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Official opening of the Aurukun “Sam Kerindun Snr” Business Precinct
Maryanne Kerindun, Tony Kerindun, Darren Hooper (State Mgr, Prime Minister and Cabinet), Mayor Dereck Walpo, Edgar Kerindun, David Edwards (Aurukun Government Champion, DG of DSDIP). Image supplied
by Christine Howes 5 April 2014
T
he remote Indigenous township of Aurukun on Cape York opened its first business precinct, a community- driven initiative to help build economic opportunities. The Mayor of Aurukun Shire Council, Derek Walpo said the precinct in the heart of the small town has attracted major tenants such as Rio Tinto and the Department of Public Housing and Works, and community organization APN, which signals confidence in our future. “Until now most services such as the bank and the post office were all based at the Council office. These facilities are now part of the Aurukun Business Precinct. “It is good to have the capacity
to offer professional offices for important tenants such as Rio Tinto, APN and Bendigo,” said Cr Walpo. “Before now our town of 1400 people had one grocery store and a small takeaway outlet that opened limited hours only on week days. We now have new food services seven days a week,” Cr Walpo said. In addition to the professional offices, the Business Precinct is home to a bakery, café, light retail, and Laundromat. “It has created approximately 20 jobs, and new locally owned and operated enterprise,” the Mayor said. “This is a small step towards our strategy to create a better lifestyle for Aurukun people, and to provide the infrastructure needed to build our economic base. “We have an enormously talented cultural art community,
world-class fishing, and strong Wik families working on a range of new enterprises out on country. “The new business precinct provides the facilities our town needs to get ahead. “The building has been named after the late Sam Kerindun Snr, a much loved community Elder, who had built his family home on the precinct site in the 1930s. He had an excellent vegetable garden on the site where the old general store was located. “His children Cr Edgar Kerindun, Deputy Mayor Angus Kerindun, Maryanne Kerindun and former Councillor Tony Kerindun will be participating in the opening ceremony. “We would like to thank the Federal and State governments for funding this initiative,” Mayor Walpo concluded.
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