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Rail Tram & Bus Union Submission to Review of Tourism in NSW July 2007
Review of Tourism in NSW
Mr. John O’Neill AO
NSW Tourism Review
Department of State and Regional
Development
GPO 5477
Sydney, NSW
Dear Mr. O’Neill
The Australian Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) welcome the opportunity to make brief submission to this timely review. The RTBU has 35,000 members Australia wide and is the largest railway union in Australia.
The
RTBU is active in advocating the role of rail and public transport in regions,
states and the national economy. The Unions past and current members have been
involved for many years in both the restoration and refurbishment of NSW’s considerable
wealth of railway heritage and their operational skills as drivers, guards,
etc.in both a paid and volunteer basis.
The Union is also involved in the increasingly important area
of railway cultural heritage which through a variety of mediums including art,
oral history, theatre, poetry and photographs express the rich contribution
made by many generations of railwayworkers as part of an industry which forged
the industrial development of NSW.
Significant progress has been made in
recent years in advancing the preservation and restoration of NSW’s physical rail
heritage assets. It is becoming increasingly recognized that NSW has a world
significant railway heritage base which reflects the central role the railways
played in colonial and early decades of federation.
The importance of this infrastructure is
being realized by the NSW Government through their endorsement in 2006 of a
sustainable Rail Heritage Asset Management Strategy aimed at ensuring the long
term maintenance of rail heritage assets on behalf of the public of NSW. The
management of the strategy is superintended by the Office of Rail Heritage and
extends to the extensive network of community based volunteer rail heritage organizations
across NSW.
The RTBU submission focuses on the unrealized potential of railway cultural heritage to make a contribution to tourism in NSW. In some ways it represents a challenge to traditional stereotypes of what generates and expands tourist markets. However tourism authorities in Australia are recognizing the value of culture as represented in the Australian context of convicts, bush workers etc who have left their footprint on the nations culture through their customs, skill, arts and social relationships. Many tourist attractions have been developed around this culture that is continually replenished by myths, stories, songs and poems.
A broad list of tourist railways and sites
is available through the publication “
The Directory of Australian Tourist
Railways and Museums" whilst a broad list of the 100’s of
organizations who have an interests in NSW railway heritage was complied in
2005 by the Heritage Futures Centre for the University of New England for the 150th Anniversary of NSW
railways. The RTBU recommends that NSW
Tourism has a role to play in researching and identifying details of the
railway heritage and cultural tourism assets and providing an overview which
adds to an understanding of unlocking the potential value of these assets to
tourism and the NSW economy.
A key aspect of unlocking the potential
value of railways cultural heritage is for NSW Government departments to be
made aware and plan for its contribution to the states tourism. The future role
of the Eveleigh workshop sites is an example of the need to realize the tourist
potential of what is potentially a world class significant example of
industrial architecture of the 19th century. Moreover, the
perspective needs to go beyond the 12 listed heritage sites but to the
“intangible heritage” which makes the connection with the past and the social
value of the site.
In this respect the NSW Government is out
of step with governments elsewhere in the country where, for example, in Queensland the state government has provided $20m towards
redevelopment of Ipswich railway workshops
which contain a functional museum alongside an operational workshop where
heritage work continues. The potential multi function tourist function of the
Eveleigh site is enhanced by the recent inclusion of a theatre complex which is
building a reputation as a key element is Sydney’s
arts industry.
The RTBU argues that the current focus by
the NSW Government on the Eveleigh site is on commercial development and
maintaining only the built fabric. The potential role of Tourism NSW is to add
value by promoting with Government a wider view of the potential of the site,
its major contribution to railway cultural heritage and a wider view of the
significance of the heritage value of the site and its potential as a key
contributor to tourism in NSW.The Eveleigh workshops at Redfern are at the
centre of NSW’s early rail system and a potential tourist attraction for may
tourists who come to Sydney as a starting point of their NSW experience.
The
RTBU recommends that Tourism NSW has a role to play within Government by using
its expertise to identify potential tourist sites and coordinate their
development within government in order to realize their full potential. At a
broader level there exists in NSW the possibility of a tourist program that
connects the existing system of railway heritage and cultural sites and
activities.
The structural changes in the Australian
economy, the move from manufacturing to a service based economy together with the
impacts of the drought and the continuing shrinkage of economic opportunities
in many regional areas in NSW will highlight the increased economic importance
of tourism.
An important aspect of tourism is the changing nature of the tourist experience with many wanting attractions that go beyond natural beauty to those which help in explaining what made Australia and its people what they are.
A key ingredient of the potential for
expanding tourism based on NSW’s extensive rail heritage and cultural assets is
the extensive network of assets and organizations spread throughout NSW.The
RTBU believes NSW Tourism has a valuable role to play in integrating rail
heritage and cultural tourism with broader tourism markets in regional communities.
There are a number of oversea examples, particularly in the UK, which provide a base for understanding
the potential which exists.
The Review of Tourism presents a timely opportunity to reassess future directions for tourism in NSW, how to co-ordinate existing assets and activities within government and the wider community and to recognise and assist emerging new trends. The RTBU recommends that you convene a separate forum for the various railway heritage and cultural organisations that would be able to provide further material to assist the Review.
Yours faithfully
Roger
Jowett
RTBU
National Transport Policy Advisor.
