The Victorian Government is pitching in $800,000 towards the $1.75 million Nichols Point Recreation Reserve Sports Facility project, which is a joint venture between all user groups and Mildura Council.
It’s a rare thing to see such collaboration, but in the case of the Nichols Point community, it’s been proven that where there is a determined will, there is a way.
Consider this. The little ground at Nichols Point is home to the cricket club, the soccer club and is used by the Sunraysia Rugby League, Sunraysia Cricket Association, Football Federation Sunraysia, the neighbouring primary school and other community groups.
It is packed with people almost every night of the week, as well as weekends.
So to say this project was much needed and overdue is a gross understatement.
Let me declare my bias. I live in Nichols Point and played cricket at the club, so I speak with first-hand knowledge of how dilapidated and inadequate the current facilities are.
Women and girls are forced to change in the carpark, the cricketers operate out of a run-down tin shed that often floods, and the public toilets are in an isolated location that means the girls don’t go there alone at night, and the men often disappear behind the shed instead.
It’s not quite Third World stuff, but for a growing community with a large number of female and junior participants it certainly falls well short of society’s expectations.
The project will build new female-friendly changeroom facilities, along with umpire changerooms compliant with cricket, soccer and rugby, and a social space for the community.
The growth of the clubs involved and the area demands all this and more.
Last season, Nichols Point Cricket Club had the most teams nominated in the SCA, which is an achievement in itself given the club only joined the SCA First Division in 2015-16.
The Nichols Point Soccer Club is this season in the top two teams for participation rate.
While sporting clubs can often be at loggerheads, these two clubs, along with the Sunraysia Rugby League, knew they needed each other to build something for the community.
Egos were set aside and the process for the new pavilion started in a small council room on Fifteenth Street in 2018.
In 2019, after receiving initial costings of the project, all parties were under the impression it would be dead in the water as it would prove too expensive.
But with the involvement of Mildura Council, and the addition of Nichols Point Incorporated, a new approach was developed with the blessing and focus of all community groups. Tellingly, too, they had Member for Mildura Ali Cupper going into bat for them at State Government level.
As one cricket club official said to me this week, there were “very little disagreements along the way”, which is itself a credit to all involved.
Remember, too, that all these clubs have suffered a great deal during the pandemic.
Their bottom lines have taken a hit, so the financial challenges of going dollar-for-dollar on this project remain.
But here they are, on the verge of building something that will make a difference for their community, with work expected to begin next year.
I will leave the last line to my cricket clubmate, who shared this observation:
“Nichols Point might be a sleepy hollow at the moment, however there are passionate people out there prepared for what is about to come.”
