Visitors flock to Anzac Centre

The National Anzac Centre has exceeded visitor targets daily since it was officially opened less than three weeks ago.

City of Albany Heritage Park general manager Dean Lee said 1200 tickets were pre-purchased over the opening weekend on October 31 to November 2.

Mr Lee said in its first week, 5000 people visited the centre.

“Since that time, we’ve had over 1000 additional visitors come through,” he said.

“We’re extremely happy with that … visitation is going very strongly.”

Mr Lee said Albany residents had been visiting the NAC on the weekend, while others from across WA and interstate were visiting on weekdays.

“In almost every instance, people are overwhelmed with the experience, not initially understanding it would take so long and there would be such a deep experience offered,” he said.

“That’s resulted in many people staying on-site for more than half the day.”

Mr Lee said people were not %only visiting the NAC but utilising the wider Heritage Park area.

“One of the things that has been really nice is seeing the community … taking advantage of the landscaped areas, having a picnic, reading a book and playing on the guns … it’s drawing a lot of local people,” he said.

Mr Lee said he expected steady visitation numbers for the extended Anzac centenary period.

The $10 million centre was officially opened by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Premier Colin Barnett on November 1.

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