The new Eaglehawk skate park will be the culmination of years of work for Howard Osborne.
When the new state of the art skate park opens in Eaglehawk tomorrow it will signal a new era for the sport in Central Victoria. Workmen are today putting the finishing touches to the facility and finalising the landscaping for the area behind the Bendigo Leisure Centre. For Rotary Club member Howard Osborne it’s the culmination of a key project for the Borough that saw the concept developed in 2001. Within two years a launch had taken place to start a huge fundraising drive. The end result is the magnificent McKern Skate Park which will benefit all of the community. Our Newsmaker was born in Bendigo and went to school in Flora Hill and later Bendigo High follow by a course in civil engineering at the Bendigo Institute of Technology. It was this skill that enabled Howard to tackle this grand project which now becomes a reality. “I met Aaron Wallis, the designer of the park, at an engineering seminar in Melbourne,” Howard said. “I was able to get him to come up and talk to the kids to get their input and they were absolutely fantastic with their ideas. “We also went and looked at similar skate parks and we looked at places such as Shepparton, Bacchus Marsh and Greenvale. “This is just a great result and our young people have had input in to the project. “It also gives them a form of ownership and that is important,’’ he said. Howard said the consultation process with local skateboarders has been one of the highlights of seeing the project come to fruition. “The young people listened to each other’s thoughts of what could be achieved at a very early stage of the process,” Howard said. “Their ideas were all fantastic and they actually built on those ideas and the whole process to see those young people involved was really great. “The designers Convic listened to what the young people wanted and took those ideas away to put them in to the ultimate design. “Because Convic are specialist designers they have incorporated the ideas of many young people and the end result is fantastic to everybody concerned,’’ he said. The skate park has been a special project for many groups including Rotary, YMCA, Y’s Men and groups such as the Eaglehawk Basketball Association and Empowering Eaglehawk and the groups aim to see it as an ideal meeting place for skateboarders and their families. It is also aimed to keep the new facility graffiti free. “It will be policy to keep the whole area neat and tidy and graffiti will not be permitted,” Howard said. “We don’t want to see this type of activity and as a precaution there is a special product that will prevent any graffiti sinking in to the concrete. “We understand the user group will protect the facility and look after it very well. “They formed a group called All Wheels United last year through B Central and they now have about 90 members. “That group will be the major users of the park and so they will be out to look after what is their facility which is fantastic,’’ Howard said. Our newsmaker said the skate park fits perfectly in to the landscape of Canterbury Park as it is a sports precinct offering football, cricket, lawn bowls, indoor swimming pool and leisure centre. Then there is the toilets, kiosk and outdoor barbecue to attract families to the area. For community stalwarts like Howard this particular project is a result of team work. “I am just so glad it has come to fruition. “The Eaglehawk Rotary Club has helped to raise more than $400,000. “We needed the council and the state and federal government funding and we were successful with those submissions. “Right through the fundraising process we were thrilled about the large number of people and the many different organisations that wanted to assist the youth of the community. “It is just fantastic,’’ Howard said. Convic came up with the design and have built similar projects both here in Australia and overseas. The skate park at Eaglehawk required more than 450 tonnes of concrete plus 50 tonnes of steel and about 2500 hours of labour have gone in to the construction of the new park which has been a joint project of the Rotary Club of Eaglehawk as well as corporate and community sponsors, federal and state government and the City of Greater Bendigo. Tomorrow world class skateboarders and BMX riders will provide a professional display to demonstrate just how lucky we are to have such a facility for the youth of the region. There will be an official opening at 11am as well as competitions and giveaways.
