1996: New Sydney Showgrounds plans unveiled

As we trek towards the Royal Easter Show starting Thursday Week and the 25th anniversary of the show being staged at Sydney Olympic Park, I delved through the collection and found clippings from when plans were unveiled in October 1996. 

They had eighteen months from unveiling plans to unveiling it to the world. They bought construction forward by twelve months to have it ready for the 1998 Royal Easter Show. 

 

 Source: de Vine, B. 1996. "Our $384m Show". The Daily Telegraph, October 22: 1-2. 

Compared to Moore Park, the 30-hectare site was only two hectares larger but offered 50% more floor space for exhibitions.

 

Source: Totaro, P. 1996. "Carr lifts wraps off plan for new $384m Showground". The Sydney Morning Herald, October 23: 2. 

The cost of building the new showgrounds was $384 million, more than three times the figure released in an NSW State Government cabinet minute in 1993. 

To get the venue completed for 1998, workers were offered thousands of dollars in productivity bonuses.

 

Source: Robinson, M. & Bissett, K. 1996. "Bonus ensures Show goes on". The Daily Telegraph, December 24:14. 

Below is a photo of the construction of the Main Arena from March 1997.

Source: Anon. 1997. "New show site has a ring to it". The Daily Telegraph, March 20: 2. 

The "finishing touches" were done on the Main Arena in January 1998.

Source: Snell, S. 1998. "Let's put on a show!". The Sunday Telegraph, January 4: 14. 

On 27 January 1998, the Exhibition Halls including The Dome were handed over to the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW. The Gift Show held between 21 February and 25 February 1998 was the first event to be held in the new showgrounds ahead of the Royal Easter Show.

Source: McDougall, B. 1998. " The Show goes on". The Daily Telegraph, January 28: 15.