NSW Government announces $7.2 million to transform the Australian Museum

The Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Troy Grant MP today announced $7.2 million for the transformation of the Australian Museum.

The Australian Museum, the nation’s oldest and one of the most important scientific research, educational and cultural institutions, will receive $4.7 million over two years to complete a Master Plan to develop the current museum site. The New Australian Museum Master Plan will include new spaces dedicated to education and learning, a large temporary exhibition space to host international blockbuster exhibitions as well as a dedicated gallery to display the Museum’s internationally significant Pacific collection.

A further $2.5 million has also been granted to implement Stage 1 of the New Australian Museum which will significantly improve the visitor experience and accessibility. The planned works in Stage 1 include a new entrance on William Street, a new gallery space highlighting biodiversity, as well as a new rooftop brasserie with spectacular views over the city to the harbour.

Mr Grant said, “The NSW State Government recognises the importance of the Australian Museum to the city, the state and the nation and is funding these important works and future planning to ensure the Australian Museum can deliver a world-class visitor experience to the people of NSW and to interstate and international tourists.”

Kim McKay AO, CEO and Director of the Australian Museum said, “We are excited to receive this funding from the NSW Government which will allow us to immediately begin transforming the museum. The visitor experience will be markedly improved by moving the main entrance to William Street. Our permanent gallery space will be added to for the first time in over 30 years with the creation of 632 m2 of exhibition space on biodiversity featuring more than 400 animals.

“This is our first step in a visionary long-term Master Plan for the entire Australian Museum site. The planning funds will allow us to develop detailed plans over the next two years. I’m also delighted we can make immediate changes to transform the visitor experience – with a new gallery, new entrance, improved visitor circulation and new rooftop brasserie,” Ms McKay said.

Source: http://australianmuseum.net.au/media/Museum-transformation

Ipswich Cup Attracts Interstate and International Starters

IT is Ipswich's turn in the spotlight of the Queensland Racing Winter Carnival as the time-honoured Ipswich Cup is contested on Saturday.

The meeting, which has long held a reputation as much more than a race meeting, will again attract thousands of patrons, including 12,000 'pre-sold' revellers joining in the celebration.

The last-minute scramble for in-field marquee tickets is underway as the grandstand side marquees and individual in-field marquees have been sold out for some time.

But it is expected that in-field Corona marquee tickets will be sold until Saturday.

A healthy 160 nominations were received for the program and these include a good number of interstate and international gallopers.

Nominations received for the Ipswich Cup alone feature runners from Victoria in Peter Moody's Full of Spirit, Pat Carey's Angola, David Brideoak and David Feek's High Aims, and Michael Moroney's Garud.

Sydneysider Gerald Ryan has nominated Ironstein, there is a South Australian in John Hyam's Stella Lante, and there are two New Zealanders in Toowoomba Cup winner Military Move, and last year's unlucky Ipswich Cup second placegetter High Kin who is trained by Stewart McKinnon.

Bryan Guy won the Ipswich Cup last year with Anagold and this year he has Dienekes and Noisy Ocean nominated for the big race.

Top Queensland trainer Robert Heathcote has nominated Sam's Town and Volkhere and Group 1-winning Tony Gollan is targeting the Cup with Brave Ali.

Top Sydney trainers Chris Waller with Masthead and Joseph Pride with Sir Berus spearhead the nominations for the Eyeliner Stakes with a strong field looking to collect Ipswich's famous sprint race.

Saturday spoils shared

AT Eagle Farm last Saturday, there were three Group 1 races and the spoils were shared across the east coast of Australia.

Queensland's biggest race, the Stradbroke Handicap, carried $1 million for the winner.

This prizemoney was kept in the Sunshine State as the Natalie McCall-trained River Lad from the Sunshine Coast prevailed over fellow Queenslander Temple of Boom and exciting Sydney three- year-old filly Srikandi.

In the JJ Atkins for two-year- olds, the Gai Waterhouse-trained Almalad just got home over a fellow Sydneysider in the Chris Waller-trained Brazen Beau.

Brazen Beau headed the winner at the 200 metre mark, with Tony Gollan's Queensland-trained Looks Like the Cat in third.

The quinella of the Queensland Derby went to Victoria as the Henry Dwyer-trained Sonntag defeated Troy Corsten's Pinstripe Lad. Sydneysider Vilanova gave Chris Waller another Group 1 placegetter by running third.

Outcry over protest result

RACING Queensland and the Ipswich Turf Club received an unusual number of complaints from the public in relation to a protest result last Wednesday at Ipswich.

The race was the seventh of the day and across the line, Bryan Guy-trained and Janette Johnson-ridden Grapevine had a winning margin of a nose over the Gillian Heinrich-trained and Tim Bell-ridden Set Afire.

There was clear interference in the home straight.

While it may have appeared initially on television replays that this was caused by the winner laying out, RQ stewards found that the second horse had caused the winner to lay out after bumping its hind quarter, causing the winner to twist outwards.

Guy was happy with the result as it gave him a double for the day after Magic Cassius' win earlier in the day.

Gillian Heinrich had to be content with an earlier win by Walkin' Tall. That helped to push both she, on the trainer's premiership, and Tim Bell, on the jockey's premiership, each three wins clear with a month and a half of the season remaining.

Farewell Wayne Wilson

THE condolences of all committee, staff and members at the Ipswich Turf Club go out to the family of the great man, and great race caller Wayne Wilson.

Wayne was a terrific supporter of the ITC and of all industry stakeholders.

He will be sorely missed.

Swich On revive Calcutta

AS part of the festivities in the week leading up to Ipswich Cup Day, local charitable association Swich On is conducting a calcutta night.

This is on Thursday night at the North Ipswich Reserve.

It has been a decade or two since a calcutta night was held on the Ipswich Cup and all credit to the local association for reigniting this entertaining and potentially profitable evening.

The pool is promising to be around $10,000, giving the lucky buyer of the Ipswich Cup winner a handsome dividend.

The guest speakers include Group 1-winning trainer Tony Gollan and scallywag from the south Allan "Robbo" Robinson, who is famed for Footy Show appearances as well as an impressive set of statistics from his riding career.

Tickets may be booked at SwichOn.com.au.

Jason Derulo Tatoos Tour Sydney

Australian songstress RICKI-LEE is thrilled to be joining superstar JASON DERULO when he returns down under for his ‘Tattoos’ national tour kicking off in less than two weeks time.

Talented pop star JASON DERULO, makes his triumphant return to Australia for a national tour starting April and ending in May 2014. Derulo will perform at the QANTAS Credit Union Arena on May 5.

‘Tattoos’, the album celebrates one of pop’s thrilling comeback stories. ‘Tattoos’ is lead by the double-platinum smash ‘The Other Side’, whose official video has already notched more than 28 million YouTube views, and current top five hit ‘Talk Dirty’ which debuted at #1 on the ARIA singles chart and #2 on the Australian Airplay chart.

Armed with numerous multi-platinum hits, incredible dance moves and great vocal ability, Jason wowed audiences during his 2009 sold-out Australian tour and was set to conquer again with his Future History World Tour in 2012, before a serious accident during tour rehearsals lead to the cancellation of the tour.

Despite his forced hiatus during 2012, the 2011 Pop Songwriter of the Year has amassed impressive sales of more than 15 million tracks in the US and 25 million worldwide, including massive top 10 hits: ‘Whatcha Say’, ‘In My Head’ and ‘Ridin’ Solo’ from his ARIA #4 self-titled debut album plus ‘Don’t Wanna Go Home’, ‘It Girl’, ‘Breathing’ and ‘Fight for You’ from the top 10 album ‘Future History’.

Jason Derulo is back at the top of his game, with an incredible new album, new hit singles and an insatiable desire to thrill his fans with a memorable live show.  He is excited and looking forward to an unbelievable touring experience with his great Australian fans.

DATES/TIME

Mon 05 May 2014

Ticketed Start 7:30pm
Support Act: 7:30pm-7:45pm Fresh
Interval: 7:45pm-7:55pm
Support Act: 7:55pm-8:35pm Ricki Lee & Titanium
Interval: 8:35pm-9:05pm  
Main Act: 9:05pm-10:20pm JASON DERULO
Finish: 10:20pm

Find out more on the Qantas Credit Union Arena Official Website

Call for airport link bus from Shire

SUTHERLAND Shire Council will ask the state government to provide a direct bus link from the shire to Sydney Airport’s domestic and international terminals.

Councillor Kevin Schreiber made the call, which was supported by fellow councillors at a December council meeting.

Cr Schreiber said the government should consider the shire-airport bus link as a high priority so Sutherland Shire travellers and residents who work at the airport have better access.

Fairfax Media reported in November that young workers at Sydney Airport were cutting across dangerous roads to walk to the next suburb to avoid paying the high cost of an airport train ticket home.

The report said the fee levied by the private rail operator inflates a ticket to Central Station from $3.60 to $15.90 and is costing airport staff an extra $1000 a year to commute to work, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.

The rail operator, Airport Link, claims air travellers are wealthy and ''not price sensitive''. But 28,000 airport workers, who mostly live in the local area, cannot afford what is often a 400 per cent mark-up on train travel, Sydney Airport Corporation says.

The City of Sydney, the Sydney Business Chamber, Botany Bay council and the airport corporation are arguing that the station access fee should be dropped because it distorts transport choices and is impacting on Sydney's economy by driving tens of thousands of airport passengers and staff on to heavily congested roads each day.

Airport Link has projected that dropping the fee would increase passengers on the rail line by 1.28 million to 2.56 million a year and remove 1 million car journeys from surrounding roads.
But the catch for the NSW government is that it would forgo a half share of $65 million in annual revenue if the fee is dropped, or it would need to spend an estimated $276 million to buy out Airport Link.

Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said: ''It is not current policy to remove the station access fee. Revenue from the station access fee is included in the budget forward estimates.''

The private rail was opened in 2000 for the Olympics and the company signed a contract with the Labor government that also prohibits more than one public bus route to the airport. The result is that only 17 per cent of airport passengers use public transport.

The Sydney Business Chamber's executive director, Patricia Forsythe, wants the train fee dropped but she said if the NSW government was unwilling to give up the revenue, then at least airport employees should be exempted.

DHL employs 210 staff at three sites around the airport, half aged under 25. The company is concerned about the impact on employee safety.

Many lower-paid data entry and warehouse staff do not have cars and are walking to Mascot station rather than using the airport station, which is two minutes away.

Female staff are refusing to accept evening or afternoon shifts because they are concerned about walking at night. DHL told the inquiry the prohibitive cost of public transport at Sydney Airport was a ''significant challenge'' to attracting and keeping staff.

The upper house inquiry will report in February.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/train-ticket-markup-puts-sydney-airport-workers-in-danger-20131123-2y2lx.html#ixzz2qLl4TAtt

SUNfest Encourages Youngsters to Try New Activities

SUNFEST is getting kids off the couch and encouraging them to be active with lots of sports available to try.

Last week kids at SUNfest got a chance to try out different sports including squash, abseiling, indoor rock climbing and skateboarding.

Week two of SUNfest is shaping up to be very active.

On Monday youths around the region tried their hands at water sports including: surfing, stand-up paddle boarding and kayaking in Seventeen Seventy.

Head to the hockey grounds for Hook in2 hockey, a program teaching kids the basic skills of hockey to get them involved in Gladstone's hockey scene.

If hockey isn't for you then head next door to the Gladstone tennis/squash complex to give tennis a go.

Or head to the Awoonga headwaters adventure day to learn more about the environment while swimming, walking and canoeing.

WHAT'S ON

TODAY

• PCYC master chef day.
• Summer Reading Club Craft Gladstone City Library. Time: 9.30am.
• SUNfest photography workshop at Canoe Point. Time: 9am-noon. Cost: $15.
• SUNfest hot shoes/flash mob dancin' in the street at St Stephens Lutheran College, Time: today and tomorrow 9am-3pm. Cost: $30.
• SUNfest Lil' Kids klay kreetures clay workshop at Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum. Time: 10am-noon. Cost: $10.
• SUNfest Lil' Kids wirework wildlife at Tondoon Botanic Gardens and Calliope Community Centre. Time: 10.30am-12.30pm (Gladstone), 2-4pm (Calliope).

TOMORROW

• PCYC Rockhampton Zoo excursion. Cost: $12 addition to standard day fee.
• Scrapbook Fantasies, 2pm cardmaking and 3.30pm scrapbooking.
• SUNfest Hook in2 Hockey, at Rigby Park. Time: 9am-noon. Cost: $6 (booked ticket).
• SUNfest recycled lanterns at PCYC. Time: tomorrow and Thursday 10am-3pm. Cost: $20 for both days.
• SUNfest Awoonga headwaters adventure day. Meet up at Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum. Time: 8am-5pm. Cost: $35 (booked ticket).
• Summer Reading Club Craft, Calliope and Agnes Water libraries 9.30am.

Sydney Festival Off to a Flying Start

SYDNEY'S FESTIVAL VILLAGE BIGGER THAN EVER

Sydney Festival Village turns Hyde Park into a stage, with live acts into the night and a Stonehenge bouncy castle for kids.

It takes a village to raise a child, and at the Sydney Festival's village in Hyde Park that proverb has been taken quite literally.

Hundreds of children and quite a few adults wasted no time leaping on Sacrilege, the life-size bouncy castle replica of Stonehenge.

Festival director Lieven Bertels said artists Jeff Koons and Carsten Holler explored playfulness in their art but ''nobody took it to heart as much as Jeremy Deller with this one''.

A Turner Prize-winning artist, Deller invites people to jump, run and cartwheel on his artwork, and his depiction of one of Britain's ancient monuments is far from the reverential treatment it usually suffers.

''We still don't know what it was,'' Bertels said. ''It's a place of worship most likely but he does this and gives it the title of Sacrilege.''

Bertels said the squishy Stonehenge was an ideal symbol of the festival: ''We do very serious stuff and we are also perhaps the most playful of the Australian festivals.''

Sacrilege is part of the greatly expanded Festival Village, which has tripled in size with two circus tents - the Spiegeltent and Circus Ronaldo tent - providing the stage for contemporary music acts such as Amanda Palmer and the circus and cabaret shows Limbo and Scotch & Soda.

The latter are strictly adults only, especially if contortionist Philipp Tigris's jaw-dropping feats of flexibility are any guide as demonstrated to passers-by in Hyde Park on Wednesday.

''That's what I can do with an easy warm-up,'' said Tigris, who performs in Limbo. ''I only had a couple of minutes to warm up so this is the basic stuff.''

Tigris said he took up contortionism aged seven, much to his parent's displeasure. ''My family are doctors. My mum is a physiotherapist but maybe that's why I did it,'' he said.

''When mum and dad say don't do that, of course you do it.''

Jam-packed Week of Holiday Fun as SUNfest Gets Underway

SUNfest got started yesterday with a variety of activities for youngsters around the region. 

Children at Seventeen Seventy battled it out with Lazer Skirmish and Gladstone kids showed their creative side at the SUNfest Lil' Kids Creative Tangle Doodle Art workshop, where they learned how to draw things using their hands as a pattern. 

The Young Dancers Company began their five-day dance workshop, allowing aspiring dancers to try hip-hop, jazz, ballet, tap and contemporary dance styles. 

On Tuesday the PCYC is venturing to the Botanic Gardens for an Amazing Race event and Bunnings is holding a mask-making workshop. 

The Gladstone Regional Libraries' Summer Reading Club craft sessions start on Tuesday. Children can make disguises, finger-print art and crack the mystery parcels. 

The Summer Reading Club is also a competition; to win a prize kids need to have read 10 or more books and whoever reads the most will win a bike. 

SUNfest heats up later this week with more Laser Skirmish, claymation music videos, photography, drama and jewellery-making workshops. 

SUNFEST PROGRAM 

TUESDAY 

Laser Skirmish at Canoe Point. Time: 12.30-3.30pm and 4-6.30pm. 

War-Gaming and Introduction to Tabletop Gaming at Calliope Community Centre. Time: 1-4pm. 

Paintball Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum. Time: 8.30am-2.30pm. 

Lil' Kids Papier Mache Fish workshop at Mt Larcom Room and Boyne Tannum. 

WEDNESDAY 

Laser Skirmish at Tondoon Botanic Gardens. Time: 12.30-3.30pm and 4-6.30pm. 

Photography workshop at Tondoon Botanic Gardens. Time: 9amnoon. 

Claymation Music Videos at Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum. Time: January 8-9, 10am-3pm. 

Lil' Kids Funky Paper Bead Jewellery workshop at PCYC. Time: 9am-noon. 

Lil' Kids So You Think You Can Act at Boyne Tannum Community Centre. Time: January 8-9, 9am-2pm. 

THURSDAY 

War-Gaming and Introduction to Tabletop Gaming at Boyne Tannum Community Centre and Gladstone City Library. Time: 1-4pm. 

Squash at Gladstone Tennis/Squash Complex. Time: 3-5pm. 

Melted Madness crayon art workshop at Boyne Tannum Community Centre. Time: 13pm. 

Overnight Escape to Awoonga Dam and Harmony Farm Activity excursion. Time: 8am. 

Lil' Kids Paper Mache Fish Workshop at Gladstone Regional Art Gallery. Time: 9.30am-12.30pm. 

Lil' Kids Indoor Rock Climbing, Abseiling and Sportwall at Tannum Fitness Centre. Time: 9am-1pm. 

FRIDAY 

Skateboard Art workshop at Police Citizens Youth Club Time: 1-4pm 

Mini Me Puppets Bunkaru style puppet workshop at Gladstone Regional Art Gallery & Museum Time: 10am-noon 

Party On at the Pool/Zorb Balls at the Gladstone Aquatic Centre Time: 4-8pm 

Lil' Kids Funky Paper Bead Jewellery Workshop for 10-11 year olds at Boyne Tannum Community Centre Time: 9am-noon 

Lil' Kids Skateboard Art Workshop for 10-11 year olds at Police Citizen Youth Club Time: 9am-noon 

Lil' Kids The Amazing Art Race for 10-11 year olds at Canoe Point Time: 1.30-3.30pm 

Lil' Kids Recycled Wearable Art for 10-11 year olds at Tondoon Botanic Gardens Time: 9-11am