Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge some wonderful events in my electorate and I want to start with the South West Indian Group and their Diwali festival of light that was held in Bunbury on Saturday evening. Dr Ramesh, who is the chair of the committee, did an amazing job along with a small group of wonderful volunteers. We had a wonderful MC by the name of Sammi and a range of very colourful and entertaining performances. Of course there was sitar and Bollywood-type performances as well as traditional dancing and other performances. We even had a fire dancer. People were very entertained by children and adult performers in a variety of ways.

The Bunbury City Band, a renowned band in the south-west, always comes along and entertains and is part of our Anzac services and every major event it volunteers for. Once again, they were here at the Diwali festival of light. There was also a very interesting fashion parade as part of the performances in the evening.

Several hundred people came from around the south-west to enjoy this Indian festival. Part of the reason they came was for the beautiful traditional food that was served. There were long queues for the food, but it was very well managed. Everyone who came along had a wonderful evening. It was particularly well organised, and I want to congratulate the South West Indian Group for yet another very successful event.

Equally, I want to talk about the Augusta spring flower show. Again, Augusta is a very small community with a lot of volunteers. This particular show has amazing and beautiful flowers, and very creative people. There are also cooking displays, art and craft, and a fantastic creative scrap metal type of art on display. A lot of the work is done at the Men's Shed in Augusta, and the community puts together this event each year. People travel from quite a distance to be part of this event, and you get a wonderful homemade afternoon tea as part of that.

The other event I want to talk about is one I went to on Saturday—the South West Rose Society show. They do an amazing job every year. The blooms were beautiful this year and, again, a small group of volunteers do an extraordinary job.

The final thing I want to talk about—something close to my heart as someone from the transport and logistics industry in my family—is the Heritage Park in Dardanup, which held a 100-truck display on Sunday. It was absolutely fascinating to see so many vintage trucks present in one place. The trucks ranged from very early vehicles through to the most modern four-trailer road trains. I was very impressed that there was a 600-horsepower truck that actually carts a decent sized scraper. I saw this on the road recently.

If I can put a personal plug in, my father's beloved 1948 Diamond T truck was one of the stars of the show. It is fully restored. He worked this very hard in his life. The truck is in mint condition as he is very particular. A testament to how serious he was about his machines is that he actually built the shed for the trucks first before he built the family home. It is no wonder that, along with a whole range of other wonderful trucks, some beautiful Mack trucks—I have a lot of respect for Mack and Kenworth as they produced some fantastic vehicles.

We saw so many historic vehicles, including an old Foden. Everyone who came along was amazed and they all got to vote for their favourite vehicle. Because it was only yesterday, I am yet to find out which was the most popular and favourite truck of all of the people who came along. It was a huge effort but one greatly appreciated, and it was a walk through history for everyone who came along. The Dardanup Heritage Park is a wonderful example of what a community can do.

Question agreed to.

House adjourned at 21.29