Anzac centre for Albany

The Federal Government will commit $250,000 towards a study into the establishment of an Anzac Interpretative Centre at Albany.

Picture by Laurie Benson: Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Centenary of Anzac, Warren Snowdon, Albany Centenary of Anzac Alliance chairman Peter Aspinall and City of Albany Mayor Milton Evans at the Desert Mounted Corps memorial on Mt Clarence.

It is the first funding commitment in the lead-up to the 2014-2018 Anzac centenary commemorations.

Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Centenary of Anzac, Warren Snowdon, was in Albany on Tuesday to make the announcement.

The news was immediately applauded by Albany Centenary of Anzac Alliance chairman Peter Aspinall, who described it as “a wonderful first step” towards Albany’s preparations for the centenary.

The interpretive centre was one of two key projects endorsed by a National Commission on the Commemoration of the Anzac Centenary earlier this year.

Positioned on Mt Adelaide, the centre will offer 240-degree panoramic views of King George Sound and be accessible online.

Mr Snowdon said the interpretive centre was chosen for the first Federal funding commitment because of Albany’s significant place in Australia’s wartime history.

“The commemoration of Anzac is very important and Albany will be central, it will be pivotal,” he said.

He could not comment on future funding commitments for Albany until the results of the study are known.

The national commission has also endorsed a re-enactment of the departure of ships which carried soldiers to World War I from Albany.

Mr Snowdon promised there was background work being undertaken around this recommendation.

Mr Aspinall said the Alliance welcomed and appreciated the support from Mr Snowdon and looked forward to working with him in the future.

“It is the first real, tangible step we have seen in terms of the construction of a great precinct here on Mt Clarence,” he said.

Albany MP Peter Watson welcomed the announcement too and said it was time for the State Government to follow suit. “It has got to be a bipartisan commitment,” he said.

“We are going to be the centrepiece right throughout Australia and probably the world ... I think it’s very important now that the Federal Government has come on board, the State Government follows.”

The Alliance recently applied for more than $7 million in State funding to improve infrastructure at Mt Clarence in the lead up to the centenary.

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