Thank you to the people of Dubbo for your ongoing commitment to the Anzac Day commemorations. It was always going to be hard to top the Anzac Centenary commemorations from last year but we certainly went close. The Dawn Service was again very well attended. I estimated the crowd at 4,000 and, while not quite as large as the 6,000 estimation from last year, it was the largest crowd I have seen at a non-centenary Anzac Day. The streets were again lined for the march and at least 8,000 people were in attendance at the 11am main service. I remember saying last year that the 100 year commemoration of Anzac Day was certainly memorable and it was now up to our community to continue to recognise this significant day. The residents of Dubbo certainly delivered.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to officially open the latest extension to the highly successful Tracker Riley cycleway. Although the 2.6km has been in operation for a few weeks it is important that we noted the 3-way contribution to realise this extension. The Titan Macquarie Mud Run is a fantastic event for Dubbo with participants travelling from across the State to participate and add to our economy. In addition to adding to our events, they also took $13,000 from their profits and donated it to Council for this extension. The State Government also contributed $20,000 and Council added $121,526. We have seen a number of projects in recent years that have used Council funds and combined them with other sources of income to arrive at a solution and this one is no exception. Local contractors were used with Maas Constructions; A-Gauge Fencing and DCL all being used in the project. This removes people from the proximity of Tamworth Street and Macquarie Street for the duration of this extension and is another small step along the path towards our full Regand Park Master Plan.

We also launched our Wiradjuri Street Signs yesterday. This was a project brought to Council by Councillor Rod Towney and identifies five street names in Dubbo as Wiradjuri names and puts the meaning of the words beneath the street name. It is a good link to the Aboriginal heritage of Dubbo for all of our residents to be aware of and I believe that tourists will find it interesting to see the origin of some of these streets.

I am looking forward to the Dubbo Show this weekend and, in particular, the official launch of the NBN by Mark Coulton MP which will be switched on in Dubbo on Star Wars Day – next Wednesday.

Councillor Mathew Dickerson

Mayor of the City of Dubbo

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