Oliver Darby listens to the waves.
From left, CEO Mike Archer, Oliver Darby, Cr Tom Tuffin, project manager Jeff Offer, jetty consultant Steve Disley and the shire’s Kevin Kealley sign off on the jetty.
BUSSELTON Jetty has finally been completed.
The last section, beyond the Underwater Observatory was finished this week and is open to the public from today.
The handover between the City of Busselton and contractor was officially signed off on Monday.
“It’s been a very great project. Sydney Marina, now Swan Marina, have done a fantastic job and we haven’t had any of the problems we had associated with others. It’s sad it’s coming to an end, although it had to,” city director of engineering and works services Oliver Darby said.
Acting mayor Tom Tuffin made mention to all those involved in the jetty rebuild. Sydney Marine came to the rescue after the previous contractor went into voluntary administration, leaving a fair amount of work to be completed and some local contractors out of pocket.
“The Busselton Jetty has been likened to the “heart and soul” of Busselton. Three years ago this ‘heart’ was seriously diseased; it was still alive, - but just. A large section of it had been removed altogether and the rest of it was in a precarious condition – any further attack would certainly have been fatal.
“However, now thanks to the efforts of a number of people it has undergone a very successful operation – indeed it could be called a bypass operation as the section that had been removed was bypassed with a restored section. – and so now the heart and soul of the city is beating strongly with an excellent prognosis for a very long and healthy future.”