Dubbo tourism: Wiradjuri centre costs, designs revealed
Designs for a new $4 million ‘first of its kind’ Aboriginal tourism centre in western NSW have been unveiled as a local council blames project delays on Covid.
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The doors to a new “first of its kind” Aboriginal tourism centre are expected to open by the end of 2022 in Dubbo, however a council responsible for delivering a smaller-scale project of a similar nature in the neighbouring town of Wellington cannot say when it will be delivered.
In 2017 after Wellington and Dubbo councils were forcibly amalgamated like multiple others across NSW, the state government went on a spending spree to warm voters up to the idea of new, bigger councils.
As part of the largesse, the new Dubbo Regional Council was given millions for projects ranging from pools, to traffic lights, a museum and other tourism initiatives.
In the initial cash splash, a total of $1.5 million was allocated for a Wiradjuri Tourism Experience in Wellington and Dubbo, with $900,000 spent on recently constructed garden which forms part of the Dubbo component and $600,000 on the refurbishment of a building which forms part of the Wellington component.
In September, after years of deliberations, the council announced a local committee of Aboriginal advisers had awarded a Sydney-based company the tender for the design of the Wiradjuri Tourism Centre buildings in Dubbo.
The council’s culture and economy director, Natasha Comber, said estimated total cost of building Wiradjuri Tourism Centre in Dubbo would be about $4.16 million, with the council chipping in an undisclosed amount and the state government paying for the bulk of the project through the various additional grant programs.
“It’s expected construction of the Wiradjuri Tourism Centre will be complete in 2022,” Ms Comber said.
“There were 27 design tenders in total, of which two were local.
“Unfortunately neither firms had previous experience in this very specialised field of cultural tourism and more specifically, First Nations cultural tourism.”
Ms Comber told The Dubbo News the Wiradjuri Tourism Centre would be home to indigenous artefacts like ancient carved trees.
“There will be a separate tender process for construction of the building,” she said.
“The Wiradjuri Tourism Centre will be the first of its kind and calibre in regional NSW.”
According to council budget documents, the facility will cost the council another estimated $1.47 million to operate over its first four years of operation.
Ms Comber did agree the estimate was correct, however she suggested indirect benefits to the local economy would outweigh the costs of the council operating the facility.
“Currently the economic value of the tourism sector in the Dubbo region is over $290 million,” she said.
“These developments and the potential increase, not only in domestic, but also international visitation, have the potential to see that value increase substantially as the increase in visitor length of stay increases.
“This facility is in a location which is readily accessible from the major metro markets and so will also have the ability to leverage international tourism as markets start to reopen post-Covid.”
While work on the Dubbo development has progressed, the Wellington component of the tourism experience remains undelivered, behind schedule and facing an uncertain future with no completion date in sight.
The Wellington Wiradjuri cultural centre will be built in the old Visitor Information Centre at Cameron Park and originally it was expected to be completed before the end of 2019.
According to a media release updated on council’s website in January 2020, work on the $600,000 Wellington project was on track to be completed “next month”, but more than a year later the project remains unfinished.
A council spokesman said “Dubbo Regional Council continues to work with Wellington Local Aboriginal Land Council (WLAC) to achieve a positive outcome for the community”.
“The new mayor, new council CEO, local (Dubbo state Nationals) MP Dugald Saunders and other council staff have recently met with WALC representatives on site and after the Covid-19 emergency response, the collective group will work towards a successful model for implementation in the near future.”
Deputy mayor of the Dubbo region and Wellington-based councillor, Anne Jones, said “one of the reasons” the development hadn’t progressed any further was because of Covid.
“I think our Aboriginal community is concentrating on trying to do what needs to be done to get our indigenous population vaccinated and the cultural centre, I believe, needs to wait until they’ve got that in hand,” she said.
“I was at the last meeting between the Lands Council, Dugald Saunders, the mayor and myself and the CEO … we were all fired up, ready to go.
“Peoples’ lives are more important at the moment.”
Attempts were made to contact the Wellington LALC for comment, however multiple calls went unanswered.
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