Mount Gambier Council taking over at iconic city tourism sites under overhaul

Operations at two of SA’s most iconic tourist spots have been taken over by a local council, with jobs lost in the transition – but staff can reapply for their positions.

Engelbrecht Cave as seen from the air.

A council decision to take over two of Mount Gambier’s most iconic tourist sites has ended with people losing their jobs, a former operator says.

Mount Gambier Council have taken over operations of Engelbrecht Cave, and will do the same at Umpherston Sinkhole in October this year, as the former operators retire in a tourism shake-up for two of the city’s most famous sites.

However, it means staff at Engelbrecht Cave lost their jobs and “joined the unemployment queue”, former operator Jan Coleman said.

Ms Coleman – who has run Engelbrecht for the past 10 years – said a member of her close-knit staff expressed an interest in taking over about 12 months ago when she decided to step down.

She said the staffer had invested her own time and expenses into preparing to step up, but council had “decided to reclaim their asset”.

“In the 38 years that Engelbrecht Cave has been operational, it has always been operated by parties other than council,” she said.

“I understand they are wanting to unify their assets and have uniformity across the board, however it is unsettling for my staff, as they too, were aware of the other member planning to carry on operations, which meant for them, keeping their jobs.

“It’s a bittersweet situation … I am happy and proud of what I’ve achieved over the past 10 years but I feel sad for my staff as they have no choice but to now leave a workplace they love and join the unemployment queue.”

The Engelbrecht Cave site has been temporarily closed since council took over the reins at the end of June.

Engelbrecht Cave operator Jan Coleman said goodbye to the site at the end of June 2024. Picture: supplied

Council’s infrastructure general manager Barbara Cernovskis said staff could apply for jobs at the tourism sites.

“We will be engaging staff and we’ll be putting them through the training program to be able to deliver the consistent visitor experience,” Ms Cernovskis said.

“(Council is) giving the site a bit of a tidy up. We’re doing a bit of a refresh and we’re getting ready to be open again around mid-July.

“We’ll be looking at offering tours, branded merch and some light refreshments – so it won’t be a coffee shop as such any more.

“But we’ll continue to offer services at the site, which is very much loved by locals as well as tourists.”

Council is also taking over operations at the Umpherston Sinkhole kiosk and souvenir shop when current operator Julie Holdsworth retires in October.

Under a tourism overhaul that includes a new visitor centre hub in Commercial St, it is planning a new ‘hub and spoke’ model, Ms Cernovskis said.

The new visitor centre hub on Commercial Street would service ‘spoke sites’ at Engelbrecht Cave, Umpherston Sinkhole, the Blue Lake Welcome Centre and Lady Nelson, where the visitor centre currently is.

Council already operates Blue Lake and Lady Nelson.

Umpherston Sinkhole, Limestone Coast, South Australia credit: Adam Bruzzone escape 11 July 2021 cover story secondary destinations

“With Jan and Julie informing us that they were ready to retire, it presented the council with the opportunity to consolidate those tourism assets and look at reshaping and contemporising how we deliver our visitor service experience,” Ms Cernovskis said.

“With council being able to service these areas, we’ll be able to get a really good understanding of what the visitors are looking for in terms of an experience, but also keeping in mind that these sites are also much loved by locals and making sure we don’t compromise these sites for them.”

The Lady Nelson visitor centre site will be repurposed, with council seeking new ideas to house the city’s creative industries and/or historic collections.