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Rail heritage conference a forum for regional development

September 23, 2005

TimFischer.thumb.jpgNext week’s National Railway Heritage Conference will give members of local government councils and regional communities the opportunity to discuss a vital aspect of regional development with key decision makers.

The convener of the three-day conference, Dr Andrew Piper, said it would include a forum titled “How can railways be a vital part of regional economic and social development?” He said that panellists for the forum would include Senator Kerry O’Brien (the Federal Opposition’s spokesman on transport) and Brian Nye (Chief Executive Officer of the Australasian Railway Association), as well as a senior representative of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

Dr Piper, from The University of New England’s Heritage Futures Research Centre, said: “The forum will be a chance for local government representatives, business people and others to take part in an open discussion, on neutral ground, about vital issues such as the proposed inland rail route from Melbourne to Brisbane. These people will be able to hear, first-hand, what decision-makers are thinking.”

The National Railway Heritage Conference will be held at Tamworth, NSW, from 28 to 30 September. (The venue is the Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre, and the Web site for the conference, which includes program details, is at: http://www.une.edu.au/campus/confco/nrhc2005/.)

The forum is scheduled for 10.20 am on Thursday 29 September. Earlier that morning, Senator O’Brien, Mr Nye, and a member of the senior executive of the Australian Rail and Track Corporation will each give a talk, providing insights relevant to the forum discussion. Dr Piper pointed out that the final decisions on an inland rail route, whatever they were, “would have a major impact on the Tamworth region, and indeed the whole of New England and north-west NSW”. “We’re hoping that the forum will contribute to very positive outcomes,” he said.

Dr Piper said that the conference – the first of its kind in Australia – was happening at a time when rising fuel prices could be a significant factor in government decisions on the future of freight and public transport. “If fuel prices stay at current levels, or go even higher, rail will increasingly be seen as a cost-effective means of transport – in the regions as well as in the cities,” he said.

One focus of the national conference is the role of railways, including aspects of their heritage, in tourism. The conference’s patron is the former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer (pictured here), who will officially open proceedings on Wednesday 28 September. In his keynote address Mr Fischer, who is the Chair of Tourism Australia, will report on how that organisation proposes to attract more American tourists to Australia by replicating the Australian rail journeys undertaken by Mark Twain in the nineteenth century.

Another forum on the conference program, on the Wednesday afternoon (28 September), will deal with issues of rail heritage. Panellists will include Colin Divall, Professor of Railway Studies at the University of York in the UK, and David Morgan, President of the European Federation of Museums and Tourist Railways, and Chairman of the Heritage Rail Association of Britain and Ireland.

“The conference will emphasise the importance of the social history of rail,” Dr Piper said. “It will put people back in the story of rail, and explore the extensive contribution that rail has made (and continues to make) to Australian culture.”

For registration or general inquiries phone the UNE Conference company on (02) 6773 2154 or e-mail: confco@une.edu.au.


Media contact: Dr Andrew Piper, Heritage Futures Research Centre, UNE (02) 6773 2764, Dr Robert Haworth, School of Human and Environmental Studies, UNE (02) 6773 2006, or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at September 23, 2005 01:46 PM