Management

Iconic quarry touted as tourist attraction

Eurobodalla Shire Council is working with a steering committee of community members and councillors to develop a draft plan for a council reserve, Quarry Park, which would be located across from the Moruya Quarry in New South Wales.
According to the NSW Department of Environment and Heritage, Moruya Quarry is of great historical significance due to its role in the construction of a number of well-known state structures, the most famous being the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The quarry?s granite was selected for use in the piers and pylons for the bridge, as well as in the Cenotaph World War I monument in Martin Place, Sydney and the Captain Cook statue in Hyde Park.
?The steering committee?s aim is to enhance the park to tell the story of the quarry,? Councillor Gabi Harding, chair of the steering committee, told Quarry. ?Among other things, we would like to include signage that will link this story to the others being told around Moruya by the local district historical society and the quarry workers? commemoration at Apex Park.?
Harding said that Quarry Park could be a major drawcard for visitors. ?It could be one of Eurobodalla?s significant attractions.?
Campaign for tourism status
According to the Bay Post, committee member Christine Adams has taken the idea one step further and is independently appealing directly to NSW Crown Lands, which owns the Moruya Quarry, to tidy up the reportedly ?derelict? site and turn it into a historic tourist attraction.
?People think [the site] is a dump, and don?t know the quarry is there,? she said. ?Nothing is really being done.?
Adams ? whose great-grandfather John Gilmore reportedly managed the Moruya Quarry from 1924 to 1931 ? said she would like to see the NSW or Federal Governments contribute funding to the refurbishment of the area, starting with the council?s Quarry Park project.
?They [the government] need to improve this area so it can be the attraction it deserves to be,? Adams said. ?There are lots of worthwhile projects but this has been neglected for far too long.?
However, a NSW Crown Lands spokesperson told Quarry that it had no plans for tourist development of the quarry site. ?It is still a productive quarry,? the spokesperson said. ?The quarry is not operational on a daily basis but rock is excavated from time to time on an as needs basis. This is why Crown Lands does not think it is suitable for tourism but the division is willing to listen to council’s proposals.?
Harding said the Quarry Park plan is expected to go to council within the next six months so it can be endorsed for public exhibition, although the committee has yet to find funding for the proposal, which would be necessary to progress the plan further.
Sources: Eurobodalla Shire Council, NSW Crown Lands, Bay Post, NSW Environment & Heritage

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