THE unveiling of the three-metre statue of Saint Mary MacKillop in front of Sacred Heart Cathedral has kick started the Aspire Cultural and Charitable Foundation's vision for the site, foundation chair Gordon McKern says.
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The foundation officially announced its $15 million plan to develop the area around the cathedral into an interfaith, community and business hub.
The hub will be called the "Aspire Precinct".
Speaking on Friday as 800 people gathered on the hillside outside the cathedral to see the sculpture of the famous saint, Mr McKern said the event meant progress was being made on the Aspire Precinct.
"Now you can actually see things happening. It makes a wonderful difference," he said.
Mr McKern said the plan had full support of other faith leaders in the region, including protestant Christians, Buddhists and Muslims.
He said the foundation decided to erect the Saint Mary MacKillop statue on top of the hill, away from the busy road and planned precinct to provide a quiet place for people to meditate.
The foundation has been working on the plan for several years.
The unveiling of the statue is stage one of the Aspire Precinct plan with subsequent stages to be announced as construction gets underway in 2015.
The hub will be in front of Sacred Heart cathedral down the hill on High Street.
It will include an interfaith "interpretive centre", cafe, retail outlets, spaces for business meetings and events and a stairwell leading up to the hill to the cathedral.
A fact sheet released by the Aspire foundation stated the interpretive centre would explore the themes of 'faith in daily life in the Goldfields', 'the art and ritual of faith from Gold Rush to now', 'faith in today's community' and 'translation of faith into civic value'.
It stated the centre would feature photographs, archival documents, newspaper clippings, religious art and other items showing the history of faith in the region.
The Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst is providing the initial funding and local and national philanthropic organisations have started to contribute to a new Precinct Development Endowment Fund.
Bendigo-born businessman and philanthropist Gerry Ryan has donated significant funds to the project.
The project will also seek funding from state and federal governments.
