The Nannup geopark hub project has marked significant progress towards construction, with building contracts signed and a licence application submitted to the Shire of Nannup.

Nannup WA Geopark chairman Mark White said the progress followed the announcement of Lotterywest funding in April.

“So much has been happening since we last communicated with our members, supporters and followers,” he said.

“Following the announcement of the Lotterywest grant on April 18, and the funding from our other major supporters, Talison Lithium and the Shire of Nannup, we were able to go back to the contractors to finalise their quotes for our project.

“We are pleased to say that even though over a year has passed since they first quoted, we have been able to secure the project with a few tweaks to the budget.”

Mr White said the building contract has now been signed, building licence certification completed, the site survey carried out and the builder has engaged a steel supplier.

He said consultation is continuing on the sculpture works, which includes hard signage and letters, a 3D map display, globes, a curved bench seat and other design elements.

According to Mr White, the hub construction forms only one part of the geopark’s recent achievements, with the organisation also progressing education and tourism projects across the district.

“Earlier this year the Nannup WA geopark launched its first citizen science project, focused on measuring carbon growth or decline,” he said.

“The Nannup school has already started measuring carbon in locations that are situated on school grounds.

“The students will literally be learning about their backyard.”

Mr White said the group had also developed a Nannup geopark app, which includes information about the geopark and its trails.

He said the app had recently been expanded through a collaboration with the Nannup Chamber of Commerce to include the thylacine trail, known in the app as the Tigers in The Forest trail.

“The trail is linked to beautiful models of the Nannup tigers around the town,” he said.

“The information in the app has been put together by Derek McNutt, who collated photography and mapping for each of the tiger models.

“Biologist Paul Todd has contributed very detailed information regarding thylacines, their history, their predators and their eventual extinction most likely due to numerous environmental and biological conditions.”

Mr White said the geopark’s next priority was getting the members’ area of its website running, where reports, newsletters, conference details and workshop information would be made available.