One of the world’s largest Tapa bark cloths, Ngatu Me’a’ofa, unveiled in full in Blacktown City for the first time in 50 years

THE Australian Museum has come to Council’s Blacktown Leisure Centre Stanhope, where it found a space large enough to unveil a 15 metre by 29 metre Tongan Bark Tapa Cloth (Ngatu Me’a’ofa), that was a gift from the people of Tonga to the Sydney Opera House for its opening in 1973.

Councillor Moninder Singh welcomed Her Royal Highness, Princess Angelika Lātūfuipeka Halaevalu Mata’aho Napua Okalani Tuku’aho, Princess of Tonga, local Tongan community members and dignitaries from the Australian Museum and the Sydney Opera House.

This is the first time the cloth has been fully unrolled in 40 years. The Australian Museum used the Leisure Centre Indoor Stadium floor space to allow the Museum’s conservation team to safely roll out, check over and photograph the cloth ahead of a planned digital display in the Museum’s new Pasifika Gallery.

Blacktown Leisure Centre Stanhope is Council’s flagship leisure facility located in Stanhope Gardens. The Centre opened its doors in 2003 and since then has attracted over 16 million visitors.

Blacktown Leisure Centre, Stanhope, continues to attract major events and offers the community the latest in an exciting range of health, aquatic, leisure and recreation programs and services.

This includes pools, gym, group fitness, creche, 4 court multi- sport stadium, Aqua Learn to Swim, Kidz Blitz school holiday program, tennis courts, squash courts, spa and sauna, and venue hire.