Murweh Shire Council

Griffith University’s Institute for Tourism (GIFT) partnered with the Murweh Shire Council in southwest Queensland to deliver a 20-year roadmap for the region’s Tourism Precinct Masterplan.

Under the partnership, Griffith students are invited to recognise potential tourism attraction opportunities and design guidelines around how these opportunities are realised.

To date, the partnership has delivered restoration and establishment of a centre and exhibit around a secret US military base that was operational in World War II, as well as the Southern Hemisphere’s largest planetarium, in Charleville.

The airbase was part of a controversial strategy to conceded northern parts of Australia should the Japanese have invaded and it was predominantly used as a maintenance base during the Battle of the Coral Sea.

The new centre boasts an aircraft hangar, revetments, Norden bomb site, nurse and soldier living quarters, bunkers and buried bombers.

GIFT Associate Professor Brent Moyle said that people want novel, memorable and unique experiences from tourism.

“How many other towns have a secret US base that was active in World War II?,” Associate Professor Moyle asked.

Associate Professor Moyle was part of the Griffith team that collected archival and community knowledge to develop 11 characters whose stories can be heard by visitors to the centre, transporting visitors back to a time when the base was active. Meanwhile Griffith Engineering produced the 3D laser scans of the heritage sites that can also be seen at the centre.

“Charleville is a really interesting place when you’re interested in the fabric of outback Australian culture,” Associate Professor Moyle said.

“It’s not just the WWII base, it’s got dark skies, bilbies, agricultural stockmen’s heritage.”

“Keeping heritage alive is about creating connection, it’s about eliciting an emotional response.”

“Some of this heritage was at risk of being lost forever.”

Professor Karine Dupre from GIFT said she and the team have been working on this project for more than five years.

“The masterplan creates a vision for the Murweh Shire Council on a specific site. The idea was to have a team of students find the gaps and opportunities in the Shire and develop guidelines on how to design and build these experiences,” Professor Dupre said.

“It puts Charleville on the map.”

Murweh Shire Council Mayor Shaun Radnedge said the masterplan has given the council a sense of direction when it came to tourism.

“With their experience of how tourism works around the world, Griffith University has brought us this amazing centre,” Councillor Radnedge said.

“And there’s more to come.”