March 2007 Cover Story

It was an announcement worth remembering - Federal Member for Robertson, Jim Lloyd standing with State Member for The Entrance, Grant McBride standing together to announce that the Central Coast had won the HMAS Adelaide for a dive wreck.

Both Members, from opposing Parties, had worked closely together for the good of the Central Coast achieving a fantastic outcome for the Region, the Australian Government had accepted the NSW Government’s bid to sink HMAS Adelaide off Terrigal as a dive wreck.
“Both Grant and I have been working for a very long time to secure a dive wreck for the Central Coast and the acquisition of HMAS Adelaide will represent an enormous boost to tourism,” Mr Lloyd said.
“This is a great win for the Central Coast.” Mr McBride said, “The HMAS Adelaide will open the door to a unique international tourism market and will attract divers from all over the world to the Central Coast”
“As a dive-wreck, HMAS Adelaide will be a significant addition to the number of tourist attractions available in the region with the further advantage of being just one
hour north of Australia’s tourism capital of Sydney.”
Mr Lloyd thanked all involved in getting the Central Coast a dive wreck – particularly the Central Coast Artificial Reef Project committee, whose members had worked very hard for a number of years and never gave up despite so many setbacks.
Following Victoria’s winning bid last year for the HMAS Canberra, Mr Lloyd and Mr McBride continued discussions between the Australian Government and the NSW Premiers Department in an effort to win the ship for the Coast.
The NSW Government was given exclusivity to bid for the HMAS Adelaide and the Australian Government also offered to ‘pay off’ the ship in either Sydney or Newcastle saving NSW a considerable amount of expense.
It is as a result of that meeting and the persistence of Mr Lloyd and Mr McBride that the Central Coast will now have a dive wreck and a boom in tourism.
Finally, Mr Lloyd congratulated the NSW Government on their successful bid and thank the Central Coast community for the ongoing support in securing a dive wreck for the Central Coast.
Mr McBride commented that it shows what can be achieved when two local Members of Parliament work together.
In July 2006 CCBR reported on a trip by Terrigal Dive Centre operator, Les Graham, to the HMAS Brisbane dive site at Maloolaba. Mr Graham reported that since the sinking of the Brisbane two years earlier the number of visitors to the dive site had resulted in around $7 million being generated for the local economy.
With its close proximity to Sydney, Terrigal is expected to generate almost substantially more thatn this as numerous international visitors who have a day to spare in Sydney will want to visit the site.
Central Coast Tourism, CEO, Horst Endrulat, said “research indicated that the “Adelaide” dive site would inject $11 million in the local economy in the first year and between $23 -$25 million annually thereafter as it become known internationally”.
In addition the site will provide a valuable research tool said Dr Bill Gladstone, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Use of Coasts and Catchments at the Ourimbah Campus of the University of Newcastle.
“No other university in the world has a artificial reef for its marine studies so close,” he said.

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