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About Breaking News Program Dates Feedback Donate Contact Industry Cluster Message Board		Enterprising Rural Communities Study Tour 2004 – Australia Wednesday, November 10, 2004 Last night we stayed in Healesville, Victoria. The Healesville Motor Inn is similar to the mom and pop type hotel found along many busy highways. (Note: in Australia a "hotel" is the same thing as a pub or tavern. You go to the hotel to grab a beer.) Most notable about it was the little one foot square doors beside the main door of each unit. We decided it must have been a prison at one time. Or perhaps they used the little doors to deliver the continental breakfast. While it looked as though the building's purpose had always been as a hotel, that seems like a lot of fuss to simply avoid opening the main door to deliver a tray. But the existence of those doors may reflect some observations we've been discussing regarding the Australian people. The people we've met have been without exception (except for one harried young woman at the Qantas Airline counter) unfailingly polite, courteous, and eager to hear of our journey. We have encountered no ill will from anyone and all have been most helpful and engaging. However, when passing people on the sidewalk they do not meet your gaze and seem a little uncomfortable when you greet them. This is quite different from Wisconsin Rapids, where people greet you at a minimum with a smile and "hello." We thought perhaps the people here are more conscious of other's "space" and in fact are being mindful of another's privacy when keeping to themselves on the street. If you stop them to ask directions, they then are as friendly as can be. This is just a subjective observation from a group of perhaps overly extroverted Midwesterners. And speaking of the group; what a wonderful gaggle of traveling companions we are! We all get along fabulously. And more importantly for the purpose of this trip, we all possess personal strengths that harmoniously complement one another's. We try each day to discuss the previous day's travel. Without exception everyone contributes and everyone brings a unique angle to the discussion. It is primarily through these discussions that I am able to report the day's events to you. Make no mistake, this journal is a joint effort of all. It represents a taste of all we're discovering and would be impossible to complete without their participation. A bright, sunny day greeted us through the continental breakfast door as we prepared to depart Healesville. As we made our way through the low mountains called the Dividing Range, a ground hugging mist enveloped the carpet of trees and grassy fields. Our first stop of the day is the Beechworth Bakery, in Beechworth Victoria. This bakery has been a driving force in the revival of Beechworth, with owner Tom O'Toole being an inspirational entrepreneur. In earlier years, Beechworth was an important gold mining town. During the Australian gold rush, which took place about a decade after the California gold rush of 1849, Beechworth was home to around 16,000 people. Today that number is closer to 3,000. A huge number of the original brick buildings remain. The downtown area is wonderfully restored to give one an excellent sense of the environment found in an 1860s downtown, with many opportunities to purchase products to take that feel good feeling home. The streets are busy with tourists these days, with over a million visits a year to the Beechworth Bakery. Times are now good for the town. Not too many years ago things were on the bleak side. There was an unrealized potential to attract tourists. The Beechworth Bakery can be credited with doing much to revive the town's economy. Tom O'Toole promotes the town as much, if not more, than the bakery in his advertising. And his advertising is unconventional. He uses give away programs and database marketing to communicate with customers, 25 percent of whom are local residents. Feedback opportunities dot the walls of the bakery, along with a selection of 225 baked goods. He was instrumental in creating the chamber of commerce, of bringing a common vision to local businesses, and convincing other businesses to come to the area. His management style is "spot on." All employees perform all jobs. Beechworth Bakery hires for attitude and trains for skills. And it shows. The books are open to employees, with no secrets withheld. Tom O'Toole makes a telling point: It's not necessary to be hugely better than your competition to create a successful business. After all, in horse and auto racing it's often a smidgen of time that separates the winner from the losers. And for Beechworth Bakery, that smidgen is drawing people by the millions. After the bakery we visited with Nolene Allen at the Court House Museum. Housing State of Victoria offices for years, the State moved out of the court house, turning it over to the community to create a museum. It's a fascinating archive of Gold Rush law, the primary focus being on Australian folk hero Ned Kelly. The interpretive nature of the museum portrayed history with a sense of immediacy. Nolene gave us all scripts and we reenacted the trial of Ned Kelly. It was all great fun. We next met Tammy Atkins, Regional Development Officer for Indigo Shire. With a huge business park called Logic in the works and a major distribution center confirmed, the challenge of the shire is to assure the infrastructure to support an additional 2,600 residents over the next 10 years. The shire is pushing the rural lifestyle to young professional people and business entrepreneurs from the Melbourne Area. The goal is to keep the people working, living, and spending their money in the shire. The shire seeks dollars to fund a study to determine infrastructure needs for its new residents. Construction of the business center alone is expected to create 600 jobs. According to Tammy, the Shire knows many of the questions to ask but lacks the financial resources or commitment to fund the research. Not everyone is pleased with the prospect of change. She noted that several councils consist primarily of those in the agricultural field, who are concerned with the influx of people to the community. Tammy feels buy in will come eventually, especially after the necessary studies have been performed. We left the meeting with many of us, quite honestly, scratching our heads. It seems dangerous to us for the Indigo Shire (akin to a county) to believe that growth could be managed without working with adjoining areas, primarily the state of New South Wales, which could be expected to gain population as well as Indigo Shire. Yet there was no regional focus. And while the local authorities knew they needed to plan for the growth, there was an underlying uncertainty of the best way to accommodate it. In nearby Myrtleford, we met Darren Murphy, Executive Director of the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail. With 98 Kilometers completed, this award winning trail attracts bicyclists and ATVers to enjoy the countryside via an abandoned railroad right of way converted into a trail. Spurs off the trail bring many riders to those small towns that are not directly on the trail. There is no charge to use the trail and Darren says the potential impact of the trail on the nearby communities is only limited to one's imagination. The trail has brought increased customers to existing businesses and spurred the creation in Myrtleford of a bicycle shuttle business and the expansion of a caravan park (akin to an RV park) and bicycle repair shop. Buses have increased their bicycle carrying capacity and there is work being done to create festivals and other attractions to draw people to the area. Through the use of grants and lottery funds, Myrtleford has recently installed "story boards" along its downtown area. The story of the area is told on these attractive, modern looking markers. It's a story that's getting around; six percent of trail traffic last year came from the U.S. Dinner for most of us on Wednesday night was in Beechworth at the Commercial Hotel. Aaron and Al visited nearby Lions and Rotary clubs. I leave you with beautiful blue skies above, lush green grass below, and the Dividing Range in the background. Tomorrow we continue our journey with a visit to the town of Bendigo.
		Copyright © 2004, Community Progress Initiative, South Wood County & Town of Rome