2011/12 MCG Trust Annual Report - Melbourne Cricket Ground

Executive Officer’s Report
Executive Officer’s Report
Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust
National Sports Museum
The National Sports Museum is home to Australia’s premier repository of sports-related collections,
and is also the manager of the MCG Tours.
The Museum’s exhibitions draw proudly on the Australian Gallery of Sport and Olympic Museum
(AGOSOM) collection, developed since 1986 and owned by the MCG Trust. No additions were made to
the AGOSOM collection this year.
The Museum serves the MCG’s match-day patronage, as well as catering for families, schools,
seniors and tourist groups, seven days a week. The fourth year of operation saw the Museum and
the MCG Tours receive visitation of over 135,000 people of whom 8% were international tourists
and 32% were from Australian states other than Victoria. The Victorian visitation remained steady
at around 60%, with 5/6 coming from metropolitan Melbourne and 1/6 from regional Victoria.
Attendance by school groups provided 31% of all visits. A substantial increase in after-hours
functions in the Museum, and in tours by corporate groups, has contributed strongly to the business.
The Museum’s research into the visitor experience reveals a very high level of overall customer
satisfaction. The MCG – including the National Sports Museum – is ranked in the top 3 on both
TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet’s lists of “things to do” in Melbourne.
Some 300 volunteers contribute to this success, with many individuals fulfilling more than one role.
Roughly 170 serve as MCG Guides, and a similar number serve as Museum Volunteers. A major
database project was completed during the year, and will not only improve the way we manage our
volunteers but will also result in many operational improvements.
Acquisitions to the National Sports Museum collection numbered 35 this year and included a major
donation of Teddy Tinling tennis dresses and associated material from former player Judy Dalton.
Further donations came from North Melbourne footballer Laurie Shipp and the family of the first
Indian Test cricket captain Lala Amarnath. The collection also acquired a large painting of swimmer
Daniel Kowalski by Peter Bloomfield.
The Museum was delighted to receive a major loan from Australia’s first Tour de France champion,
Cadel Evans, and his BMC Racing team. Evans presented to the Museum the iconic yellow victory
bicycle he used on the final day of his July 2011 win in Paris. The loan was arranged by the MCG
Trust as a part of its 150th anniversary celebration.
The Museum’s program of temporary exhibitions and displays continued to provide additional and
timely attractions for visitors. In the ISS Exhibitions Gallery, the program featured two major new
exhibitions: “Yilowa! Tiwi Footy” and “Hidden History of the MCG”. A range of themes was covered
by the focus case displays, covering Australian achievements in sports as diverse as boxing, cycling,
golf, rugby, yachting, tennis, hockey and ironman.
Annual updates were unveiled in relation to the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, the Australian
Football Hall of Fame, the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame, the Australian Racing Hall of
Fame and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
School visits are supported by education resource kits that teachers can download from the
Museum’s website. New kits were produced to complement “Yilowa! Tiwi Footy” and “Hidden History
of the MCG”. Two new programs have been introduced: “Writing Sports” encourages school students
to develop their writing skills, while “EYE Spy” enables small groups of young learners to focus on
specific objects in the museum and connect them to stories about the owner of each object.
Two plays were commissioned from Two Friends Productions to enrich student and family
understanding of popular themes.
Ms Ponch Hawkes, a Melbourne photographer, commenced her National Sports Museum Basil
Sellers Creative Arts Fellowship for 2011-12. The commitment of Mr Sellers to the Fellowship
program is much appreciated.
The Museum completed the “Great Netball Shootout” to develop awareness of careers in the rail
sector amongst girls and women, with generous sponsorship from United Group Limited, and
hosted a “Girls Night in the Museum” as a fundraising initiative to support the Cancer Council
in its fight against women’s cancers. A significant event in the Museum’s calendar is the annual
MCG Community Day, providing the public with arena access on the day after the AFL Grand
Final; this was a great success in 2011. Public programs were delivered in conjunction with Book
Week, Children’s Week, Education Week, National Literacy and Numeracy Week, and the Horses’
Birthday. A number of other activities such as evening talks attracted new and repeat audiences.
A themed tour entitled “The MCG, Sport and War” was launched around Anzac Day 2011.
McDonald’s was secured as a new NSM Partner to support the school holiday programs as well
as MCG Community Day, replacing Cadbury whose partnership term had come to an end.
The Museum is also pleased to welcome Russell Corp Australia as a new sponsor, and is grateful
for continuing support from Coca-Cola, Spotless, the Herald and Weekly Times, the AFL and its
broadcast partners, ISS, and Ticketek.
With support from the Australian Communication Exchange, the Museum became the first
organisation to introduce Smart Auslan, an innovation that provides an Auslan translation of
the Museum’s existing audio tour on the screen of a mobile phone. This is a breakthrough that
benefits deaf and hearing impaired Australians.
Finance
The Trust continues to be in a sound financial position with a net result of $5,972,000 in 2011/12
(before contributions to the Club for redevelopment debt repayment purposes and the State
Government grant for landscaping upgrade in Yarra Park) compared with $3,850,000 in 2010/11.
Payments to the Club totalled $5,885,000 (2010/11, $3,750,000).
On 30 March 2011, the Trust signed a Funding Agreement with the Victorian Government under
which the Government will provide $6 million towards the cost of landscaping and capital
improvements in Yarra Park. This work will be undertaken by the MCC on behalf of the Trust
over the next three years. The $2 million first instalment of the funding from the Government
was received in April 2011 and passed on to the MCC.
At 31 March 2012 the Trust held assets valued at over $177 million (2011 $131 million) including
$1.1 million in cash and term deposits. The increase in asset values from the previous year
reflected an increase in property valuations for the MCG land and Yarra Park totalling $46 million
following a revaluation by the Victorian Valuer General.
The Trust’s income primarily consists of ground rental from the MCC. The Trust then
contributes most of it’s net income to the MCC to assist in the repayment of ground
redevelopment debt. The rent charged is determined in accordance with the ground lease under
which the MCG is leased to the MCC until 2042.
Thanks
I wish to thank the Trustees for their continued support and the MCC management and staff for
their assistance and advice as the Trust has successfully completed another busy year.
Graeme Sinclair
Executive Officer
30 June 2012
Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust
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