Final morning tea: Visitor Information Centre volunteers Fran Martin, Lorraine Healey, Lois Tonkin, Mike Jolly, Marg Smith, Jenn Rendle, Janis Wilson, Lyn Suffolk, Pam Strom, Graeme Robertson and Bryan Pickthall gathered on the day to say goodbye. Photos: Aidan Briggs
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
Anger, disappointment and sadness permeated Echuca Moama Visitor Information Centre as those present prepared to close the building.
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As volunteers gathered for the final morning tea, a volunteer of about a decade, Lois Tonkin, said it was “just so sad” to see the centre come to an end.
“I tallied it up and since we opened here in 2011 volunteers have put in thousands hours work. They were hours they weren’t paying people and all just to help the community,” she said.
Ms Tonkin was deflated as she spoke about the reality of the situation.
“This is it though, it’s closing and it’s the end of the story. The town is going to miss out,” she said.
Another volunteer Lyn Suffolk said she believed this was an economically viable service that they were providing.
“I was here on August 5 and I saw the girls had taken in $30,000 worth of bookings in five days,” she said.
“It’s a pretty sad decision because we have got a history that’s incredible and it’s all just so, so wrong,” she said.
Employee Pam Strom said it was the passion of the volunteers that made different things in the area seem like such a great weekend activity for tourists.
“If you just pick up a brochure and look at it, you might be interested, you might turn up there, but if someone’s giving you their passion you’re definitely going to decide to go to that place,” she said.
Janis Wilson said that even as someone who lived here she didn’t explore lots of things until she learnt about them while volunteering at the centre.
“I (had) gone past that Cactus Country a hundred times and it wasn’t until I started here that I actually went in,” she said.
On its final day, the centre’s car park was filled with people from all different states, unaware of the historic nature of their visit to the venue.
“We didn’t realise it was the last day until we just went in there and we don’t understand it,” South Australian visitor Kelly Norris said.
“We don’t know the area so we come here for help and advice and we get that from information centre. But with no information centre you might just go through the town.
“We come from a town with barely a thousand people. You don’t expect one there, but we’ve still got one. Then you come here and this place is huge and you haven’t got one?
“It’s stupid and very selfish decision I think for the council to not think of the tourists. We need help. We need help when we come here.”
Barry Lyons and his wife Lorraine said they couldn’t comprehend why such a decision had been made.
“It’s dumb and disappointing,” he said.
“When we visit here we always come in and buy some local produce to take with us. It’s so useful — both the location and of course the staff.”
Busy: Echuca Moama Visitor Information Centre’s car park was packed on the closing day.
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
Accurate information is the key to a good trip and Tracey Green said even just in the few days she’d been here it was knowledge from the people at the visitor information centre that saved her from near trouble.
“We were planning on going down the tracks to look for fishing areas and they were the ones able to tell us not to today because we won’t get back out,” she said.
Goodbye: Trish Gilbert, Danny Gilbert, Allan Smith-Procter and Karen Smith-Procter at Echuca Moama Visitor Information Centre’s last day.
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
Trish and Danny Gilbert and Allan and Karen Smith-Procter, who are semi-regular visitors, said it was important to always go to the visitor information centre.
“We come to information centre before we even stop at out accommodation because it’s so useful and it updates everything,” she said.
“You learn so much from locals who really care about this place and about you having a good time.”
Accurate information is the key to a good trip and Tracey Green said even just in the few days she’d been here it was knowledge from the people at the visitor information centre that saved her from near trouble.
“We were planning on going down the tracks to look for fishing areas and they were the ones able to tell us not to today because we won't get back out,” she said.
Trish and Danny Gilbert and Allan and Karen Smith-Procter, who are semi-regular visitors, said it was important to always go to the visitor information centre.
“We come to information centre before we even stop at out accommodation because it’s so useful and it updates everything,” she said.
“You learn so much from locals who really care about this place and about you having a good time.”
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