By Kath Gannaway
THERE are no demarcation lines when it comes to pitching in to rebuild Marysville.
Two diverse groups, Alexandra Truck Ute and Rod Show (ATURS) members and the National Australia Bank’s (NAB) top performers, were recently involved in two major reconstruction projects in the town.
The Alexandra crew of around 30 people, including volunteers from the Ouyen community and help from generous sponsors, put in a solid weekend’s work to build a magnificent 20-metre barbecue shelter at Gallipoli Park.
The NAB’s “Star 100” members opted to trade-in their usual reward outing for a day of hard yakka building a board-walk and a new mountain bike track at Lake Mountain.
Both projects add enormously to the town’s ability to cater for tourists and will help encourage people back to the area.
Andrew Embling from ATURS said their project was the first infrastructure to be built in Marysville by volunteers. “The locals were pretty proud of that,” he said.
“We always wanted to do something from the truck show and we announced we would be doing something for Marysville.
Mr Embling said the material alone was valued at around $135,000 with Bowens in Mount Evelyn donating much of it, as well as sending builders on the day to help out.
“It was a big weekend,” he said. “Everyone was very happy to have achieved what we set out to do for Marysville.”
Mr Ebling also paid tribute to the role of site manager, Marysville resident Graham Pullen, who along with his family lost houses on Black Saturday.
“He did a fantastic job of organising everything,” he said.
The mountain bike track will be used for an annual bike event in February each year and the electric barbecues are a great facility for local residents as well as visitors.
NAB ‘Star’ Antony Hardenberg, a senior partner with NAB Business Banking, said the experience had inspired him to return to help out in the future.
“It was really sobering. What we did was only a small part of what needs to be done in the rebuilding but to take part and feel like you are giving a bit back to the community there was fantastic,” he said.
