4 days of South Burnett fun for visiting media

THE South Burnett Regional Council has just hosted their first ever media famil, which mostly included basking in the beauty of the region.

REGION SHOWCASE: The South Burnett Regional Council team responsible for the four-day media famil: Craig Tunley, Danita Potter, Kristy Board and Julie Foley. Picture: Madeline Grace

THE South Burnett Regional Council has just hosted their first ever media famil, which mostly included basking in the beauty of the region while enjoying local food and wine.

Proceedings kicked off on Thursday, March 21 at The Bunya Mountains and ended with a kayak tour on Sunday morning.

South Burnett Regional Council's senior economic development officer Craig Tunley said he was pleased with how the famil ran.

"We've had famils in the past for external sponsors. We've just never had one run by the council for the media,” he said.

"So we decided at a PR meeting that a media famil may be good idea for The South Burnett.

"We've been talking about this idea since mid year 2018. Then we've been in planning and development for the famil since late last year. Behind the scenes there's a lot of support from operators and businesses that you don't really see happening.”

Council's tourism officer Julie Foley said the famil was a chance to showcase The South Burnett through the media.

"The South Burnett just has so much to offer. Especially in terms of our local produce, food, and wine,” she said.

"Every single activity that we've incorporated into our first media famil is to showcase The South Burnett as well as possible to attract more tourism, people, and their business.

"It's been such a great few days and we've all really enjoyed ourselves.”

Mr Tunley said for him the focus was on four icons.

"Everything we do in destination marketing we talk about the four icons. So for us those are The Bunya Mountains, food and wine, the rail trails, and the dams,” he said.

"We will always try and organise events around those four icons. Because we know that those are the four things that continually and consistently bring in tourism and people to The South Burnett.

"It's also about dispersing people in our region once they're actually here. So those icons help with that. Being able to showcase those icons and get media involved in activities around those icons with this famil is really important to us at council.”

Both agreed the famil was about sharing stories and experiences from The South Burnett with outsiders.

"The weather has really put on a spectacular show for us. We're very fortunate for that bit of rain we got last week. It's now looking the greenest it has in a long time,” Ms Foley said.

"And, that's worked out to be just in time for our famil. It should make for some great images from the visiting photographers we have here.”

"This event here is the realisation of so many peoples visions. Having it actually all come together in such a great way has been amazing,” Mr Tunley said.

There are plans for more South Burnett Regional Council famils in the near future.

"It will certainly be the first of many. It should just continue to expand,” Ms Foley said.

"Next time we're hoping to focus more on food and wine. That just seems to be what people love the most about The South Burnett,” Mr Tunley said.