Although there have been no confimed cases of coronavirus in Tamworth, the city is already feeling the impacts of the nation and state-wide mandates to stop the spread of the virus.
The Australian Country Music Hall of Fame at the corner of Murray and Peel streets will be closed until it is deemed safe to reopen.
Tamworth Powerstation Museum will be closed from tomorrow for the foreseeable future to
minimise any possible risks to its mostly elderly volunteers.
Council's director of gallery and museums, Bridget Guthrie, said the volunteers are passionate about their work at the museum but felt they had no alternative but to step away from their roles temporarily as part of the community-wide measures needed to slow the spread of COVID- 19.
Volunteer Ron Greer said it was not a decision taken lightly.
“We are all disappointed that this has had to happen," he said.
"A large number of the people who visit the museum are elderly and many of the volunteers are elderly.
"Some of our volunteers have health issues which are well managed but it makes them more vulnerable – we have to act in the best interests of everyone’s health.”
In the coming weeks, there were 12 bookings for museum tours including school groups and some visitors from South Australia.
Mr Greer spent this morning contacting them all to advise them of the museum closure. He said some of the volunteers will continue to work behind closed doors in groups of three or four at a time as there are cataloguing tasks and work to be done to maintain and update displays.
The Harmony Day events planned for March21, at the Tamworth City Library and
Tamworth Regional Gallery have been cancelled.
‘You are a Living Book’ was an event at the library aiming to bring the community together to share and listen to stories of belonging and acceptance.
At the gallery, ‘Elsewhere’ exhibition curator Sam Bowker was to give a guided tour.
Tamworth Regional Gallery and Tamworth City Library have reduced their public programs with no large scale events going ahead.
Small events including Storytime and Innovation Studio classes are going ahead at this stage.
Both the gallery and libraries are open for their usual hours. The home library service is continuing to operate.
The Tamworth Regional Council citizenship ceremony scheduled for Thursday this week has been cancelled.
A group of 61 local residents were ready to become Australian citizens. They were born in the Philippines, India, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, Iran, Egypt, Morocco, Malta, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Taiwan and Ireland.
Candidates will now be part of the next ceremony which is currently scheduled for May 21. In circumstances of urgency, the Mayor will provide one-on-one ‘’ceremonies’’.
Council’s Section 355 Committees have suspended their meetings and events until June 14 in line with the NSW Minister for Health’s Public Health Order 2020.
Any halls managed by Section 355 Committees remain available for hire and use with individual hirers or event organisers to carry out the usual required risk assessment.
The annual Gore Student Exchange for ANZAC Day has been cancelled for 2020. Local
student Bailey Wolrige was to visit the Tamworth Region’s sister city in New Zealand and
take part in its ANZAC Day commemorations.
A Gore ambassador was to have visited Tamworth.