Hub for our Heroes: Mackay RSL Sub-branch will soon have a temporary home in the CBD
HUB FOR OUR HEROES: A local consortium with plans for a $200 million development on the riverfront provides interim home for Mackay RSL Sub-Branch
Mackay
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Mackay RSL Sub-branch will soon have a temporary home in the CBD while its members pursue long-term plans for a social and welfare centre in town.
The Sub-branch has been without a home since the RSL Club closed its doors in 2008.
The Daily Mercury's Hub for our Heroes campaign, which launched on Monday, is asking the Mackay region to get behind two projects dedicated to helping our service men and women as well as our first responders.
One project is a social and welfare centre in town on the waterfront, the other a wellness hub at Kinchant Dam.
Plans are progressing for part of a $200 million development on Mackay's riverfront to include a revived form of an RSL club that would give a social connection to the community while providing veterans access to support services.
ReNew Mackay, the local consortium behind the vision for Mackay's city heart and riverside, is today announcing plans to establish a project office in Chaseley House in Sydney Street.
ReNew Mackay project directors Craig Percival and Sean Kelly said their consortium would
freshen up the Art Deco building to become its headquarters as it begins Stage 1 of a mixed-use masterplan for the CBD waterfront precinct, which they believe can become a transformative project for the region.
Mr Percival confirmed ReNew Mackay had offered to share the building with the Mackay
RSL Sub-branch while their plans for the nearby site evolve.
He said the RSL Sub-branch would use the complimentary space for an office and to hold
meetings.
ReNew Mackay, along with PTSD Frontline and the RSL Sub-branch, are supporting a longer-term push to establish a social and welfare centre in town as well as a health retreat at
Kinchant Dam for war veterans and emergency service workers.
"ReNew Mackay is a big supporter of the RSL because of the longstanding service they
provide to the community,'' Mr Percival said.
"It's more than a decade since they have been without a permanent place to carry out their
administrative duties and hold their meetings.
"When this space became available it just seemed like a good fit for us to help them so that
they can continue to support almost 3000 veterans who call the Mackay region home.''
More Hub for our Heroes stories:
Mackay GP, veteran throws support behind Kinchant Dam centre
The tragic cost of serving in the Australian Defence Force
PTSD: 'If we get them in early, they'll be all right'
Mackay backs plans for revived RSL club in town
Daily Mercury launches Hub for our Heroes campaign
Hub for our heroes: Plans to find veterans a home in Mackay
Why Mackay should be home to a revolutionary wellness hub
'We didn't even have PTSD. We used to call it being bomb-happy'
The ReNew Mackay plan is part of the 172ha Mackay Waterfront Priority Development Area, which was approved by the state government in 2019 following Mackay Regional Council endorsement.
Chaseley House was one of 13 city centre buildings designed by renowned Mackay architect
Harold Vivian Marsh Brown and opened as a department store in time for Christmas in 1937.
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