An artist’s impression of the “Big Plane Tail” to be installed as a tourist attraction. Watercolour: Beryl Semple.
Wagin has the Big Ram, Wyndham has the Big Croc, and now Hopetoun is getting the Big Plane Tail.
The difference is, this one is not a replica.
On Tuesday Ravensthorpe Shire voted to organise a site to display the tail from the 737 Large Air Tanker that crashed in the Fitzgerald River National Park as a display and tourist attraction.
When installed at the corner of Jerdacuttup and Ravensthorpe-Hopetoun Roads, it is to stand 10 metres high and 14 metres across.
It is a project of the Hopetoun Aero Club, whose representatives received bolts that held the fuselage together in an informal ceremony after the Tuesday Council meeting.
Shire president Tom Major said it would help boost local tourism.
“This will be an awesome reason for people to pull off that Esperance Road, head to Hopetoun, see the tail in in place and learn about the history of the place,” he said.
“Once they’re there they’ll have a look around and enjoy what the area has to offer.
“So I think the project has a lot of merit and I think the Hopetoun Aero Club have done a lot of work to this point.”
Council also took the opportunity to clear up a legacy issue.
Parts of the roadside land belong to the WA Department of Planning Lands and Heritage which, although currently used as the Hopetoun Aerodrome, are not technically under Shire control.
The Shire is asking for this “unallocated Crown Land” and “unmanaged reserve” to be excised and formally put under Shire control.
Council is also asking the Lands minister for permission to excise part of the land it leases to Hopetoun Aero Club as “aerial landing ground” and change its purpose and use to “tourism”.
This would then clear the way for the three bits of land to be used as a single block for which the Shire is seeking “power to lease” to the Club.
