May 20, 2014
The Nanango Tourism and Development Association (NaTDA) has launched a new tourist guide to help promote Nanango and the South Burnett to visitors attending the town’s major annual events.
The new guide – a broadsheet which features a Nanango street map on one side and a district map on the reverse – pinpoints tourist attractions and amenities within a 40km radius of the town.
NaTDA president Gloria Kirkness said the group hoped to distribute the map to visitors who attended annual gatherings such as the Nanango Country Music Muster, the Waterhole Rocks, Nanango Campdraft and other similar events, as well as those who stayed in the town’s motels and bed and breakfasts.
The guide lists NaTDA members at no charge, but non-members can advertise on it for $20.
The guide was launched at Nanango’s Easter Saturday races and is currently being printed in short runs of between 2000 and 5000 copies.
Mrs Kirkness said this was because frequent changes are being made to the layout as NaTDA membership grows.
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Nanango now has a new story to tell tourists – a story about itself.
Thanks to Country Design and Print, a sign has been erected below the windmill at the “grey nomads” parking area at Tipperary Flat.
The sign reproduces articles which appeared in the Courier-Mail earlier this year about Nanango’s status as “Queensland’s most generous town”.
The article reported that according to data released by the Australian Taxation Office, although Nanango’s average income is $51,000, 67 per cent of its taxpaying residents donate an average of $153.42 per annum to charitable causes.
This makes Nanango’s townsfolk the most charitable in Queensland.
Cr Barry Green said that since the sign was erected a few weeks ago he’d noticed many people who stopped at the park read it.
He hopes to have a second copy of the sign erected near the Scott Car Park soon and thanked Country Design and Print for their generous sponsorship.
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The Nanango Funfest Heritage Mardi Gras committee will be holding a Bridal Show on Saturday, May 31, at the Nanango Cultural Centre in George Street as a fundraiser for this year’s Mardi Gras.
The show will feature a display of wedding photos, a fashion parade of historic Nanango bridal dresses, and a wide range of wedding services exhibitors.
There’ll also be wedding planner packs on sale for $5, and a Devonshire tea will be included in the $5 entry fee.
The Bridal Show will run from 9:00am to noon.
The next fundraiser after the Bridal Show will be a Casino Night in July, but details for this have yet to be finalised.
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Danielle Turmaine has been appointed as NaTDA’s representative to the South Burnett and Cherbourg On Show committee.
The event will have its third outing on the October long weekend, and the Nanango Heritage Mardi Gras will be one of more than 60 events being staged throughout the region at that time.
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NaTDA’s “Adopted Spot” on the D’Aguilar Highway will be rewarded with special signage from Clean Up Australia in the near future.
For the last year, NaTDA members have staged quarterly clean-ups of a stretch of the D’Aguilar Highway from the Tarong turn-off to Brown Street.
The group has now been advised that Clean Up Australia will provide signs so the stretch can be marked as an official “Adopt A Spot” location.
The next clean-up will be held from 9:00am to noon on Sunday, June 15.
Anyone who would like to become involved is very welcome to join in.
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Cr Barry Green advised the meeting the upgrade to Nanango’s CBD currently being undertaken by the South Burnett Regional Council is expected to be completed by the end of December.
Cr Green said engineering difficulties associated with ancillary works – such as the replacement of the former Drayton Street timber bridge and the installation of traffic lights at the Drayton Street intersection – had slowed progress.
However, he remained confident the result would be “well worth it”.
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NaTDA also received two presentations at the May meeting.
One was from Joanna Burnet about her company’s VisitOz operation at Goomeri, which trains and then finds work for foreign backpackers.
Mrs Burnet explained the history of her business and how it had grown over the years to become one of the largest of its kind in Queensland, now hosting in excess of 800 backpackers a year.
The second presentation was from South Burnett Tourism Association president Bernie Cooper, former SBRC Mayor David Carter and Elaine Madill from the Wondai Regional Art Gallery, about running a “Tourism Ambassador” program in the town.
The trio explained the idea behind the program was that many businesses in the South Burnett benefited from tourism without realising it, and their front-line staff were often the first people that tourists encountered.
A good presentation could encourage tourists to stay longer and spend more in the local economy to the benefit of everyone, while a bad presentation could have the opposite effect.
They told the meeting a trial of the concept in Wondai earlier this year with front-line staff from traditionally “non-tourist” businesses such as accounting practices, newsagents and chemist shops had produced “very positive” results and they would like to run a similar course in Nanango.
The course would be free for participants.
Nanango businesses who would like to find out more about the program can obtain more details by phoning Gloria on (07) 4163-2848.
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NaTDA will write to the South Burnett Regional Council to request the road to McCauley Weir be re-opened.
McCauley Weir Road is an unsealed road that links Old Esk Road with McCauley Weir on Cooyar Creek, formerly part of Nanango’s water supply infrastructure.
A locked gate a short distance along the road currently stops vehicles from proceeding any further.
NaTDA will request Council replace the gate with a cattle grid so tourists and local residents can again access the site.
The road has been closed since March 2012 because the Council considered the road was unsafe and didn’t have the funds to carry out road repairs.
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NaTDA’s next meeting will be held in Nanango RSL’s Long Hai Room on Thursday, June 19, at 5:30pm. Potential new members are very welcome to attend.
