LIAM DURKIN
COMMUNITY SPORT
By LIAM DURKIN
THE future of sport in Trafalgar was officially unveiled last Saturday, with the opening of Turra Pavilion at the recreation reserve.
The multi-use pavilion has been constructed to service soccer, boxing, football and cricket.
Situated to the north of the current Trafalgar Victory Soccer Club pitches, the double-sided pavilion sits between the soccer pitches and space slatted to become a second football/cricket oval.
Inside, the pavilion features a number of spacious change rooms, a social space, storage cages, canteen and elevated timekeepers box.
The project was completed ahead of schedule, at a cost just under $2.5 million. Baw Baw Shire council secured a $500,000 grant from the state government’s Female Friendly Facilities Fund, and paid the remaining balance as part of its 2020/21 Capital Works Program.
Saturday’s opening capped off something of a crowning glory for many Trafalgar locals, who have campaigned for close to 20 years to see a major upgrade to the recreation reserve come to fruition.
Back in 2005, based on a recreation precinct strategic plan developed the previous year by the Trafalgar community under the leadership of Peter Williams (then president of Trafalgar Recreation Reserve) and Mick Bourke OAM (then president of Trafalgar Community Development Association), convinced Baw Baw Shire Council to purchase the Turra family farm adjacent to the recreation reserve.
Williams and Bourke OAM were in attendance as the pavilion was declared open, as were members of the Turra family, whom the pavilion is rightly named after.
The Turra brothers Jim, Frank and Dominic decided to sell their family farm next to the Trafalgar Recreation Reserve many years ago at the same time the Trafalgar community was negotiating with council to adopt a masterplan for the reserve.
The Turra family had opportunities to sell the land at a higher price than that eventually offered by council, but declined such offers as it wanted to see the land used by the community.
They did this without knowing whether or not council would eventually purchase the land.
The Trafalgar community is indeed indebted to the selflessness and generosity of the Turra family.
Twins Jim and Frank had the honour of cutting the ribbon, along with Rosemary Turra, wife of the late Dominic.
The quietly spoken brothers were beaming with pride when touring the pavilion, and we clearly chuffed to see so many people delighting in what it would mean for their sporting club to now have this facility.
Pauline Turra, daughter of Dominic, spoke on behalf of the family.
“Today is a proud day for the Turra family, and we are very honoured to have the Turra name adorning this wonderful new facility,” she said.
“It was Emilia and Giuseppe Turra that migrated to Australia in the early 1920s that began the farming tradition that brings us to where we are today.
“Farming was a way of life for the Turra family and working the land is an integral part of our family history, dating back to the early 1900s.
“Today the descendants of Emilia and Giuseppe Turra have reached a fourth generation in Australia, the farm on which the Turra Pavilion now stands was owned by Dominic, Jimmy and Frank Turra, three of the first generation Turra family members born in Australia.
“The brothers gave their heart and soul for a better future for generations to come, and so there is no greater legacy than this naming. The pavilion and surrounding facilities will be a great asset to the Trafalgar community.”
With the pavilion now open to complement a pair of immaculately manicured pitches, Trafalgar Victory Soccer Club president Lachlan Wyatt believed the club had arguably the best facility in the region.
Trafalgar Boxing Club has moved out of its old shack-like facility, which enjoyed a previous life as the football club’s social club, and into a spacious interior inside the Turra Pavilion.
Head coach Shane Cameron hopes the new gym will see membership increase.
The old boxing club rooms have been demolished, and with it, stories from the social club that are perhaps best left behind as well.
The benefits of the new pavilion and oval will be far reaching, most notably in alleviating foot traffic during winter and providing capacity for a long-awaited turf wicket in summer.
Currently, the Trafalgar Recreation Reserve football ground is reduced to a mud pit within a matter of weeks once the season starts, as senior and junior football use the ground most days of the week.
The Trafalgar Cricket Club has also faced an uphill battle in its bid to get a turf wicket, with its A Grade team needing to travel away every week to play matches on grass.
It is believed the club has idealist plans to install a white picket fence around the oval, with the Baw Baw ranges overlooking the ground sure to make it one of the most picturesque in Gippsland. The Turra Pavilion and other to-be completed projects at the recreation reserve received input from user groups headed by a Project Reference Group.
With Trafalgar now the third biggest town in Baw Baw, Project Reference Group member and former Trafalgar Football-Netball Club president Ray Wall said it was vital there was appropriate infrastructure to support the growing population.
“The future of the town, with the approval of The Range subdivision, we are going to have 600 blocks, this facility is going to be right on the doorstep of future families that are going to be living in this area,” he said.
“We have the basis of a great facility now, it won’t happen overnight, but we will try our best to get this oval up and running in the next year or two.”
