major fundraisers. These alone provide nearly $200,000. One family – parents and their two sons, donates over $65,000 of timber for flooring. One local farmer gives four days of his time, a tractor and a post driver to drive piles for the gym floor. The little jobs like supplying and putting up a site fence, landscaping, plantings and in the final days of construction, cleaning the building top to toe ready for Opening Day are all done by volunteers; from young kids to retired people, the well-off to the not so well off, the professionals to the unemployed. But everyone is steadily working towards the same goal.
And the hard work has truly paid off. Instead of raising the initial goal of $600,000, the community and committee raised nearly $1,000,000 — resulting in a $3.5 million sport and community centre to be proud of. This impressive achievement amounts to about $900 contributed by every man, woman, and child in the Murchison district — an outstanding effort by all!
- 27 September 2008 The Murchison Sport, Recreation and Cultural Centre is officially opened by Tasman Mayor Richard Kempthorne and Tasman-West Coast MP the Honourable Damien O’Connor.
The Murchison community has turned its dream into reality with a true “roll up your sleeves and get on with it” attitude. The Centre stands as a testament to the determination and spirit of this remarkable small community.
Can do, have done, and proud!
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the following businesses for their generous support in the establishment of the Murchison Sport, Recreation & Cultural Centre.
Each of these businesses holds internal naming rights as outlined below:
- Sports Hall – The Pettigrew & Topping Family
- Foyer – The Dodge Family
- Lions Den – Murchison Lions Club
- Function Room – Kinzett Farming Ltd
- Kitchen – Trees & Bees Ltd
- First Aid Room – Murchison Four Square
- Bar –
The Buller River Mural
The Centre features a mural along one wall that beautifully depicts some of Murchison’s quintessential elements — the Buller River, large Brown Trout, rocks, kayaking and white-water rafting.
This artistic feature honours the many individuals, families, businesses, and organisations whose contributions made the building of this wonderful facility possible.