At the Council’s Tuesday meeting, it was recommended that a Council sub-committee be formed from 1 July to prepare for the 150th Junee Railway Anniversary in 2028.
This sub-committee, it was recommended, should include Councillors as well as community stakeholder members.
It was also recommended that Council respond to the Regional Heritage Transport Association, thanking them for their initiative in bringing the matter to Council’s attention.
Council received a call and follow-up letter from the Regional Heritage Transport Association (RHTA) enquiring whether Council would like to be involved in hosting or contributing towards celebrating this anniversary.
Junee celebrated its Railway Century in 1978 with some fanfare, featuring an extensive program of celebrations with linked community and sporting events. The celebration lasted 10 days.
The RHTA have suggested celebrating the 150th Anniversary to coincide with the Easter weekend, 14 – 17 April 2028. It was also suggested that a range of activities be included in the celebration in homage to the 1978 event.
Council said they are involved in the 150th railway anniversary, which is discretionary.
Council suggested the following options:
Council controls and manages the Railway anniversary event. This would provide a level of direct control over proceedings. It would require substantial internal resources, with Council working directly with local stakeholders individually.
A Council sub-committee be formed with a mix of Councillors and key community stakeholders who would be authorised to make decisions, prepare the event, seek funding and sponsorship and request community groups be involved in hosting activities.
A hands-off approach would be for the RHTA to organise the anniversary’s activities and program.
Council said their appetite for community celebrations has been “high in recent times, and given the Shire-wide link this anniversary has across the community, it is reasonable for the Council consider positively committing itself.”
Within the business papers, Council said, “Taking control of the event would be a costly affair. Council would need to attract sponsorship and support from numerous stakeholders. Councils are not necessarily the most agile of organisations, and the timing of decisions would be slower than other options.”
“A sub-committee provides a balanced approach together with a level of accountability for committee members. While the Council would still need to support the anniversary event both in a financial and human resources sense, a Council sub-committee structure would provide a level of confidence to sponsors and stakeholders to contribute to the even.
“The RHTA is a voluntary organisation. By their own admission, they are finding it difficult to maintain and attract volunteers to their organisation. They obviously want to be involved, and while committed to the 150th Anniversary, the RHTA would be stretched to organise an event of this scale alone.”
Regardless of how Council would like to proceed, the anniversary date is set for 2028, which they said will allow “sufficient time to align the Council’s decision with its planning cycle from 1 July, 2026.”
“This would provide a solid 18 months to the 30 December, 2027 to finalise the program, sponsorship, and event activities. The run-down to the anniversary event, possibly in April 2028 being left for fine-tuning and minor tweaks, should they be required.
“There have been a number of previous special anniversaries held across the Shire celebrating village proclamations, schools, community organisations and the IGA supermarket more recently; the organisation of these has predominantly been via stakeholder ownership under their own care and control.”
Ensuring a working locomotive forms part of the celebration was said to be “imperative in attracting people”, but had traditionally been difficult to acquire or confirm.
“Council should consider assuming this responsibility to secure this item. Should Council assume a level of organising and administration, then it would assume volunteer liability for those working on public land under the care and control of the Council during the event,” they said.
“While staff time is factored into future financial planning, an event of this scale would consume a reasonable portion of time, which would impact routine duties or restrict capacity to take on other projects during this period. Alternatively, a special project officer could be employed to focus on the event itself.”
The proposed Easter date, they said, it debatable as it is a popular time for residents to leave the area in favour of visiting family and friends.
“The financial risk in Council hosting this event is medium to high. It would need to underwrite components of the event ahead of securing sponsorship, e.g., marketing and promotion, down payment to secure a working locomotive or entertainment,” they said.
Supporting the 2024 RHTA Roundhouse 75th Anniversary by including cash and internal earthworks to access roads and parking at the Roundhouse at the event, they said it was too difficult to estimate what the cost to Council for a 150th Anniversary would look like.
The following estimates are a guide:
• $25,000 – Marketing and Promotion
• $72,000 – Staff allocation across an 18 month period
• $20,000 – Underwrite to confirm a steam train with some ability to recoup this amount from successful ticket sales
• $8,000 – Traffic management to support a parade
“There is no doubt the occasion for a Shire-wide anniversary would stimulate the hearts and minds within the community and relevant stakeholders,” they said.
“The Rail theme appeal is not confined to current and past residents’ enjoyment.”
• School-aged children would participate in tangible activities linked to local history,
• Sporting and community-based groups could link their annual activity to the anniversary,
• There is a large cohort of avid and passionate railway followers; a major event like this would attract people not necessarily associated with Junee,
• If pitched correctly, State agencies, particularly transport related one, and Members of Parliament would show interest and support towards such an anniversary.
“The scale of the event will ultimately persuade what commitment is necessary to support it. Should the Council prefer a minimalist approach, then its supports would be at a lower level than, say, a larger-scale event.
“The scale of the event will not substantially change the level of enjoyment for the participants. The RHTA proposed plans are large and will require the support of others. Council will want and need to be involved in some way. It is open to Council to consider its level of involvement if the Council wishes to select one of the other options or an alternative; it would assist staff in preparing a response.”
– Jack Murray
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