How creative tourism planning is helping the remote Aboriginal Community of Kalumburu

‘Where on earth is Kalumburu?’

Kalumburu is a very special and relatively untouched part of the world, located in the remote north-east Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is the traditional home of the Kwini people, who have cared for this country for thousands of years. The landscape has been carved over millennia by the mighty King Edward River, and features rocky red sandstone outcrops rich with ancient Wandjina and Gwion Gwion rock art, crystal clear freshwater waterfalls and rock pools and a stunning coastline full of fish ready for the catch and oysters the size of your hand. Although this sounds like paradise, living in and accessing such a remote location is not without its challenges. The closest township to Kalumburu is Kununurra, over 550 km away; access is either via a 4WD dirt road or light aircraft; the community is home to 400 people, with more than 45% of residents available for work currently unemployed.

How can tourism help Kalumburu?

Despite its remoteness, Kalumburu is becoming increasingly popular with self-drive visitors who come to the area for coastal camping, fishing, hiking and nature enjoyment. This increase in visitation has created a unique opportunity for the Kalumburu community to be involved in and benefit from tourism.

In February 2019, TRC Tourism was engaged by the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation and East Kimberley Job Pathways, a federally funded training and employment program, to work with the Community on tourism planning and development. We met with local Community members to learn about their tourism and business aspirations. This was followed by visits on country with local custodians to understand the current tourism offer, the existing challenges and possible new opportunities. In collaboration with the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation Board, we developed a short-term Tourism Action Plan. The Action Plan clearly identified the need to:

  • Support local people with business planning, product testing, training and funding opportunities
  • Improve awareness of Kalumburu and the activities and experiences on offer
  • Understand more about the visitors already coming to Kalumburu, why they are visiting, how they rate their experience and what their recommendations are.

Designing culturally appropriate and community driven solutions

The community were keen to implement the Action Plan, and as such, TRC was contracted for a further six months (May – October 2019). Our role was to support the implementation of the Plan through monthly community visits. During this time, together with community members we:

  • Developed and commenced implementation of a Tourism Marketing Plan 2019/20 and designed promotional materials
  • Designed simple tailored business plans for five individuals interested in starting or growing their tourism business. It was important that each person clearly articulated their own vision for their plan and the steps to delivery were based on individual strengths and capabilities
  • Undertook real life product testing, training and mentoring
  • Developed an online visitor survey which attracted more than 100 responses and resulted in a 2019 Visitor Survey Report and longer term Strategic Directions Report to align with visitor needs and expectations
  • Applied for grants to support implementation of the range of project initiatives
  • In collaboration with the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation Board, developed an overarching Kalumburu Community Business Plan. This holistic plan provided appropriate actions to address social, economic, health, environmental and cultural issues faced by the community and impacting long-term community sustainability on all fronts.  

Building trust

‘TRC has built a trusting relationship with various individuals in Kalumburu and people have expressed how easy it was to work with them. We would like TRC to continue working with community members.’ Maria Lovison, CEO Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation.

As with all projects, we understand it takes time to develop trust, the main ingredient needed for project success. How do you do this? By taking the time to look, listen and feel so that we may learn the whole story; by underpinning tourism planning with the philosophy of ‘tourism for good’. Specifically for this project, we also used participatory planning techniques and applied an ‘Indigenous Lens’ or way of seeing to our approach. This approach ensures that local people proudly own, are empowered by, and can achieve their tourism vision.

As we move into 2020, with excitement we will be cheering on the sidelines for the Kalumburu community as each plan comes to life and realisation. For us, this project hasn’t just been a job –Kalumburu has become a part of TRC’s story, with memories and friendships made that will last a lifetime.