Katoomba Cultural Centre Open

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell and Senator Doug Cameron

Labor Senator Doug Cameron launched an attack on Premier O'Farrell's TAFE funding cuts at the opening ceremony after Mr O’Farrell praised the role of the arts in his opening remarks.

“I had this boring speech from the department to read out (but) I’m not going to do that. You’ve got the premier here, so you may as well take the chance,” he said before taking Mr O’Farrell to task over his government’s cuts to the TAFE system.

“The TAFE system should not simply be about business. . . TAFE is an absolute institution in this country. It started the lives, and it saved the lives of many, many, many people, and we need to keep funding it. We can’t simply be an economy, we’ve got to be a society,” he said to loud applause from the opening night audience.

But even Senator Cameron’s passionate remarks were hard-pressed to upstage the cultural centre building itself.

Located next to the Carrington Hotel in Parke Street, the long-awaited building contains a regional art gallery, World Heritage exhibition, new Katoomba library, cafe, courtyard and viewing platform.

With funding from the Federal Government as well, the council hopes the cultural centre will become a focal point for the local community as well as a drawcard for tourists.

Saturday night was the first chance most people had to see the building and its inaugural exhibition, Picturing the Great Divide: Visions from Australia’s Blue Mountains.

With a tortuous 14 year history — and much controversy over the inclusion of a Coles retail development in the lower levels of the complex — the opening night was an opportunity for celebration and acknowledegment.

Former Blue Mountains MP Bob Debus and former Blue Mountains Mayor Jim Angel were singled out for their crucial contribution to the project as was former Ward 1 Clr Terri Hamilton who officially opened the new library.

“The sling and the arrows and the aggravations, they all fade into irrelevance when you see what is here tonight, what has been achieved by a joint approach between the private sector, council, Federal and State Governments,” said Blue Mountains Mayor Daniel Myles.

The night finished not in controversy but with a local celebration of the arts when former Katoomba resident Ian Colless performed a specially-commissioned dance piece titled Ritual.