reaching new heights with 'lofty'

The 31-metre tower crane supporting delivery of the new Tamworth Mental Health Unit will be known as “Lofty", following a huge community response to the project’s ‘Name the Crane’ competition.

Almost 1,000 votes were cast between the three finalists with “Lofty” receiving 707 votes, followed by “Burralga” (local Aboriginal word for the Brolga crane bird) in second place and “Bunji” (meaning “mate”) in third place.

A total of 185 entries were received from members of the community, including patients, families, staff, volunteers, and school students. The finalists were selected by staff at Hunter New England Local Health District, representatives from construction contractor Hansen Yuncken, and Health Infrastructure.

The top three names were submitted by Brenda Mears, Fidelis Jaravani and Megan Hall, who all received gift vouchers.

Photo: Brenda Mears (centre) at the unveiling of “Lofty”, the name she suggested for the giant crane helping to construct a new mental health unit at Tamworth Hospital. Also pictured (from left) Hansen Yuncken Project Manager Claire Betteridge, Hunter New England Local Health District Quality Assurance Manager Kate Bowman, competition runner-up Fidelis Jaravani and Health Infrastructure Project Director Lachlan Falconer-Adams.