On 2 December 2011 I attended my
first OROC (Orana Region Of Councils) meeting. OROC at the time consisted of
eleven Councils in the region – generally the Councils North-West through to
South-West of Dubbo. This meeting was held in Coonabarabran.

 

As this was the first OROC
meeting for the newly minted Mayor of the City of Dubbo, one of the other
attendees pulled me aside and had a quick heart to heart with me. He told me
that all the talk over the years of Dubbo being a sponge-city and Dubbo preying
on the little towns surrounding it was rubbish. He made it very clear to me
that Dubbo was the big brother that every sibling needed to help them through
whatever troubles were put in the way. Dubbo was the big brother to the entire
western region and was integral to the success of the entire area.

 

I had never realised just how
passionate all of these towns and Councils surrounding Dubbo were about our
City. They need Dubbo for their services and their medical treatment and their
shopping and their transport. The list goes on. Part of the reason I created
the Tour de OROC was from this very conversation.

 

As I talked to people on Saturday
night at the Red Hot Summer Tour I also realised how great it was that Dubbo
could also host artists of such a high calibre and expose them to the region.
On Saturday night, I saw people from Coonabarabran and Tottenham and Bourke and
Warren and just about everywhere in our region. I saw the Mayor of the
Warrumbungle Shire Council in the mosh pit. There were also a few people from
Dubbo there. What I realised as I spoke with people from all over the region is
that they would never travel to Sydney to see John Farnham or James Reyne or
Daryl Brathwaite. They enjoyed their music but they weren’t die-hard fans. What
they did do though was take advantage of the fact that these artists were here
in Dubbo. They travelled in on Friday or Saturday, did some shopping, went to
the movies, went out to a great concert and then stayed in one of our 3,500
motel beds before traveling back home on Sunday.

 

The concert featured world-class
entertainers and was right here in our backyard. It was accessible to people
from Dubbo and the region and boosted our economy. It kept the big brother of
Dubbo supplying services to the region and the region helped boost our economy.

 

What a great event and one that I
am sure we will see return again and again – as we will also see our symbiotic
relationship with the surrounding towns continue well into the future.

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