Stuart Bell, Border Mountains Tourism Association
With domestic tourism set to expand over the coming years, communities along the border have been working hard to prepare for this growth. A recent meeting was held at Legume to discuss current plans that are in place to expand tourism.
Community interest was very high with over fifty people attending from Liston through to Urbenville, all interested in discussing future tourism plans. The meeting was attended by Janelle Saffin, Member for Lismore and Peter Petty, Mayor of Tenterfield Shire. Mr Petty thanked everyone at the meeting for their interest and expressed Council’s ongoing support and commitment for tourism developments along the border.
A planned Border Trail from Woodenbong through to Tenterfield was discussed in detail. This area is within easy access of the population centres of South-East Queensland. With the population of the South-East corner growing to 2.6 million people, the opportunities for tourism along the border are enormous.
The aim of this trail is to link the various villages and tourism operators throughout the region and to encourage new business ventures. Mount Lindesay Road is the lifeblood for tourism in the area, as most tourism flows along this road. The recent upgrade of the road provides the area with significant promise for the future. This project is designed to use the road upgrade as a scaffold to promote tourism throughout the region.
Discussions have been held with tourist operators around Killarney, who will benefit from the increase in tourist traffic from this trail.
The Border Trail is designed as a multi-use trail that provides cycling and walking experiences as well as drive routes. The key to the project is the provision of signage along the many backroads and trails in the area to promote a self-guided experience for all manner of tourists, whether they are interested in walking, riding or driving. The aim of the project is to create signage that explains the history of the border communities and the many natural wonders of our area.
The proposed trail traverses the Heritage Listed Gondwana Rainforests in the east through to the temperate forests around Bald Rock in the west. It travels past fifteen significant waterfalls and many significant heritage sites. The trail moves over volcano country, from the Wollumbin Volcano to the caldera of the world’s largest volcano around Bald Rock. Parts of the trail follow the path taken by Allan Cunningham and along the original Cobb and Co track. The trail traverses an area that is home to well over 300 species of native birds and many endemic and rare species of native animals and plants, including an area considered by the National Quoll Recovery Plan as one of the most important populations of the Spotted-tailed Quoll in Australia.
Janelle Saffin reiterated the concerns expressed by many residents of the significant economic and social impacts that bushfires, drought and border closures have had on these border communities. She supported the tourist initiatives that had been discussed at the meeting as key mechanisms for recovery. Janelle committed to continuing to support border communities in seeking government support for these initiatives. In a statement to the meeting, Janelle outlined her desire to see the Border Trail commence construction, as the first stage of a plan that will see tourism thrive along the border.
This Border Trail has the full support of Tenterfield Council and a flow of grant funds to commence work on this trail is expected in the coming months.
