STAFF and management committee of the Gulargambone Preschool officially celebrated the official opening of their new facility earlier this month.

The opening ceremony for the multi-million dollar project was held on Friday 17 June and was attended by close to 200 people.

“It was absolutely amazing, we had a mixture of parents and community members come along to check out the facility which was great to see,” Acting Preschool Director Crystal Mudford said.

“Everyone from the Central School also came over. It was really lovely to share with them.”

Following a morning tea, prepared by the committee, and a brief tour of the building, Indigenous elder Ralph Naden performed a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony to begin the official proceedings.

Preschool Director Amii Marchant, project manager Ash Walker and committee President Haylee Barry all gave speeches about the project coming to an end, followed by performances from local children and finally the official ribbon cutting.

“The K-6 kids performed ‘A Million Dreams’ and the secondary students did a special dance representing the ‘Garriya’, which means Rainbow Serpent,” Mrs Mudford said.

“Our children also performed a couple of Wiggles songs for the crowd which was really nice.”

ABOVE: Aiden Woodham, Jono Fisher, Claire Barry, Alex Moeris, Alfie Mudford Flynn Weston and Miss Kerry performing during the opening ceremony. Image: Liz Ede, Gulargambone Central School.

With the construction of the new building partially funded by grants from the state government, local member for Barwon Roy Butler also attended the opening. 

He said it was pleasing to see so much excitement amongst the local residents about the new facility.

“This is a shining example of how a community can rally behind a project, and a small group of dedicated people can make something amazing happen,” Mr Butler said.

“The result, a $2.3 million facility that will serve the community and surrounds for decades to come.” 

“Well done to Ash, Amii, Crystal, Sharon and so many others for their perseverance and hard work to get this awesome asset for the community.”

After the ribbon cutting, visitors were invited for a second look around the building while enjoying a sausage sizzle, prepared by the Gulargambone Lions Club.

Mrs Mudford said she received a lot of positive feedback from people who were seeing the building for the first time.

“Everyone was so impressed and happy to have a look now that most COVID restrictions are gone,” she said.

“We are just so glad we could officially open the building and share it with Gulargambone.”