The opening of the Cobargo Bushfire Resilience Centre has been delayed until later in 2026.
Construction of the new multi-million-dollar community facility has just been completed and funding spent five and a half years after fires tore through the town.
But the Centre’s Vice Chairperson Rhonda Ayliffe said the delay is beyond their control.
“We will have a bit of a hiatus getting our OC up, occupation certificate,” she said.
“We won’t be opening when we hoped which was the very beginning of next year. It’ll be a longer than that.
“We have to wait for the project next door because we have a joint driveway and we have a footpath that needs to be built in one piece.”
The centre will feature a 30-seat cinema, exhibition spaces, an indoor garden, a cafe and retail space.
Ms Ayliffe added while the building and the activities undertaken inside will focus on the future, they will also never forget the past.
“We have a commemorative garden and we do note what happened here in a very quiet and beautiful way because we did want to honour those people in our community that are no longer with us. We have worked with some of the family to make sure this is done in a beautiful way,” she said.
“So we do not forget what occurred but we don’t really put it up front in people’s faces in a really obstructive way.
HISTORY
The Centre’s website provides a history of how the new facility came about.
“In the dark hours of the night on NYE 2019, a small blaze that had ignited some days early in remote bushland some 50kms to the west of the township of Cobargo, exploded into a pyroclastic firestorm that raced through Yowrie and Wandella, Verona, Upper Brogo, Quaama and Cobargo.
“In a handful of hours, the Badja Forest Rd fire devastated the entire region: destroying more than 300 homes and razing a large section of the main street of Cobargo village. Tragically the Badja Fire took the lives of 6 people, 4 from the Cobargo district.
“The Cobargo Bushfire Resilience Centre Inc. was established in the aftermath of the Badja Forest Rd Fire as the keystone rebuild and recovery project for the main street of Cobargo after Brian and Mary Ayliffe, owners of one of the destroyed buildings on the main street, elected to donate their land to the community to kickstart the recovery process.
“Following months of community engagement, and with financial assistance from the Cobargo Community Recovery Fund, CBRC Inc. appointed TAKT Studio to create a concept design for the Centre. In June 2021 Cobargo Bushfire Resilience Centre successfully secured $4.8M in funding from the BLER (Bushfire Local Economic Recovery) Fund to undertake construction of the Centre on 70-72 Princes Hwy Cobargo.”
