Millaa Millaa Falls could be subject to fee in future to save town

An Atherton Tablelands businessman wants tourists to pay to see one of the region’s most popular natural attractions — and boost the nearby township as well.

• Cairns Show Rural Ambassadors to be named
• Could this girl be the youngest to play the Last Post at Anzac Day?
• Fourth young man dies after Tully car crash

AN Atherton Tablelands businessman wants to see tourists pay to see one of the region’s most popular natural attractions — and boost the nearby township as well.

Millaa Millaa and Malanda Real Estate’s Pat Reynolds said it was time to start a discussion about charging tourists to see the spectacular Millaa Millaa Falls in a similar way the Mossman Gorge Visitor Centre operates.

A Mossman Gorge, staff help tourists plan walks around the gorge where they can learn the Dreamtime stories of the Kuku Yalanji people and visitors can enjoy a meal at the cafe or peruse the art gallery.

SUBSCRIPTION OFFER: $5 A MONTH FOR THE FIRST THREE MONTHS

For $11.80, adult visitors are driven in to the gorge itself.

“We are in the very early development phase of the idea. I have had discussions with Tablelands Regional Council who have been very interested and very supportive to the point where representatives from TRC and myself have gone to look at the Mossman Gorge model to try and make that work here,” the former dairy farmer said.

“It’s probably a five-year plan. We have to have a strategic plan of the town done to make sure we can handle all these extra people and an impact study at the falls.

“The biggest problem at the moment is the gridlock there — there are always so many people down there and everybody makes a dollar out of the falls except the town.

“We have 240,000 tourists going past every year so it would be crazy not to tap into that.”

Mr Reynolds said locals would be given a free pass and he encouraged everyone in Millaa Millaa to let him know their thoughts about the concept.

“If anyone can think up any bad reasons, we’ll fix it or walk away from it. We need to do something for the town,” he said.

“If we actually closed the Millaa Millaa falls permanently it wouldn’t make any difference to the town because so few people come in. But if we could get 50 per cent in to the town, it’d make a big difference.

“The council has told us this fits the model of helping rural towns in trouble better than anything else. If you were in Tasmania, it would be completely normal to pay and the Chinese are used to paying for things like this.”

Preliminary consultation with the local Mamu indigenous people has already started as well.

The 63-year-old said he has spent his whole life in Millaa Millaa and has watched it change from a farming town to one offering a sustainable lifestyle for professionals including marine biologists, electrical engineers and university professors

TRC Division 3 representative Councillor Dave Bilney said he hoped work would start on a

Millaa Millaa masterplan towards the end of this year.

“I know the falls precinct is part of that masterplan,” he said.

“On Monday (today, April 8), we are doing one for Malanda. It seems to carry more legs in so far as when we’re trying to budget for things in the future.

“I completely understand where Pat’s going with that (idea) and I’ve made some preliminary inquiries through the TRC on that and am still awaiting some responses.

“I’m certainly there to represent my areas in terms of making them progressive.”

Originally published as Millaa Millaa Falls could be subject to fee in future to save town