Events Placement Program CAPACITY AND CAPABILITY ASSESSMENT Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 SPORTING FACILITIES INDIVIDUAL SPORTS Event Opportunities per Sport 5 Moama Bowling Club 54-55 Bowls 75-77 Brick Alley 56 Touch Football 78-80 REGIONAL OVERVIEW 7 Five Mile Boat Ramp 57 Water Skiing 81-83 Murray River Council Map 8 Moama Recreation Reserve 58 Golf 84-92 Foreword 9 Jack Eddy Oval 59 Speedway 93-95 Regional Overview 10-11 Heartland Raceway 60 AFL 96-98 Arts, Entertainment & Culture 12 Picnic Point 61 Soccer/Netball 99-107 Media & Marketing Assets 13-14 Mathoura Recreation Reserve 62 Little Athletics 108-110 Climate 15 Rich River Resort 63 Cricket 111-113 CluBarham 64 Croquet 114-116 EVENTS & TOURISM Murray Downs Country Club 65 Cycling 117-119 Key Events 16-18 Tooleybuc Sports Club 66 Tennis 120-122 Natural Attributes 19 Tooleybuc Recreation Reserve 67 Horse Racing 123-124 Food Paddocks & Produce 20 Moama Velodrome 68 Accommodation 21-32 Document’s primary purpose, Five Mile MTB Trail 69 Transport 33 disclaimer 126 Moulamein Racing Club 70 Ratings Key 34 Moulamein Recreation Reserve 71-72 SPORTS OVERVIEW 35-49 Barham Recreation Reserve 73 ARTS & CULTURE Paramount Theatre 50 Golden Rivers Theatre Group 51 Murray River Council | Events Placement Program Capacity and Capabilities Assessment 2 Executive Summary Moama Bowling Club The Murray River Council at select venues to host state region is well positioned to host and national standard events sporting, arts and cultural events. such as motorsport, lawn bowls, water skiing and golf. The region The region is easily accessible contains has many high standard by road, being 227kms or a 2 & sports venues that have the 3/4 hour drive from Melbourne ability to hold elite level and high (20 minutes less from the participation type vents, such as major airport) and 574km or the Moama Bowling Club, the a 6 hour drive from Canberra. Murray Downs and Rich River The closest international airport Resorts, the Moama Sports is Tullamarine, Melbourne. It’s Club and its adjoining Moama only a one hour drive from the Recreation Reserve, Heartland recently upgraded Bendigo Speedway plus events that airport, which has direct flights can be held in and around the from Sydney. Murray River. The Murray River Council has the In addition to attracting potential to host many regional participants for events, the level events with the potential region has a high appeal for Murray River Council | Events Placement Program Capacity and Capabilities Assessment 3 competitors to extend their stay for longer periods to experience the many wonderful attributes of the Murray River region. Visitors can take a river cruise on a paddle steamer from a bygone era, enjoy the many wineries in the district, drop a line in the mighty Murray to maybe catch some dinner, explore, experience and enjoy the beautiful river red gum parks and reserves along the Victoria / New South Wales border by taking a bush walk or going camping. One of the key selling points for events owners considering Murray Downs Golf Resort holding their events in the Murray River Council region is available offers event owners the the bedding capacity that can social surrounds at the bowls opportunity to host a wide range cater for high participation style club. The club has a large of events at the venue. events. function and dining centre, giving event owners the opportunity of MURRAY DOWNS GOLF The major town centres in the hosting presentations or social RESORT Murray River Council region have activities. a twin town on the Victorian side Consistently rated in Golf of the border that offer plenty of This is evidenced by the club Australia Magazine’s Top-100 accommodation options. about to play host to a new darts courses in the country, many event in 2019, the Australian believe the three and a half hour Listed below are some of the key Open tournament which is being drive from Melbourne’s major sporting facilities that have the held from July 29 to August 3. airport to Murray Downs is well ability to host events. worth the trip. RICH RIVER GOLF CLUB MOAMA BOWLING CLUB Aside from offering 36 holes Be it to play golf or bowls, the Opened in December 2017, the of golf across two well drained facilities on-course and off are newly built Moama Bowling Club courses, tennis, lawn bowls and exceptional as is the clubhouse is a state of the art facility that is croquet are also played at the with dining, conference and recognised as one of the premier large club which offers on-course entertainment options available bowls clubs in Australia. accommodation, dining, function to cater for a large number of and conference facilities as well people. The new bowls and social facility as entertainment. is built on club land on the north Situated only a short drive side of the rail line while the The highly regarded golf courses across the Murray River from large entertainment, function are hard to shoot low scores the Victorian city of Swan Hill, if and dining centre remains on the on and the east course was accommodation can’t be found south side. redesigned by the great Peter in one of the 51 on-course units Thomson in 1998. or in the nearby resort, a place The pride of the club is without to stay can be found within a doubt the two synthetic and The large space in the clubhouse 15 minute drive thanks to the two natural grass greens and its and the sporting facilities neighbouring town. Murray River Council | Events Placement Program Capacity and Capabilities Assessment 4 HEARTLAND RACEWAY Motorsport in the region has a home at the privately-owned Heartland Speedway. First opened in 2005, the first event held at the 510 metre circuit track saw more than 10,000 spectators attend. Owner David Roberts continues to invest in the venue that hosts approximately 10-12 events a year during the daylight saving period. There is a lot of room for parking Heartland Raceway outside the track and inside the track there’s enough room for Heartland to have hosted main ground will be upgraded to There are many popular fishing Monster Truck events. expand the capabilities to host spots as well to help while the female participants. time away. A lot of these spots Lighting of 1,000LUX allows the have easily accessible camping speedway to host a number of THE MURRAY RIVER grounds nearby to provide night events. A hero of the Murray River another accommodation option Council region is the Murray as well as an outdoor activity. MOAMA SPORTS CLUB River itself. The Sports Club itself has closed and is set to become the offices The ‘mighty Murray’ does more of the Murray River Council. The than provide the southern Moama Recreation Reserve site border of the council area, it also that surrounds it though offers offers up the opportunity for an opportunity to host high a number of water sports and participation events. recreational activities. A large piece of flat land, the area Water skiing, kayaking and canoeing are popular sports includes the AFL/cricket ground, Moama Recreation Reserve as well as Jack Eddy Oval where on the river due to the calm soccer and athletics are played waters and excellent river and Brick Alley which is the home conditions participants can enjoy of the Moama Touch Association. in this section of the Murray. Boat ramps are available in Such a vast area of land with many locations. Other sports immaculate couch grass surfaces enjoyed on the river include opens up the area to a host elite wakeboarding, kneeboarding level events. and tubing activities. The facility is currently Echuca Moama hosts the biggest undergoing a $3.2million water ski race in the world, the redevelopment that will see the ‘Southern 80’ held in February lights at Jack Eddy Oval increased each year. to 200LUX while facilities at the Murray River Council | Events Placement Program Capacity and Capabilities Assessment 5 EVENT OPPORTUNITIES PER SPORT SPORT/EVENT High Medium Low Venue name SPACE Motorsport 4 Heartland Raceway Golf 4 Murray Downs Golf & Country Club, cluBarham, Rich River Golf Club Water Skiing 4 Murray River AFL 4 Moama Recreation Reserve, Mathoura Recreation Reserve, Barham Recreation Reserve, Moulamein Recreation Reserve, Tooleybuc Reserve Touch Football 4 Brick Alley Lawn Bowls 4 Moama Bowling Club, Rich River Golf Club, Murray Downs Golf & Country Club, cluBarham, Moulamein Bowling Club, Tooloeybuc Sports Club Kayak/Canoe 4 Picnic Point, Murray River Performing Arts 4 Echuca Paramount Tennis 4 cluBarham, Rich River Golf Club Mountain Biking 4 Five Mile trail Horse Racing 4 Moulamein Race Club Cycling 4 Moama Velodrome Croquet 4 Rich River Golf Club Horse & Pony 4 Moulamein Polocrosse & Pony Club Disciplines Soccer 4 Jack Eddy Oval Athletics 4 Jack Eddy Oval Netball 4 Moama Recreation Reserve, Mathoura Recreation Reserve, Barham Recreation Reserve, Moulamein Recreation Reserve, Tooleybuc Reserve Murray River Council | Events Placement Program Capacity and Capabilities Assessment 6 Regional Overview Murray River Council | Events Placement Program Capacity and Capabilities Assessment 7 REGIONAL MAP + (Administrator) Rachel Turnbull Log Out (/Account/Logout) − Dashboard (/) / Business Map View Business Map View Map Filters Business Map 1,149 Business Locations Found Another 16 locations without geocodes matched the search criteria Murray River Council | Events Placement Program Capacity and Capabilities Assessment 8 (http://www.urbanenterprise.com.au)Monitor CRMS is an Urban Enterprise (http://urbanenterprise.com.au/) Product © Urban Enterprise (http://urbanenterprise.com.au/) 2016-19 Leaflet (http://leafletjs.com) | © OpenStreetMap (http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) Foreword This Capacity and Capability The information assessed The assessment and SMA’s Assessment works in includes: Events Placement Program collaboration with Sports will introduce new events that Marketing Australia’s (SMA) • the infrastructure, be it Council Murray River Council has the Events Placement Program and owned, privately owned or capacity and capability to host.