Heart of the Nation: In search of the remote

A little town in the Mallee region of Victorian has become an unlikely magnet for tourists.

Chinese tourists at sunset on Lake Tyrrell, Sea Lake, Victoria. Picture: Jaime Murcia.

Five years ago the little town of Sea Lake, in Victoria’s Mallee region, was at a low ebb. Its traditional industries – growing cereal crops, and harvesting salt from nearby Lake Tyrrell – couldn’t sustain the population; families were leaving, shops and businesses shuttering. “It had the whiff of a dying town,” says photographer Jaime Murcia. Fast-forward to the present day and there’s a new art gallery, eight restaurants where once there were two, crowds of tourists on the streets. On a recent Saturday night the historic Royal Hotel – which reopened in June after being shut for nearly three years – was “jumping”, says Murcia. So how did it happen?

It all started with a photo. In 2014, local entrepreneur Julie Pringle had the bright idea to spruik an image of Lake Tyrrell – a vast, shallow salt lake that turns pink at sunset, and on calm nights acts as a giant “sky mirror”, reflecting the stars – to a Chinese tour agency. It shared the image on WeChat, and three days later the first tour bus arrived. Sea Lake got three tour buses that first week, five the next, and “it just snowballed from there” as each group’s photos propagated on social media, Pringle says. Some 900 visitors arrive every week now, domestic and European as well as Asian. Locals were initially confused about the influx; apart from salt mining and an annual car rally at the lake, they’d never paid the place much attention. But they’ve come round to the idea that it’s a lifeline for the town, Pringle says. And Sea Lake has joined the Silo Art Trail, too – giant murals were painted on its grain silos by Brisbane street artists in October – so the tourism dollars will carry on flowing.

The Chinese group pictured didn’t mind that the lake wasn’t full on their visit. “They come for the vast empty landscape, the clear night skies, the remote feel of the place,” Pringle says. “Remember, most of them have only ever known life in a big city. I give talks to tour groups and when I tell them we’re a town of 642 people it always gets a laugh, because most of them would have that many living in their apartment blocks.”