{"id":158058,"date":"2016-09-14T20:16:17","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T10:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=158058"},"modified":"2020-10-05T13:55:07","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T03:55:07","slug":"free-camping-ground-pays-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/09\/14\/free-camping-ground-pays-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Camping Ground Pays Off"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Murgon’s Visitor Information Centre takes bookings for the town’s 48-hour camping ground, which is attracting growing numbers of caravanners as word about the facility spreads<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

September 14, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

The number of visitors using Murgon’s free 48 hour camping ground continued to rise during the winter months, the Murgon Business and Development Association (MBDA) was told at its most recent monthly breakfast meeting.<\/p>\n

The Murgon Visitor Information Centre, which handles bookings for the camping ground, said the facility was also having a positive effect on the town’s economy.<\/p>\n

The majority of visitors who took advantage of the camping ground for short stays made purchases at local shops, and some then opted to stay longer at commercial caravan parks located nearby.<\/p>\n

MBDA president Leo Geraghty, who had championed the idea of the free short stay park to capture caravanners who had formerly driven through Murgon, said he was pleased to see word about the facility was spreading amongst the recreational vehicle community.<\/p>\n

The MBDA will arrange a clean up of the camping ground in the near future in preparation for Spring.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Yallakool and Lake Boondooma Tourist Park park manager Corey Goldie told the meeting that the 48-hour free camping ground hadn’t had any negative effects on Yallakool’s own bookings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The park is recording good trading figures, he said.<\/p>\n

During August, Mr Goldie said an average 63 of Yallakool’s 68 powered sites were booked out, and lots of single night stays ended up staying longer – a pattern that was being repeated at Lake Boondooma.<\/p>\n

Mr Goldie also reported the South Burnett now has a substantial presence in the Australian recreational bass fishing industry.<\/p>\n

In the recent grand final of the national bass fishing competition, 10 of the 30 finalists came from the South Burnett.<\/p>\n

In addition, several rounds of the competition had been held at Lake Boondooma and Bjelke-Petersen Dam during the last year, bringing many anglers to the region.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Morris Ware – the principal of Murgon State High School – passed on his thanks to Murgon businesses who had recently given students a week’s work experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A total of 55 students had benefited from the program, he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Ware also advised the meeting that 62 students are due to graduate from the high school this year, about 10 per cent more than last year.<\/p>\n

Some have already arranged traineeships, while others plan to go on to higher education.<\/p>\n

Others, though, will be looking for employment after they graduate.<\/p>\n

Mr Ware thought it was critical they found placements, even if it was only part-time, and asked local businesses to alert the high school if they had any work opportunities on the horizon.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Murgon State School principal Daniel Bishop thanked Cr Kathy Duff for her recent help with the new carpark, and told the meeting this year’s Naplan test results had been the best the school had seen.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

He also told the meeting the school is now thinking about introducing a rewards program for 100% attendance.<\/p>\n

All students with a perfect attendance record will go into a draw to win an Ipad at the end of year.<\/p>\n

He said 59 grade six students recently took a trip to Canberra, and got to see snow at Perisher as part of the outing.<\/p>\n

Planning for next year’s trip is now underway.<\/p>\n

Mr Bishop also asked MBDA members to report any truant children found in the streets, in uniform, during school hours.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Castra Retirement Home is now closing its main gate at 3:00pm to prevent residents wandering out and putting themselves at risk.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Families are being issued with swipe cards for access when the gates are shut.<\/p>\n

The retirement home still has a huge waiting list, the meeting was told.<\/p>\n

It also currently has a few work experience students helping out.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sharyn Garrett from South Burnett Directions told the meeting that 11 Murgon businesses have now joined the South Burnett Rewards program, which will kick off in October.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Any other businesses that would like to join the program should contact her for more information.<\/p>\n

She also asked if an MBDA member would like to sit on the South Burnett Rewards committee that was overseeing the program.<\/p>\n

Cr Duff volunteered.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cr Ros Heit told the meeting the new six-monthly Council rates notices about to be released will look slightly different to the former quarterly notices.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new notices will have separate headings to cover rates, water and sewage charges.<\/p>\n

Cr Heit said the reason for the change was to avoid confusion when ratepayers compared their rates notices with some coastal areas where water and sewerage charges were billed by separate utility companies.<\/p>\n

In those areas, water and sewage charges did not appear on Council rates notices, and this gave some people the impression charges in the South Burnett were much higher than they really were.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A new business that offers Bowen therapy, homeopathic medicine, natural therapies and karate has opened in Gore Street.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leanne Sippel, who had been running the business from her home, has relocated to the CBD to make it more accessible to the public.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Murgon Men’s Shed is still waiting for railway carriages the group plan to install at the Murgon trailhead to arrive.<\/p>\n

The group plan to create a railway feature at the trailhead for the South Burnett Rail Trail.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Murgon Business and Development Association represents the businesses and community of Murgon and surrounding districts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The group holds regular monthly meetings and new members are always welcome.<\/p>\n

The MBDA\u2019s next breakfast meeting will be at Murgon\u2019s Royal Hotel on Thursday, September 15.<\/p>\n

Breakfast is $15 and coffee an extra $4.<\/p>\n

More details about MBDA membership can be obtained by contacting MBDA secretary Margaret Long at Murgon Real Estate on (07) 4168-2922 or 0413-488-418.<\/p>\n

\"Community<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The number of visitors using Murgon’s free 48 hour camping ground has continued to rise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":141928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,402,3],"tags":[28],"yoast_head":"\nFree Camping Ground Pays Off - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The number of visitors using Murgon's free 48 hour camping ground continued to rise during the winter, the MBDA was told at its monthly breakfast meeting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/09\/14\/free-camping-ground-pays-off\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free Camping Ground Pays Off - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The number of visitors using Murgon's free 48 hour camping ground continued to rise during the winter, the MBDA was told at its monthly breakfast meeting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/09\/14\/free-camping-ground-pays-off\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-14T10:16:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-05T03:55:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/20160414-murgonvic.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dafyd Martindale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dafyd Martindale\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/09\/14\/free-camping-ground-pays-off\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/09\/14\/free-camping-ground-pays-off\/\",\"name\":\"Free Camping Ground Pays Off - 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