Here, Mr Pearce tells us why everyone in Bendigo should experience something at Ulumbarra.

David Bridie and some of Australia’s finest indigenous artists gave us a performance to remember, a wonderfully appropriate acknowledgement of the Dja Dja Wurrung and their connection to the country on which we stand. 

Bendigo has never seen anything like it. Because of course we’ve never had a venue capable of staging such a performance.

The opening of the Ulumbarra Theatre was a great occasion for our city. 

It represented the culmination of a long held civic dream for a fully functioning, high quality theatre. 

It also highlighted the benefits of local partnerships and what can be achieved when different levels of government collaborate. 

The project enjoyed significant bipartisan support and benefited from the patronage of all our local politicians. 

It also highlighted two key advantages of our city. Bendigo is big enough to attract support and to deliver on projects. 

But we are small enough to retain the sense of community and create the partnerships needed for projects of this type.

Something has been made of my role in the Ulumbarra project. In truth, what has been created on the site of the old Bendigo Gaol far exceeds my original vision. 

For that the credit lies chiefly with the City of Greater Bendigo: with its councillors who supported the concept and with its CEO Craig Niemann and his staff who helped expand upon and deliver the vision.

There are many people who should be thanked for their role in this project but none more so than Stan Liacos, Rachel Lee and David Lloyd. Bendigo should be forever grateful for their efforts.

As the capacity crowd gathered together at Friday night’s opening they could see for the first time the transformation of a derelict gaol into a stunning new facility, at the heart of which sits the 1000-seat Ulumbarra Theatre. 

Head architect Matt Dwyer’s work in combining the old and the new is to be applauded. On Friday his greatest pleasure was that the theatre itself “performed”, both acoustically and functionally.

For those of us closely involved in the project it was a great delight to see the looks on people’s faces as they entered the theatre through the old Marong Wing of the gaol. 

The decision to showcase the gaol in this way adds significantly to the experience of those who come to the theatre and Stan Liacos deserves the credit for this idea.

It is no secret that the official opening took place against a backdrop of frantic work from hundreds of tradesmen to deliver the venue on time. 

There were still scores of workers on site late on the morning of the opening. 

The marshalling of the workforce and the managing of the complexity of the site, including the latent heritage conditions, is a great credit to Contract Control Services and their many sub contractors.

What visitors to Ulumbarra will also understand is that surrounding the theatre itself is a wonderful set of new facilities for Bendigo Senior Secondary College students in music, drama, theatre studies, dance and hospitality. 

There is a stunning new café and a range of courtyard spaces for students. It will fundamentally change the experience of our students. 

Ulumbarra sits on college property and we have a significant investment in the facilities so we will enjoy privileged booking rights and our students will make daily use of the facilities. 

But the theatre itself will be managed by the city and prove to be a wonderful asset for other schools and a wide range of organisations beyond the performing arts community. Please come and use it. 

The Ulumbarra project had its critics. We were told the site was unsuitable, that we couldn’t build a proper theatre at this price, that there were better uses of civic funds. 

It was pleasing to see some of those critics at the site over the weekend. 

To the others, and to those who may not yet understand what has been done here I have a simple request. Come to Ulumbarra.