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TASAC Minutes 6 July 2016 Minutes of the Tourist Attraction Signposting Assessment Committee South West Region meeting Wednesday 6 July 2016 at the offices Wagga Wagga City Council Corner of Baylis and Morrow Streets, Wagga Wagga Members David Douglas Regional Coordinator TASAC and Drive, Destination NSW Phil Oliver Guidance and Delineation Manager, Roads & Maritime Services (RMS) Maria Zannetides TASAC Secretariat Also present Matthew Holt Visitor Economy Officer, Wagga Wagga City Council Nick Els RMS South West Region Jennifer Connor Tourism and Economic Development Officer, Lockhart Shire Council Kerrie Wise Tourism and Promotions Officer, Greater Hume Shire Council Patricia Wilkinson A/Manager, Tourism and Partnerships Unit, Office of Environment & Heritage (NPWS) Apologies Nicola James Manager, Economic Development & Tourism, Leeton Shire Council Michael Buckley RMS South West Region Greg Lawrence Manager Tourism and Economic Development, Griffith City Council AGENDA ITEMS 1. DELEGATIONS / PRESENTATIONS & REGIONAL SIGNPOSTING ISSUES 1.1 Wagga Wagga signposting issues TASAC members provided advice to Matthew on the following tourist and visitor information signage matters: (a) Pomingalarna Reserve and Murrambidya Wetlands Pomingalarna Reserve and Murrambidya Wetlands are managed by Wagga Wagga Council. They are open to visitors daily during all hours and no entry fees apply. Matthew explained that Council wishes to better promote free activities to visitors, including through the use of tourist signage. Murrambidya Wetlands, which was opened in June 2016, is north of the Wagga Wagga town centre and on the south side of the Murrumbidgee River. There are no toilet facilities at the site with the closest facilities located at Rotary Reserve. Council intends to extend a walking track through the site and to develop interpretive information about its fauna, flora and other environmental attributes. Final 19 July 2016 1 of 10 TASAC Minutes 6 July 2016 Pomingalarna Reserve is west of the town centre and north of the Sturt Highway. Wagga Wagga Golf Club is within the reserve. The reserve is also used for nature based activities, such as walking and mountain bike riding. It has several entrances and at one entry, an information panel outlines its history. The nearest public toilets are at a park in Ashmont about 1 km away. In response the Committee provided the following advice: i. The wetlands and reserve require further development before they could be eligible for tourist signposting. ii. Attractions eligible for such signposting generally need to provide public toilets at the site or in close proximity. Where facilities are not on-site, information signs at the destination must inform visitors of the location of the nearest toilets via text and a map. iii. Facilities for visitors such as walking tracks need to be established. iv. Both destinations need to be supported by written interpretive information located at the sites about their attributes, e.g. history, fauna and flora. v. The relevant TASAC application category would be Outdoor / Nature Based Attractions. The Walking Tracks and Boardwalks section of the category is generally used for wetlands and the Recreation Reserves section would apply to Pomingalarna Reserve. It was noted that TASAC signage is not available for local reserves and applications in the Recreation Reserves section of the Outdoor / Nature Based category must demonstrate that a reserve is of an appropriate scale, quality and significance to visitors to justify signposting from State roads. (b) Livingstone National Park Council is interested in improving tourist signposting for Livingstone National Park, which is 30 km from Wagga Wagga off Holbrook Road, to promote awareness of it as a nature based attraction to visitors. The park is managed by NPWS and Patricia advised that there are no amenities at the park nor is it likely that they will be introduced in the future. The park has no toilet facilities and is a day use area only for activities such as mountain bike riding and horse riding, which require people to be self-sufficient. The park’s plan of management refers to the importance of retaining a minimal environmental footprint within the park and therefore, there are no plans to introduce facilities like garbage bins, interpretive information or toilets at the park. In the circumstances, NPWS does not intend to apply to TASAC for tourist signage for the park. (c) Wagga Wagga AVIC Matt was invited to contact Michael Buckley at RMS South West Region regarding signage on local and State roads for the Wagga Wagga visitor information centre, which is accredited at Level 2. 1.2 Hermit’s Cave and signage for Griffith AVIC Greg Lawrence raised the following matters with Maria prior to the meeting: Final 19 July 2016 2 of 10 TASAC Minutes 6 July 2016 (a) Hermit’s Cave: The cave is listed as an archaeological site of State heritage significance in Griffith LEP 2014 and Council is interested in securing tourist signposting for the destination, which is located off Scenic Drive north east of the Griffith town centre. The site is named for Valerio Ricetti, a young Italian migrant, who lived in seclusion at the location from 1929 to 1952. Ricetti built a complex of enclosed rocky outcrops, walkways, gardens and terraces as well as growing crops, fashioning a shrine and engraving inscriptions on rocks. The site is considered to be a unique cultural landscape that documents Ricetti’s resourcefulness and skill as well as his interpretation and integration of natural landscape and materials to create his own environment. It is understood that visitors are able to park in a designated area off Scenic Drive where there are interpretive panels telling Ricetti’s story. From there visitors must walk some 3 km from the car park to the cave and back. Kerrie, who visited the site several years ago, reported that the walking track was not smooth and there were several rocky outcrops. Nick indicated that the curvilinear nature of the road network leading to the site from the nearest State road would require a substantial and costly signage scheme if Council applied to TASAC and the application was found to be eligible. Nick offered to visit the site in the next month or so and report back to TASAC. He will also discuss the matter with Matt Vitucchi in Council’s roads area. (b) Griffith AVIC: Maria was asked to invite Greg to contact Michael Buckley at RMS South West region about signage for the Griffith AVIC, which is accredited at Level 1. Nick commented that RMS prefers councils seeking changes to signage for visitor centres to formulate a draft proposal to be used as the basis for discussions. 1.3 Greater Hume Council issues Holbrook was bypassed in 2013 with the opening of a new alignment of the Hume Highway near the town. Kerrie updated the Committee on her Council’s experience with the bypass: While there was a decline in visitation to Holbrook soon after the bypass opened, numbers slowly increased and by December 2014, moteliers reported improvements in occupancy beyond previous levels, though overall visitor numbers have yet to reach pre- bypass levels. However, visitors to Holbrook are staying longer and Holbrook café and restaurant operators are optimistic about the future. Council has completed main-street and parking improvements in the town. Holbrook AVIC, which is accredited at Level 2, is the fourth most visited AVIC in the Riverina. A 24-hour service centre, featuring a branch of a popular Holbrook bakery, will soon open at the southern end of the town. A replica of an AE2 Australian submarine has been installed at Holbrook outside the Holbrook AVIC, which is collocated with the Holbrook Submarine Museum. The vessel is based on the second Australian submarine ever built, which served in World War 1 and was sunk while serving in the Dardanelles. Plans are being formulated to upgrade the Hume and Hovell walking track, 20% of which is located in Greater Hume Shire. During the discussion TASAC members commented that long walking tracks with multiple access points do not lend themselves to tourist signposting from State roads. Final 19 July 2016 3 of 10 TASAC Minutes 6 July 2016 Kerrie also queried the placement of tourist signposting on the Hume Motorway for a winery at Woomargama in 2015 whereas TASAC had advised Council in 2012 that HMAS Otway and the Submarine Museum at Holbrook would not be eligible for signage on the new motorway, which was then under construction. In response Committee members explained that the motorway exit to Woomargama and the winery is physically different to the exit that leads to the Holbrook attractions. Specifically, the motorway exit for the winery is an “at grade” one whereas the exit to Holbrook is a “grade separated” one (i.e. it has deceleration lanes and exit ramps). It was also noted that, under current tourist signposting policy, signs could not be provided to any type of eligible attraction including a winery, from the Holbrook exit because of its grade separated configuration. The distinction between tourist signposting and advertising signs was also discussed. Tourist signposting is located within the reserve of State roads (i.e. a legally defined area of land within which facilities such as roads, footpaths and associated features may be constructed for public travel) and is governed by the procedures of the Tourist Signposting Manual and TASAC. Contrastingly advertising signs are installed on private property outside the road reserve and are subject to environmental planning legislation (LEPs and State Environmental Planning Policy No. 64). While RMS is often consulted on advertising signs outside but adjacent to State road reserves, TASAC has no role in relation to advertising signs and they are not governed by the provisions of the Tourist Signposting Manual. 1.4 Members’ report on site inspections David and Phil made the following observations arising from their site inspections in the Wagga Wagga area and environs the day before the meeting.

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