Published on Friday, 10 September 2021 at 2:38:00 PM
As mayor, I often hear how fantastic our facilities are, especially our two Town Halls. As a community, we are so proud of these beautiful buildings, and each town thinks it’s hall is the best! We also have a great Goldfields Arts Centre, and beautiful historic precincts, but the real gem is our people. It is the Goldfielders who makes this place so special. The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is blessed with some excellent and dedicated staff and outside work crews.
It’s easy to criticize public servants, whether they are Federal, State or Local Government employees, they are an easy target. Since I’ve been mayor I’ve only seen hardworking efficient and loyal workers both inside the administration office and in the outside work crews.
I’m amazed at the number of visitors who will stop me in the street to ask if I’m the Mayor. Their next comment is always about how clean, green and lovely our streets, parks and gardens are here. All you need to do is drive around the City, and you will see even the roundabouts alone are pretty and well manicured.
I know many staff work longer hours than for which they are paid, and this starts from the top with CEO John Walker treating his job as “seven days a week”, even when he is on leave.
Last weekend I had the privilege of opening the Royal Western Australian Historical Society’s 56th State History Conference of Affiliated Societies at the Boulder Town Hall. The fist speaker was the inimitable Tim Moore, who spoke about the room in which the conference was being held, the Boulder Town Hall, and the Goatcher Curtain which was the stunning backdrop for it all.
As usual, Tim was utterly fascinating, and the 150 delegates were spellbound with his knowledge and passion. People like Tim are treasures in our society, and it’s great having wonderful people like him, along with Tim Cudini and Joanne Wilson, who, alongside the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society, do a wonderful job recording, preserving and sharing our rich and colourful history.
The City’s History and Heritage team, based in the Boulder Town Hall, not only run fascinating historical tours of both Town Halls, but also oversee the Goldfields War Museum collection, our local history archives, and curate the City’s extensive historic collections.
One of the things I raised when opening the conference is making the Boulder Town Hall an exhibition space, which not only complements the History and Heritage teams efforts, but will also form one of the bookends of a revitalised Boulder Tourism Precinct, with the other being Loopline Park, and I look forward to seeing that project come to fruition in the near future.
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