After many months waiting, the old canteen was hoisted and swept away on the back of a tilt-tray truck, by Aaron of Gould’s Tilt-Trucks in Raymond Terrace.

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Keeping an eye on proceedings was Cyc from the Hawks RLFC, and Peter Kristina, who will be giving the old canteen a new home up the coast.

“We had to cut a metre off the end to fit on the tilt truck, under current transport regulations,” Cyc told NOTA.

“This section of the total old structure came here back in 1998, had some customisations over the years, and Peter is helping us out in a major way by taking it off our hands.”

“It was originally built from two containers, both donated, in the late 90s and early 2000s, and that old canteen has seen us through four Grand Finals, three we won, and 25 seasons of football at our home field.”

The tilt-tray’s surgical back-and-forth gently lifted the canteen from its old home, then the local mynahs and pied butcherbirds came to investigate the newly exposed land, and fossick for breakfast in ground that had not been bare for almost 30 years.

As the grind of metal-on-metal heralded progress, Aaron made it look easy, and soon the canteen was free of the surly bonds of Earth, and ready to be tied down and labelled ‘wide load’.

The cut-off metre-long section, handled by local Trent Murphy, lay as a pile of rubble, which now needs to be cleared up to make way for Stage 2A of the Complex project.

“Stage 2A will begin within four to six weeks, containing the new toilet block and meeting room,” Dacca, the Hawks’ man in charge of the Complex project, told NOTA.

“2A is ready to go, but we need to continue raising funds for 2B, which will contain a change room for male and female teams, and the kids’ teams, and at least we are moving on, in the right direction.”

By Thomas O’KEEFE