Targeting tourism growth
Flinders Ranges Council covers an area from Mount Brown Creek in the south to Arkaba in the north,
a distance in excess of 100 kilometres. It takes in the western side of the Flinders Ranges to near Carrieton and Cradock in the east, a distance of approximately 45 kilometres. In total it is 4,198 square kilometres of the magical Flinders Ranges and as such is the gateway to this popular tourist destination.
Home to some 1,800 residents, its main townships are Quorn, Hawker and Craddock.
The Flinders Ranges Tourism Operators Association (FRTOA), with strong support from the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC), the Northern Regional Development Board and Local Government, has started an ambitious tourism development initiative – the Mountains of Memory project. Hinging on the geotourism strengths of the region, the project has developed over the past two years through ongoing consultation between tourism operators, community members and other interested stakeholders.
A successful application to the Australian Tourism Development Fund resulted in funding of $250,000 for a planning and development project, with the following five key components:
- development of a brand statement for the Flinders Ranges
- a regional interpretive plan
- an operator training program and related resource materials linked to the interpretive plan
- a merchandise strategy
- a marketing and communications strategy.
To be completed over the next 12 months, the project has already seen a series of branding workshops and interpretation consultation meetings. As these initial consultations are finalised and strategies developed, the remaining strategies will be addressed.
The development of a geotourism strategy was inspired by international recognition of the unique and ancient Ediacaran fossil fields in the region. The Ediacaran period is named after the Ediacaran fossils, which are the earliest examples of multicellular life on earth and were found in and around the Flinders Ranges! Stretching from 542 to 635 million years ago, examples of these fossils have now also been found at several other locations around the world in rocks of the same age. This is the first time a geological period has been named in over 120 years, and it is the first time a geological period has been named after rocks in the Southern Hemisphere.
What is geotourism? The National Geographic Society defines geotourism as “tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place – its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage
and the wellbeing of its residents”.
While the common theme of the project is geotourism, there is a place in the strategy development for all experiences offered to visitors to this region. The project encourages all stakeholders with a passion for tourism to become involved with the coming consultation processes.
The Mountains of Memory project, through its extensive consultation and planning processes, will establish a master plan for tourism growth and development throughout the Flinders Ranges region over the coming years.
For further inquiries, contact Project Manager, Deb Clarke, on 0409 672 957 or email clarkedeb@bigpond.com
Sharing services sharing solutions
Recent changes to South Australian legislation have increased the cost of compliance for Councils. Councils are now required to have Development Assessment Panels and Audit Committees, comprising independent persons and elected members. The independent members of those bodies are entitled to sitting fees, expenses and insurances available to elected members for the tasks performed.
In response to the outcomes of the financial sustainability inquiry, Councils are also required to develop and implement asset management plans and integrate the plans into a long term financial management plan.
The new legislated activities are an additional cost on Council revenues, either ongoing or one off. To address the cost of compliance, the District Councils of Flinders Ranges, Mount Remarkable, Peterborough and Orroroo-Carrieton are examining ways in which the new compliance requirements can be addressed on a shared services basis.
The Councils have met collectively and each has agreed to participate in the project by way of a Memorandum of Understanding. This will ensure that the sovereignty of each Council is maintained, services are expanded and existing employee numbers maintained.
The first action point has been the formal agreement to create a Regional Development Assessment Panel. The move to create the panel identified an anomaly in the legislation. This has since been corrected by the State Government to enable the proposal to advance.
The Regional Panel will comprise elected members from each Council and an independent Presiding Member. Each Council will make an annual contribution to the administration of the panel and meeting costs will be defrayed on a pro rata basis by the Councils involved in matters before it. Regional Panel administration will be rotated annually between the member Councils.
The formation of the panel is being facilitated through a grant provided by the Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Paul Holloway. The grant will be used to assist founding members of the panel to install video conferencing facilities to overcome distance issues and contain travel costs. It will also help with the finalisation of meeting procedures and processes, the training of Regional Panel members in the application of new law and the roles of panel members.
The creation of the panel has been supported by each member Council reviewing the Development Plan and converting it to a consistent format.
Councils have also been developing a similar approach to the requirement to form an audit committee. While each Council must have an audit committee, the rationale behind the joint approach is the securing of personnel with Local Government and financial management experience to form the committees.
The participating Councils believe the regional approach will allow the use of qualified and experienced people on a cost effective basis and at the same time provide for a consistent and efficient discharge of the role of an audit committee as set out in the enacting legislation.
Small communities more often lack people with the required skills, and by getting the scale right it is hoped that this matter can be resolved by providing an appropriate ‘package’ to secure people with the appropriate skill set. To meet the prescribed requirements for asset management plans to integrate with long term financial plans, the Councils are looking to engage the appropriate personnel to develop templates for the registers and plans, provide qualified advice on depreciation factors for the respective classes of asset against the expired and unexpired life cycle costs of the assets, and the funding of depreciation through the long term financial plan.
Small rural Councils do not have the resources to individually engage the resources required for this project work. The delivery of the services outlined above, and other concepts being considered, has the ability to enhance service delivery to the communities involved in a cost effective and efficient manner. The Councils already have in place functioning arrangements for the provision of development control and environmental and public health activities. Expanding the regional service delivery task will allow the participating Councils to meet legislated obligations at the lowest possible cost to each Council by reducing duplication and providing consistent service standards across the communities involved.
Tackling a long road to recovery
In January 2007, thunderstorms occurred across the Flinders Ranges district as a result of a tropical depression that moved down from northern Australia. The heaviest rainfalls happened on Saturday
20 January, with 250 millimetres of rain falling in the Cradock area (150 millimetres in six hours), and 187 millimetres at Hawker.
All roads in the Hawker environs were damaged, while at Cradock, where the worst damage occurred, roads were completely obliterated, creek beds realigned and numerous river gums uprooted and washed away. Isolated heavy thunderstorms also damaged roads in the Quorn area.
Another thunderstorm east of Hawker on 14 February 2007 resulted in 75 millimetres of rain that washed away some of the repaired roads in the area. Another rainfall event in the same area on 19 February 2007 saw 62 millimetres of rain again wash away repair works. Fortunately, the Quorn area was not as severely affected, with flooding occurring close to the Willochra Creek.
The floods totally destroyed 16.3 kilometres of road, washed away or washed out 88 major creek crossings, ten culverts and five retaining walls at creek crossings. In all, over 650 kilometres of Council’s road network were affected by these rainfall events.
The total cost to repair the flood damage was estimated at
$2.95 million. This value was reduced to $2.52 million after allowing for the deduction of life cycle costs. Council will receive $1.95 million from the South Australian Local Government Disaster Fund to assist with the repair costs.
The initial response to the flood damage repairs was to reopen roads, providing intercommunity connections. Council was hampered in these works due to the gravel pits used to source road materials being flooded. The removal of tonnes of river stone and silts was a mammoth task for Council’s small permanent workforce, who worked long days to re-establish the major road network. As access to the gravel pits was achieved, contractors were engaged to accelerate the reconstruction or reformation of roads.
The major elements of the affected road network have been cleared of flood debris and road construction programmed according to Council’s structured road hierarchy. However, it will still be many months before the minor and lower priority roads are returned to pre-flood condition.
Regrettably, pastoralists have been unable to secure any financial support to replace the many kilometres of lost fencing or the cost of restocking livestock lost in the floodwaters.
