Leisure Centre
Architect Max Hannell’s impression of the new centre including a proposed (at the time) heated indoor swimming pool
The Katanning Regional Recreation and Leisure Centre is one of the largest indoor/outdoor centres of its type in country Australia. It was opened on Saturday, 28 June, 1997, by Premier, Richard Court [ 2 ]
Several buildings were demolished including the “Flower Pavillion”, the “Piesse Pavillion”, the refreshment room and the small metal grandstand. The trotting track was removed and the original football oval was reduced in size for use by hockey and football (soccer).
Troy Jones
The first Centre Manager was Troy Jones, who had grown up in Katanning. The son of Murray (Jumbo) and Yvonne Jones, Troy had returned to Katanning to take up the position. He was responsible for setting up programmes, training staff, and overseeing the entire recreation complex. Troy is now Regional Manager Peel/South West with the WA Department of Sport and Recreation.
The venue includes an indoor centre containing six basketball courts, creche, first-aid room, two sets of change rooms and a kiosk. Outside there is an AFL size football oval, hockey and cricket ground, and equestrian show-jumping and dressage facilities.
The old ram selling complex was partially demolished to make way for the new centre and the remainder was developed as a machinery restoration centre and sheep shearing competition complex. Monthly markets are also held in the venue.
The centre was built after extensive research and fundraising by a local hard working committee and input from community groups and the community at large.
Unveiling of the Foundation Stone by President of Shire of Katanning, Cr. Ian Bolto.
MEDIA STATEMENT
Government of Western Australia
28/6/97
Premier Richard Court today praised the spirit and commitment of the people of Katanning. He made the comments at the official opening of the Katanning Metro International Recreation and Leisure Centre.
Mr Court said the centre clearly illustrated what was possible when a community worked together to achieve a common goal. “The result will significantly benefit the current and future population of the region and the local community can be very proud of its achievement,” he said.
The $3.8 million facility includes indoor basketball and netball courts, a fitness centre, meeting and changing rooms, a reception and administration area, a creche and a large function room.
The community raised more than $1.1 million in cash and kind to ensure the project was completed. The State Government contributed $1.35 million through the Ministry of Sport and Recreation’s Community Sporting and Recreation Facilities Fund ($1.1million) and the Lotteries Commission ($250,000).
“Over the past three years the CSRFF has provided $26 million for facilities and a further $24 million will be allocated over the next three years,” Mr Court said. “The provision of facilities to allow all Western Australians to benefit from a healthy lifestyle is an ongoing commitment of the State Government.”
The Premier said that without the outstanding support demonstrated by the local community, the centre would not have been constructed as quickly and to the standard achieved. “The centre is a monument to the many hours of hard work and great generosity of many local members of the Katanning community,” he said.
Opening Day Programme
Designed and produced by Arthur Todd and printed by the Great Southern Herald
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Peter Jolly
In 1982, the Katanning Shire Council formed a Recreational Needs Advisory Committee under the leadership of Peter Jolly to investigate and advise Council on the adequacy of recreation and sporting facilities within the Shire. The planning study, released in June 1985, introduced the concept of an Indoor Recreation Centre.
The Katanning Showgrounds were vested by the Katanning Agricultural Pastoral and Horticultural Society in the Katanning Shire in 1987, and the Shire commenced work on the Katanning Regional Recreation Ground. This included the provision of a water pipeline from the waste water facility south of the town along the rail reserve to the ground and the construction of a holding dam.
A new oval was constructed, with the grass being paid for by the Wanderers Football Club. The Piesse pavilion buildings continued to be used for change rooms and the Flower pavilion, constructed in the 1960’s, was utilised as club rooms by the football and cricket clubs.
About the same time, the original committee had completed the research it was charged to do by the Shire of Katanning. Although a draft plan for an indoor recreation centre had been included with the report nothing further prevailed.
CENTRE PROJECT REBOOTED
Arthur Todd
In November, 1991, Arthur Todd (manager of the Great Southern Herald and president of the Katanning Junior Basketball Association) called a public meeting of some 80 people at the Katanning Town Hall after reading of funding being made available by the then Labor government. This meeting, representing various Katanning sporting groups, established the Katanning Regional Recreation Committee. The new committee was charged with the task of preparing a feasibility study for a Regional Indoor Recreation and Leisure centre, to be constructed on the Katanning Recreation Ground.
The committee found that apart from golf, tennis, squash, bowls and rifle shooting, most of the sports facilities in Katanning required upgrading or expansion, and the sporting associations would welcome the provision of a central complex on the Recreation Ground, and would readily move thereto.
The volunteer community based associations, although enthusiastic and committed, were failing to meet the needs of their sporting clientele due to the lack of adequate facilities. Thus, few sports played in Katanning could attract teams from other regional centres or the city to compete in carnivals. Katanning, by its very position in the heart of the Great Southern region, is the ideal centre to hold such events.
Smaller towns surrounding Katanning could no longer support successful sports competition in many of the team sports, such as basketball or netball. Many sports people from these towns regularly travelled to Katanning to compete in their chosen sport despite the inadequate facilities here at the time. The Katanning Regional Recreation and Leisure Centre is not in name only, but accommodates these surrounding towns’ needs and service a far wider area than the Katanning Shire. Indeed, the Central Great Southern Region covers some 21,648 sq km of the south of Western Australia, embracing eight Shires and a population of over 12,000 people, with Katanning as its principal urban centre.
Administrators of the Great Southern/Central South Regional Gymnastics Association and Regional Netball indicated that because of the central geographical location of Katanning it should service the entire Upper and Lower Great Southern Regions in these sports.
From the exhaustive feasibility study, a detailed architectural brief was compiled by the committee for consideration by the Katanning Shire Council, and in 1993, Council invited a number of architects to participate in a Restricted Architectural Competition to design a Recreation and Leisure Centre for the Shire, interpreting the architectural brief.
In September, 1993 the proposal of architect Max Hannell, FRAIA, was favourably received. The Advisory Committee then invited comment on the architect’s plans from potential user groups and three recreation centre managers, and inspected recreation and leisure centres in Perth and other Western Australian towns.
Max Hannell’s plan that was submitted to Council with the report.
Meanwhile, extensive structural restoration of the Great Southern Sheep Breeders Ram Pavilion adjacent to the site for the Centre became increasingly urgent. Negotiations between the Great Southern Sheep Breeders Association, the Shire Council, and the Recreation Committee resulted in a proposal to incorporate a new Sheep Breeders Association ram selling hall into the Centre, and to demolish, rather than restore the South Western portion of the existing pavilion.
The Sheep Breeders Association agreed to bear the construction costs of the selling hall and to make it available for use by the Centre management for sporting and recreation activities when not required for Merino ram sales. The recommendations that resulted from this process were incorporated by the Architect into the draft plans included in the study presented to Council.
BENEFITS TO THE COMMUNITY
Community recreation facilities are primarily aimed at providing the community with a resource which can heighten life experiences. Such facilities play a role in increasing self esteem, personal fulfillment, transferring skills and socialisation and general community well-being..
Recreation is much more than just sport. Recreation is the action and activities of people engaging in constructive and pleasurable use of leisure time. It may include passive or active participation in individual or group sports, cultural functions, non-formal education and entertainment. In short, recreation is an agreeable or refreshing occupation, relaxation or amusement.
Recreation plays an important role in Katanning, as a survey found 70 per cent of people from all age groups participate in recreational activities. This places recreation as the most dominant activity to foster harmonious multi-cultural interaction in Katanning.
Today, the Recreation and Leisure Centre has became the focal point for sport and recreation leisure for all age groups in Katanning. It provides facilities for all of the town’s soft surface sports and ball/hoop games. It was envisaged that future sport and recreation developments in Katanning will hinge on this multi-purpose, multi-use, facility. It also provides a quality venue for state and regional sports carnivals such as state basketball and state netball league games.
It accommodates agricultural shows, large conferences, national, state and regional gymnastics competitions and provides an area for social and cultural activities.
Innovative programming, pricing and advertising fosters a demand for indoor sporting and recreation facilities. Recreation, sporting and social programmes are run all week; evenings and daytime. Social daytime activities allow the elderly and young mothers with children at home an opportunity to participate, socialise and make new friends. They are able to partake in such activities as aerobics, gymnasium, netball, basketball, badminton and numerous non sporting activities.
First Major Sporting Event
The first major sporting event held at the Katanning Leisure Centre was a basketball match between the “Perth Wildcats” and a touring team of American professional basketball players – “Athletes in Action“. The event was organised by Troy Jones (first Centre Manager) and Cr. Arthur Todd, and was broadcast live on local radio station 6WB.
Some of the basketball action.
COMMITTEE
Peter Jolly (Chairman)
Arthur Todd (Secretary/Promotions)
Andrew Pritchard (Football)
Peter Molinari (Katanning Country Club)
Alan Campbell (Football/Basketball)
Jan Rhodes (Basketball)
Sue Page (Netball)
Michael Archer (CEO, Shire of Katanning)
Michael Stidwell (Regional Development Manager, Department of Sport and Recreation, Albany)
Mike Stidwell & Mike Archer
Michael Archer and Michael Stidwell were driving forces behind the committee; providing invaluable support and advice. Mike Stidwell later went to take up the position of CEO Esperance and then Busselton,
Sadly, Mike Stidwell, a passionate supporter of local sport, and sport in general, has passed away but his legacy lives on in Albany.
The Department of Sport and Recreation, along with the City of Albany, have named an annual Great Southern award in his honour; the Mike Stidwell Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Sport Administration. Our very own Tania Wolfe was the recipient in 2017.
With major volunteer assistance from:
Val Jolly (a huge amount of typing and computer input)
Cameron Woods – Centre Manager, Leschenault (professional advice)
Christopher Thompson – Centre Manager, Denmark (professional advice)
Graham Alp – Centre Manager, Roche Park, Collie (professional advice)
Dennis Wooltorten – Centre Manager, Albany (professional advice)
Norman Flugge (computer scanning assistance)
Matthew Flugge (computer generated mapping)
Heather Percy (professional soil survey)
AWARDS
Several members of the committee received “Volunteer of the Year” Awards at Katanning’s “Sports Star of the Year Awards” ceremony at the Leisure Centre. The Awards night was started by Arthur Todd to recognise excellence by local sportspeople and volunteers in sport. Sadly, it only lasted a few years.
