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Slim Dusty Way proposal - ready to hit the road |
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| 25th June, 2007 | |||||
Monday 25th June in Tamworth: A long-held dream to create the ‘Slim Dusty Way’ between Kempsey and Tamworth is another step closer with the first meeting of the Slim Dusty Way Management Committee on 25 June in Tamworth. |
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The ‘Slim Dusty Way’ will be a unique, themed tourist drive giving visitors to NSW a truly Australian experience from Nulla Nulla and Kempsey, Slim's birthplace, to Tamworth, whose transformation into Australia's Country Music Capital was strongly supported by Slim Dusty himself. |
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The ‘Slim Dusty Way’, starting in Bellbrook/Nulla Nulla, is proposed to go through Kempsey, on to Wauchope, continue along the Oxley Highway to Walcha and end at Tamworth. |
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One of the most significant aspects of the route is that this is the road travelled by Slim Dusty and wife Joy McKean on their first ever tour in 1954, performing at a small hall in Walcha. It was Australian history in the making, and the beginning of a long career that saw Slim Dusty hailed as 'the man who is Australia'. |
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More than a fitting tribute to this Australian treasure, the ‘Slim Dusty Way’ has been planned as a tourist drive that will create substantial income opportunities for the communities through which is passes. Increasing the number of visitors between towns offers new experiences and will create major economic activity for the four shires involved: Kempsey, Hastings, Walcha and the Tamworth region. |
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The ‘Slim Dusty Way’ will also build on Slim's vision; to show visitors the real 'country Australia', its people, its places, its culture and Australian country music, now more popular than ever. |
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The tourist drive will be further augmented by the additional visitors that will be attracted by the Slim Dusty Centre upon its completion. |
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Back row (L-R): Michael Grieve, Bob McWilliam, David Freeman, Ian Flood, Jim Mobbs, Charlie Winter. Front Row (L-R): Rebel Thomson, Joan Douglas, Don Gunn, Kathryn Yarnold, Sonia Fingle. Photo courtesy of: Barry Smith |
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The Committee, currently has a submission under consideration through the Australian Government’s Tourism Development Program. |
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The project has the potential to expose communities from Kempsey to Tamworth to new tourism markets, joining communities and experiences for visitors alike. The Slim Dusty Way will be extended to link in with other popular and established tourist drives and attractions further enhancing the appeal to visitors. |
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This is especially relevant to Tamworth as it continues to develop attractions and activities to celebrate its stature as Australia's Country Music Capital. Additionally, Kempsey Shire will be able to increase the tourist flows through the various Slim Dusty/Australian Culture Tour links including the Upper Macleay, Slim's boyhood home at Nulla Nulla and the proposed Slim Dusty Centre. |
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The Slim Dusty Way is proving to be an extremely popular concept and has received wide community support which continues to grow as more people and organisations become aware of it. |
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Kathryn Yarnold, General Manager of the Slim Dusty Foundation says "if community support to date is any indication, I am certain we will look forward to favourable responses from the Governments whose financial support will be vital to the success of the Slim Dusty Way project and the significant contributions it will make to the communities it embraces. The drive tourism market is an extremely important market segment to regional Australia and regional economies. Tourist don’t follow geographical boundaries, they chase experiences – the Slim Dusty Way is recognisable and will deliver a quality new product for all travellers.” |
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The eleven members of the Slim Dusty Way Management Committee, including Joan Douglas representing Tamworth and Kathryn Yarnold, General Manager of the Slim Dusty Foundation who were the catalysts of the idea, bring a broad range of expertise and experience to the project — along with extreme enthusiasm for developing the tourism potential of the entire region. |
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The first meeting will set strategies for ensuring the effectiveness and sustainability of the project, and cementing the strong alliance between the communities involved. |
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| Further information about the Slim Dusty Centre and its aims is available from the Foundation’s General Manager, Kathryn Yarnold at 02 6562 6533 or slimdustycentre@midcoast.com.au or our website www.slimdustycentre.com.au | |||||
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