#Scrapped: Quarry Gardens (Toowoomba)

[Danubis]

UTOPIA - Toowoomba

I started a thread on this last year but has since disappeared. Here is a revamped version. Pretty cool project in my opinion.

Original Site -

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/quarryaerial004small.jpg

Proposal -

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/siteplan.jpg

Brochure -

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/brochure1.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/brochure2.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/brochure3.jpg

Possible unit development to accompany -

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/qgunits.jpg

Official Website -

http://www.quarrygardens.com.au

[Danubis]

Taken from National party website -

Toowoomba would become an international tourist destination with the world-class Quarry Gardens project to receive a $20 million funding injection from the National-Liberal Coalition Government.

State Coalition Leader Lawrence Springborg announced the funding commitment while officially opening the campaign office of The Nationals’ Candidate for Toowoomba North, Ian Douglas today.

Mr Springborg said the funding would be used to turn Toowoomba’s unused quarry into an international tourist attraction with gardens from periods throughout history, extensive water features, grassed plaza areas for outdoor concerts, and sheer cliffs offering views of the Great Dividing Range and the Lockyer Valley.

“Toowoomba is known as the Garden City because of its array of beautiful gardens and the annual Carnival of Flowers that draws thousands of tourists every year,” he said.

“But the Quarry Gardens project will put Toowoomba on the map internationally and provide a 365-day-a-year attraction that will be a gateway to other tourist attractions in the region, such as the Jondaryn Woolshed, the wineries of the Darling Downs and Granite Belt, and the heritage areas of Warwick.”

The announcement was warmly welcomed by The Nationals’ Toowoomba team – Member for Toowoomba South Mike Horan, Member for Cunningham Stuart Copeland and The Nationals’ Candidate for Toowoomba North Ian Douglas.

Mr Horan said the Quarry Gardens would provide jobs for young people and stimulate economic growth in Toowoomba.

“The Quarry Gardens will be a real boost to the Toowoomba TAFE by increasing interest in courses such as landscape gardening and hospitality,” he said. “The $20 million funding will also be used to develop a gardening education centre that will link in with the Toowoomba TAFE.”

Mr Copeland said the $20 million Coalition contribution would be the catalyst to launch this exciting project proposed by the Toowoomba City Council.

“The National-Liberal Coalition’s $20 million commitment would fund a majority of the estimated $30 million required for the initial completed stages. Private enterprise would fund the tourist complex at the site and the Quarry Gardens would continue to be a growing and developing garden,” Mr Copeland said.

“While tourism is often associated with the coast, inland tourism is growing in popularity and this project demonstrates the National-Liberal Coalition’s commitment to ensuring inland Queensland regions also benefit from the lucrative international tourism market,” Mr Douglas said.

[Blend]

nice position. i suspect there will be multiple lookouts?

[Danubis]

nice position. i suspect there will be multiple lookouts?

I count five specific look out areas in the diagram... but you would have an amazing view of the lockyer valley at any given point in the parklands... it is afterall perched on the side of a mountain

[Danubis]

no one has any thoughts about this one? its bigger then roma street parklands people!!! its bloody huge.

[Danubis]

Got a response from the Toowoomba City Council Today -

________________________________________________

Daniel Johnson

Thank you for your enquiry regarding the status of the Bridge Street Quarry Gardens project.

The Master Plan for the site was considered by Council in October 2003. Council endorsed the report "Master Plan - The Redevelopment of the Bridge Street Quarry, Toowoomba (September 2003)" prepared by the consortium of consultants lead by Tracey Brunstrom and Hammond Pty Ltd as the basis for planning of the redevelopment of the Bridge Street Quarry.

The report has been placed on display at Council offices (Reading Room), the City Information Centre and the Library for the information of stakeholders and feedback.

Council also decided that funding sources for the project be investigated with State and Federal Government representatives. This task is ongoing.

Please find attached two promotional documents for your information. (The documents are in one pdf file. There is four pages in total. When printed the pages form two, double-sided documents that fold in the middle. I trust that this makes some sense.)

Thank you for your advice regarding the need to update the project website. Arrangements will be made for this to be done as soon as practical.

Please contact the undersigned should you require further information.

Regards

Greg Dinsey
Manager Project Services
Toowoomba City Council
Tel: 07 4688 6703
Mobile: 0408 088 094
Fax: 07 4688 6431
Email: g.dinsey@toowoomba.qld.gov.au
Web: www.toowoomba.qld.gov.au
Toowoomba: The Garden City

_________________________________

[Danubis]

Here is the attached documents he sent me aswell, its different to the above brochure that is available on the website and contains alot more information about the project then the other brochure and the website itself - >

(i've reduced the pics to 1/4 of their original size since people have complained my pics are too big)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/qg1a.jpg

Page One Larger Picture (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/qg1.jpg)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/qg2a.jpg

Page Two Larger Pic (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/qg2.jpg)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/qg3a.jpg

Page Three Larger Pic (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/qg3.jpg)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/qg4a.jpg

Page Four Larger Pic (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/danubiis/qg4.jpg)

[Blend]

quite a large project. give it to townsville, they need some green. you toowoombanians have enough green.

lol. I will visit this when it is complete. and i will enjoy myself.

[Danubis]

god damn it, i wrote to the people on the quarry gardens website in november, got a response as per above, saying they will update the website soon... so i checked it today, and guess what... ITS NOT BLOODY UPDATED. That pisses me off. I am going to write another letter and let them know exactly what i think of their lazy public servant arses.

[Danubis]

ABC update -

Tuesday, 18 January 2005

____________

MAYOR PUSHES FOR GARDEN DEVELOPMENT

The mayor of Toowoomba says she is more confident than ever a $60 million investment in a quarry garden would pay off.

Mayor Di Thorley has just returned from a tour of America and Canada, which included a visit to the Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island.

She says if given the green light, Toowoomba's Bridge Street quarry gardens could prove as popular as the Burchart Gardens, considered the best in the world.

"Considering you're an hour from the bus terminal in Vancouver to the ferry, two-and-a-half-hour ferry ride and then a one-hour bus ride into Victoria, the capital, then another hour out to the gardens and at a cost of about $US70 each, I find it pretty amazing that we think that we can't do the quarry gardens when we are an hour-and-20 from Brisbane," she said.

Toowoomba City Council has applied to the Queensland Government for $35 million to help build the gardens.

story -

http://www.abc.net.au/news/australia/qld/toowoomba/200501/s1283696.htm

___________

[Malt]

Looks pretty good, big project for Toowoomba

- Cafes and restaurants
- Some sort of Piazza
- Landscaping including heaps of water falls
- A museum
- Greenhouse
- Swimming facilities
- Conference Centre
- Small Hotel
- A Chairlift Across the Valley and back!
- Manmade caves (Nighttime Caves with Glowworms)
- Apartments bordering the gardens
- Education Campus
- Library
- Exhibition Centre
- Recycling Centre/Technology Park
- 'Icon Tower' (Some viewing tower?)


Lots of stuff i wouldnt have expected, but cool none the less.

[Danubis]

Friends cultivating support for gardens
4th May 2005

FRIENDS of the Quarry Gardens is on a recruitment drive, hoping to garner support for the $60 million project expected to put Toowoomba on the world map.
Friends president John O’Shea and his wife Patrea were handing out fliers and answering questions at the weekend’s Gardenfest.

Mrs O’Shea said the group already had 240 members but wanted more people, especially the young, to realise the significance of the plan.

The Quarry Gardens are expected to be the same size as the Roma Street Parklands in Brisbane.

Their "etopia vision" as described in a brochure is for "a spectacular garden parkland’’ with an educational campus, waste treatment and recycling facility, passive energy utilities, sustainable housing and an ecohotel and conference facility.

However the Roma Street Parklands had a price tag of more than $100 million, even without many of the facilities proposed for Toowoomba.

Initially the Quarry Gardens were expected to cost $2 million. However that figure ballooned to $60 million after a master plan was developed.

Toowoomba City Council needs to secure an extra $30 million for the project to be completed. This, the Quarry Gardens website says, is "obviously a major challenge".

Already almost $23 million in state and federal funding has been committed.

The Chronicle (http://www.thechronicle.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3634226&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=)

[Danubis]

a year on and still no news... im scared this will never get off the ground... and such a great project for toowoomba aswell. poop.

[Danubis]

website dosnt seem to be working anymore :( i guess nothing can really happen with this until the water crisis is sorted out in toowoomba... why cant the recycle the sewage and use it for all the waterfalls and ponds in this project?!?!

jedman... have you heard any info on this in the local media up there?

[BrizzyChris]

This was such a cool project to. Gardens that actually looked liked they could be some fun.

[Danubis]

im still pissed. i wonder what will happen to the site instead??