An interview with Kym Fuller, Manager Community and Economic Development,
Central Darling Shire Council, New South Wales.
Covering over 53,000 square kilometres, Central Darling Shire is the largest Shire in New South Wales, yet has the smallest population, with less than 2,000 residents. The Shire’s major economic activities include pastoral, horticultural, agricultural, mining and tourism.
Wilcannia, the administration centre of the Shire, has a fascinating history of river heritage, having once been the prime port for the shipping of wool for the entire western district of New South Wales. It has a large number of sandstone buildings and a rich Indigenous culture. Other tourism opportunities include the opal mines at White Cliffs; the Darling River which stretches 100 kilometres across the Shire; and the town of Menindee, which was the stepping off point for Burke and Wills as they left what they knew as civilisation and headed into the vast interior of Australia.
While larger, more resourceful councils tend to split the roles of tourism and economic development, Kym Fuller believes one is crucial to the other, with the community an underlying factor for the success of both.
“Councils, especially those in rural and remote areas, must have a healthy community spirit before they even look at economic development or tourism,” he said.
“The term ‘tourism’ alienates locals. The local agriculturist or horticulturist sees the Government – both State and Local – putting money into tourism, and they see it as support for the guy that owns the local hotel only. They don’t understand the concept of tourism and that it is actually attracting economic growth. This makes it difficult to get them on board in working together to market their town or region as a destination, as they just don’t see how it could benefit them.”
Kym Fuller said the key to overcoming this is language and education.
“We really need to start with the language we use when we are speaking to our communities, as they often don’t understand the flow on benefits of tourism,” he said. “We need to change the terminology we use and use different words that our communities understand. For example, at Central Darling, rather than using the word ‘tourism’, we now use ‘building community capacity and pride’.
“We approach people and ask them if they would be interested in getting involved in a program that would uplift and generate ‘community spirit’ in the area, and they are more than happy to get involved. From this, residents are more willing to come up with their own list of priorities for what needs to be developed in the town, and we would ideally have their support when it comes to passing things through Council.”
Kym Fuller said this interest enables Council to work through a list of community wants one at a time.
“It is much easier to work together with the community on things they want done, rather than having 50 individual people throwing requests of all types at us,” he said.
As well as previously working in tourism for Broken Hill City Council, Kym Fuller has also spent 20 years in the tourism industry, specialising in destination marketing for Hong Kong and wholesale holiday product in Australia, the USA, New Zealand and Europe. Through these roles, Kym has found that people commonly look at the product they want to promote, but don’t actually look at the place it is located in.
“Tourism should never be looked at as a stand alone sector,” Kym said. “It is a flow on effect from successful economic and community development. A town may have the physical infrastructure for a tourist attraction, but the economics of how that attraction is managed and promoted is how we can attract money to a town.”
Kym Fuller said the major benefit of economic development initiatives is seeing the community working together.
“With a sense of pride comes optimism,” he said. “And this puts a different outlook on things. People begin to think about a new business or getting training to start a new job like a tour operator, hairdresser or the like.”
In an attempt to build community spirit, Central Darling Shire has just finished filming a series of 30 second commercials, titled ‘Why I Love Where I Live’.
Kym Fuller said television is a major form of entertainment in the Shire, but as it is a remote area, residents have limited access to commercial stations, which have no local content.
“Residents would often see ads for a new car or furniture, but the business would be located as far away as Townsville,” he said.
“There was no opportunity for our own businesses to promote their products in the local area to people who would be likely to buy them.
“Through the new ads, Council has been able to take advantage of an opportunity to promote the region as a desirable place to live and visit.”
The new commercials involve eight people talking about why they love where they live, thus evoking pride in their community.
Kym Fuller said it is hoped that the ads will result in more cooperation and coordination and a healthier relationship between Council and the community.
Council is now encouraging local businesses to develop advertising packages to promote their businesses.
