Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 9 : Construction of the cultural centre, 1977-1981

Culture • • • it's plain sailing now Jack Murphy - and hundreds af other members of Brisbane's small-boating fratern ity - should be pleased. Mooring fuclllLlcs will be nl'llilnble on I.he Bris– b1rnc Rl\'Cr ri ght beside 1hc new Cut.u ral cen t.re u ·cording to the centre's nrchl1ccL Mr Robin Gib– :,on. Mr Murphy, Lhc owner of two Urlsbnnc nrl gnl– lcrics. and nn enthuslas- 1ic i.rna ll •bont tunn, th is week mndc n plea for the fndll llcs lo nllow him to combine his two Inter- e. ts. He hnped t hnt when the centre was cotnplet.ed in 11182. he could moor his bont, h1tve n bite to enl and look at pnlnLings In the centre's nrL gal– lcr~1. Mr Gibson snld the plan was t.o demolish the c x 1 sti ng Fisherman's \Vhnrf. lower t he river bnnk wall. and provide mooring fncillllcs there for smnll bont.s. The wnrf, about 40 metres long, would n1oor al lenst six boats, e nd to Clld, he snid. Dctnlls had yet to be completed by the Works OepnrtmenL nnd Har– bors und Mnrlnc Depart– ment. Mr Gibson said small boat • also could be moored brle Cly on the side of a pontoon, which was part or Stage 1 of the cultural centre plnn. The Brisbane River committee had pl a ns to estnblish mooring rncll- 11.les and pontoons near pnrklnnd between Vic– torin Bridge and the Mnritlmc M11seu111, wt,kh nlso could be u:-icd b) small boats. ··The Idea Is that nil these fa cilit ies will lw cornplemcntnry. opc111nc up the whole S0111h 13ris– bnne bank nrcn to suiall craft. ns well as ski bonts nnd pleasure crnrt," Mr Gibson said. 'WASH' Mr Murphy, of Chcl· m er, said he was worried about the wash created by lnrge boats. bnr~c• nnd lnunchcs on the Brisbnnc Rl\'cr. and the r c s 11 I LI 11 c hnzards for smnll runabouts. "If a bonL crcntcd thnt type of wash on the Riv– er Thnmcs, the owner would be fined nL least £500," he said. "I lost the top of one or my fingers when m)' boat w11s thrown against the Brisbane River bnnk by the wn.sh rrom a pnsslng launch. "Proper fn rilltlcs pcrhnpi like those In Mnrselllcs Hnrbor. known as comb or mout.h•orgnn JettlcR - nre needed to mnke nn out.Ing nt the centre snfc. •·we don't wnnt to hnvc to tic up nlongslcte other bonts and walk ncross. With a bit ol a w n s h, you'd end up swimming In the rh•cr." What Mr Murphy would like to sec is ,ome· thing like n "cnr park [(,· boats" on the Brls river. YESTERDAY tor lhe first t,me 111 six 111onths. I put my boat lnlo the water and took an enjoyable trip down the river to look at progress on tile new cult ural coniplex. If repo rts arc corrct..'.I. the ;rnthuritic!\ arc going. "' bu 1h.t :11 _k ,1,t lWll restaurants ,1ri•it h, we hupc. \'ll~"s ,,r thr llrisbanc R iver but. a l;1-. "here :lrC the jetties :1nJ.:,111a ):-. tor 11,c by \\atcr-b,irm~ t.:\l!'olOIHCf:O- . T here arc h111H..lrclh,. 1( 111 1 1 1h1111'•,amh ,,f pote nt ia l \'i!'itor:- Ill the ..-cnlr~ " h 11 0 wn buat!'i and whl1 ,,·,luhJ be dchµhtcil 1n have a meaningful dcstitrnt11J11 ltl top off a plca!'-a nl ,,C'ck-cml trif', b11t ,.. here nrc they going to 11Hlt1r 1.'nr_:in h,111r \, hik they cat ('lr look at p:11111111g.., .111d h:1, c their boats under :-.urvcilb nt..'.t.:" 1 ··co111b·· jct tic:-., SUl.'.h :b ;HC 1ll u,I.' all 0 ,cr the ,H1rld. " ith ,ff with,rnl p.1rl111~ meter~. " 011 \d ,ccm t,) bi.: the ,111," cr. The pru\'1,1Llll of ;1 JCtly ft._,r ti fr rr~ buat 1 , not .uffk1cnl b..:i:,1u, c 11 1, unhkcl~ 111.,t p ri\';1 \C u,l!f' \\ Ll~ild _u1.· _.dhJ\\~J ." ' tic up there .Hld there JU~t 1,n .,n~,,hcr~· cl,c ncttrb\', i, 1hcrl!· 1 - .l;u•k ;\lurph~ . ll•r1:rC!'aH·~ ,\,rnur. ('ln•ln1rr.