BELGENNY FARM WOOL CENTRE
Dr KERNOHAN (Camden) [6.24 p.m.]: Belgenny Farm is owned by New South Wales Agriculture and forms part of the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute at Camden. The institute is located on 1,600 hectares of the original 2,000-hectare Camden Park property granted to wool pioneer John Macarthur in 1805. Belgenny Farm was the management focus of the property - known by the family as "Home Farm" - and comprises the oldest group of farm buildings in Australia. It includes the cottage, built in 1820, where John Macarthur died in 1834. In May 1993 a former Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, the Hon. Ian Armstrong, established a trust with representatives from New South Wales Agriculture, the Royal Agricultural Society, the Department of School Education, Camden Council, local tourism and the Rotary Club of Camden to develop and operate Belgenny Farm as an agricultural heritage centre.
The charter of the trust, as dictated by formal deed, requires Belgenny Farm to be developed as a viable tourism and educational resource, whilst conserving and enhancing the heritage integrity of the site. For some years now the farm buildings and cottage have been open to the public on three weekends each year. Belgenny Farm incorporates an educational facility that is regularly used by the Department of Education and Training. During the early part of 1995 the members of the trust, in recognition of the pioneering role John Macarthur played in the development of the Australian merino fine wood industry at Camden Park, resolved to investigate the possibility of constructing a wool centre of national significance.
A meeting of trust members and representatives of the wool industry was convened on 14 September 1995, when it was unanimously agreed that such a centre was needed to record and display, in an accurate and entertaining way, the development of the wool industry in Australia and its impact on our economy and way of life. A working party was established under the chairmanship of Mr Bill Ferguson of the New South Wales Stud Merino Breeders Association Ltd, who also provided secretarial support. The project was extensively researched by the working party and a $25,000 feasibility study was carried out. The study strongly supported the construction of a major wool centre to facilitate the presentation, preservation and teaching, in an entertaining manner, of the past, present and future of the Australian wool industry and its significant impact on the development of Australia for Australians and visitors to our country.
The wool centre at Belgenny will be unique in Australia, as it will be established at the site where Australian merino sheep breeding commenced. It is the intention of the trust to progressively expand the Belgenny Farm Agricultural Heritage Centre to include the dairying and wine industries. Honourable members may not be aware that the first commercial vineyard in Australia was developed at Camden Park. The wool centre will be built adjacent to but on the opposite side of the access road into Belgenny Farm and Camden Park. The project will not only preserve the history of the wool industry, it will also be a major tourist attraction for New South Wales in general and the Macarthur region of south-west Sydney in particular.
The anticipated influx of 250,000 visitors each year will generate substantial business and employment opportunities in Camden and adjacent areas. The wool centre is expected to have a staff of between 80 and 100 people. It will also assist Belgenny Farm to become self-supporting. The first stage of the project will cost $13 million, and a grant of $6 million has already been made by the Federal Government from the Centenary Federation Fund. The remaining $7 million must come from the State Government, the corporate sector and the wool industry. Unfortunately, as honourable members would be aware, the finances of the latter are at an all-time low. The State Government contribution must be committed now for inclusion in next year’s budget if the wool centre is to be built. This project is above politics, and I call on both the Government and the Opposition to support it in a bipartisan manner with a minimum contribution of $4 million.
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