Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In early March I had the pleasure of attending a significant event in New Norcia's history and met with many of my constituents in this tranquil community. I was not sure what to expect when I agreed to attend a bicentenary celebration of the birth of New Norcia's founder, Dom Rosendo Salvado, but I must say I was in my element, joining with Abbot John and other New Norcia monks and community at the Abbey Church of the Holy Trinity to sing the celebratory hymns.

The small town of New Norcia is located 132 kilometres north of Perth, and, yes, it is in the electorate of Durack. It is a town like no other in Australia. In fact, it is Australia's only monastic town. It was established in 1847 by Spanish Benedictine monk Rosendo Salvado as a mission for the local Aboriginal people. Although the town's distinctive religious history is enough to draw you there, it is the town's, and in particular Salvado's, support of Aboriginal culture since its establishment that should continue to be highlighted and commended by all.

It is said that Salvado's original mission was to create among the Aboriginal peoples of the Victoria Plains a Christian, largely self-sufficient village based on agriculture, but he ended up focusing some 54 years of his life on giving a practical education to the Aboriginal children who were brought to New Norcia from all over Western Australia. According to the New Norcia Aboriginal Corporation, Salvado was considered a friend of the local Aboriginal people, the Yued people of the Noongar nation, and gained their trust. It is his records and perceptions of the Aboriginal men and women he encountered in New Norcia that have since provided important historical information about the Noongar people, including being used to support the Noongar native title claim. These works can now be viewed at the Salvado Bicentenary Exhibition at the New Norcia Museum and Art Gallery, and they will be on display for the next 12 months.

Although New Norcia is largely self-sufficient, there are still ways that this government can help to ensure its long-term sustainability, including supporting my call for urgent infrastructure funding to build a much-needed bypass road for the increasing volumes of heavy traffic that pass by the town on the Great Northern Highway. About 1,000 vehicles, including road trains and triples, use this road every day. At present there are valuable European artworks hanging on monastery walls which are only metres from these extremely wide truckloads. This is causing not only the town's ambience to be disturbed but its tourism ventures to suffer as well, due to dangerous road conditions. I encourage my federal colleagues on both sides of the House, and my state colleagues, to support my call for funding and to take the time when they are in Western Australia to witness this unique community firsthand.