Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years

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1 Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years Tumbulgum s past present and future united in celebration White Paper Prepared by Robert Budd for Tumbulgum Community Association Inc. February 2016 Tumbulgum past-present-future Page 1 of 9

2 Executive Summary 2016 marks an important historical milestone for the Tweed Shire. Tumbulgum, originally known as Tweed Junction will celebrate the sesquicentenary. When land selections were made available in 1866, Tweed Junction on the northern side served as a commercial centre supporting Red Cedar Cutters, Squatters and Selectors. The Tumbulgum Community Association Committee has selected the long weekend 1-3 October 2016 for this celebration. Tweed Shire Council Festival and Events Policy requires consideration of any schedule conflicts when planning events. Serious schedule conflict exists between the Tumbulgum celebration and the much larger Tweed Valley/Murwillumbah Country Roots Festival, AFL Grand Final, NRL Grand Final and NSW School Holidays. This conflict is presenting unacceptable risk to the success of the Tumbulgum celebration with: 1. Strong Festival Competition in the age demographic (47% of local community) 2. Competition on Saturday and Sunday due to AFL and NRL Grand Finals. (volunteers availability and visitors) 3. Inability of local school participation during NSW School Holidays 4. Peak demand for visitor accommodation during Festival and NSW School Holidays Six options, including the do nothing option are analysed against the following decision criterion 1. Economic Impact 2. Social Impact 3. Alignment with event objectives This white paper concludes with 2 recommendations: 1. Tumbulgum Community collaborates with the existing Tweed River Festival to host the event at Tumbulgum in recognition of the sesquicentenary. This collaboration will include: Tweed River Festival lantern parade on Riverside Drive, and Tumbulgum as the 2016 Tweed River Festival theme. 2. The Tumbulgum Community puts energy and resources into a very successful one day celebration with the Tweed River Festival main event. The Tweed River Festival is a very good strategic fit with Tumbulgum: Tumbulgum has a special and unique relationship with the river, from peaceful flow to flooding torrent. The surrounding natural environment of nature reserves, fields of cattle and cane offer glimpses of the past and present landscapes. Tweed Junction was originally established as a river port to support Red Cedar Cutters and early settlers. Pioneer Families Skinner and Logan provided important boat building and river transport that enabled the settlement of the Tweed Valley Tumbulgum is the birthplace of Faith Bandler ( ) widely recognised for her community leadership with the Aboriginal and South Sea Islander communities throughout Australia also marks the 30 year anniversary of the retirement of the Tumbulgum Ferry that connected Tumbulgum to North Tumbulgum since Tumbulgum is well positioned with spectacular location on the river, excellent restaurants, historic tavern, the oldest school in the Tweed and active community to enhance the existing Tweed River Festival main celebration. TSC Villages Strategy (December 2015 draft) action item - Tweed Shire Council and Local communities to enable or support family-friendly community celebrations and events. By adopting these recommendations the TCA will position Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years for success. TCA will deliver not only a celebration that will exceed community expectations, but also establish a foundation for an annual festival featuring Tumbulgum. Tumbulgum past-present-future Page 2 of 9

3 Introduction Tweed Shire Festival and Events Policy requires consideration of any conflicting dates and events. Schedule conflict exists between the Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years event and the much larger Murwillumbah Country Roots Festival, AFL and NRL Grand Finals and NSW School Holidays in These represent significant risk to the success of the Tumbulgum celebration. This paper provides background to the Tumbulgum event, schedule conflict issues, risk assessment and options, and makes recommendations. Background 2016 marks an important historical milestone for the Tweed Shire. Tumbulgum, originally known as Tweed Junction will celebrate the sesquicentenary. When land selections were made available in 1866, Tweed Junction served as a commercial centre supporting Red Cedar Cutters, Squatters and Selectors. Tweed Junction was the principal town in the Tweed Valley until construction of the rail line to Lismore in 1897 when Murwillumbah supplanted Tumbulgum as the major centre on the Tweed. Tumbulgum Community Association (TCA) has selected the long weekend, 1-3 October 2016 as a suitable date for the celebrations. TCA appointed a Project Manager at a TCA special general meeting on Tuesday 8 December 2015, just ten (10) months from the proposed celebration date. TSC festival and events policy requires that consideration be given to the number of festivals in the Shire s urban/rural locations and any conflicting dates and events. Tumbulgum Community has limited experience running small community events. These include Anzac Day, Australia Day celebrations, and in 2013 Tumbulgum Hall celebrated its Centenary. TCA successfully nominated Tumbulgum Hall as the Tweed Shire representative for the Arts Northern Rivers If These Halls Could Talk project. It is TCA s desire to have this project included in the 150 year celebration, however Arts Northern Rivers and the creative team are unable to commit to delivery of the project on a specific date at this time. TSC Events Strategy is to attract major events like the Murwillumbah Country Roots Festival to the Tweed and support the development of small to medium community events like Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years. TSC officers have advised that council would like to see annual events rather than one-off celebrations. Tumbulgum is yet to attract an annual event that is unique to Tumbulgum. Other Tweed rural villages enjoy the benefits annual festivals bring such as Tyalgum Music Festival (classical music, art and nature) 9,10,11 September 2016 at Tyalgum, and Ukitopia (arts and culture) TBA November at UKI. Tumbulgum past-present-future Page 3 of 9

4 Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years Goals and Objectives The goals and objectives for the celebration are still in draft and presented below to support this discussion paper. Tumbulgum s past, present and future united in celebration. Objectives include Inclusive of all people who make up the extended Tumbulgum Community, target involvement of over 50% of the community to the celebration (Social Objective) Create economic benefit for the Tweed and Tumbulgum, attracting over 1,000 visitations to Tumbulgum. Funds raised from this event will be directed to the community common good. Community fundraising to enhance the natural beauty, visual amenity and services of Tumbulgum by completing select infrastructure improvements in Dedication/monument to mark the settlement of Tweed Junction. Showcase Tumbulgum community and surrounds in 2016 Key Issues and Concerns The following issues and concerns will be considered: TSC Policy Festival and Events V 1.1 Assessment Criteria 5. Schedule: Consideration will be given to the number of festivals held in each of the Shire s urban/rural locations and any conflicting dates/events. TCA committee have selected the long weekend 1-3 October 2016 to hold the 150 year celebration. TCA have started communicating date for 150 year celebration: to Arts Northern Rivers If These Halls Could Talk project, published on 2016 calendar, communicated date to TSC. TCA have already incurred expenses (approx $500) in production of TCA annual calendar The Tweed Valley/Murwillumbah Country Roots Festival, a Major Event, is scheduled for October 2016 long weekend, promoting the variety and tradition of Country Music, Roots Music and Art. (retrieved from AFL grand final is scheduled for Saturday 1 October Million viewers in Competing event for both volunteers and visitors with Tumbulgum Celebration on the Saturday. NRL grand final is scheduled for Sunday 2 October Million viewers in Competing event for both volunteers and visitors with Tumbulgum Celebration on the Sunday. NSW School Spring holidays are scheduled for 26 September 2016 to 7 October This will prevent schools from participating in a celebration held on the 1-3 October Tweed Shire Council funding window for financial year 2015/16 has closed 150 year celebration must occur in 2016 ( ) No specific date in 1866 is known as reason to celebrate. Any date will be OK. Community of Tumbulgum has limited event experience with only small events run in the past. Holding a 3 day event is a risky undertaking for an inexperienced community, places excessive demands on the community for volunteers, more complex approvals process with TSC and will be high cost. Tumbulgum past-present-future Page 4 of 9

5 Risk Assessment Holding the Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years at the same time as the much larger Murwillumbah Country Roots Festival, AFL and NRL Grand finals, and during NSW School Holidays will adversely impact the success of the Tumbulgum Celebration in the following ways: visitations for Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years resulting in: Social impact of celebration below expectations Economic performance below expectations Particularly on Saturday & Sunday with competition from Country Roots, AFL and NRL Local businesses at risk of losing on the day Reduced ability to attract funding due to major event schedule conflict Government Funding (TSC Festival and Events Policy assessment criteria 5) Local Business Sponsorship Community Fundraising unlikely to be successful if people perceive a problem Severe limitations on availability of accommodation for visitors within the region during Country Roots Festival and NSW School Holidays. Reduced local Tumbulgum participation (attendance and Volunteer participation) Country Roots target demographic (40 to 65 age) This represents 47% of the 2490 postcode population. AFL grand final on Saturday NRL grand final on Sunday Inability for local Schools to participate in Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years due to NSW school holidays The degree of this impact is not known, however has the potential to be very high. Probability of a negative impact from the schedule conflict is initially set at 50% The ability to predict, detect and measure risk impact prior to the event is difficult, making corrective action improbable. In conclusion the schedule conflict risk for Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 years is considered unacceptable and it would not be prudent of TCA to accept this risk. Risk Mitigation Options 1. Do Nothing and accept risk - Celebration will surely fail - Failure will not encourage Tumbulgum community to participate with the TCA in the future - Funding unlikely - 3 day celebration - large undertaking for an inexperienced community - Recruiting volunteers from a small community to service 3 day event is very difficult compounded by several competing demands on volunteer time 1-3 Oct 2. Move Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years to another date - Celebration positioned for success - Cost (Calendar although this could be minimal) - No other long week-end available in latter half of 2016 (see appendix A) Tumbulgum past-present-future Page 5 of 9

6 - 4 other Spring weekend dates available Tumbulgum Align Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years with Tweed Valley/Murwillumbah Country Roots Festival - Celebration likely to fail - Country Roots Festival not a strong strategic fit with Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years i.e. Country Music, Roots Music and Art vs History, River, Community and Environment. - School participation not targeted - Unlikely to work 4. Reposition Tumbulgum Celebrates 150 Years to target a different demographic to that of the Tweed Valley/Murwillumbah Country Roots Festival - Celebration likely to fail - Won t address accommodation risk - Will result in a celebration that targets school children and young families however, without school staff and student participation (NSW School Holidays) 5. Collaborate with existing Tweed River Festival to host the event at Tumbulgum. (see appendix B) - Strong Strategic fit with Tumbulgum i.e. river, environment and community - Tweed River Festival has a history of moving locations along the river for events. i.e. Jack Evans Boat Harbour, Budd Park Tweed River Festival theme could be Tumbulgum, there is a strong relationship between the river and Tumbulgum. - Experienced team and existing funding with Tweed River Festival - Tweed River Festival team open to collaboration - Tumbulgum community has a lot to offer the Tweed River Festival, win-win. - Cost (calendar, although this could be minimal) - School Participation essential to Tweed River Festival - Focus on one day celebration - reduced risk and demands on an inexperienced community 6. Downsize 150 year celebration to small celebration featuring If These Halls Could Talk - Celebration likely to fail (risk not completely mitigated) - Not appropriate or relevant to the Tumbulgum 150 year celebration, ITHCT is part of a Northern Rivers regional project involving 7 other halls. - Will not address social and economic factors - Does not include Tumbulgum Public School participation - ITHCT are not committing to a date - Will expose ITHCT project to the same risks identified in this paper. Decision Criterion The following criteria will be used to make recommendations on Schedule Conflict risk mitigation. 1. Economic Considerations: including Implementation cost, ability to raise funding and commercial impact to local businesses 2. Social Considerations: including impact on sense of community, village vibe, reputation, involvement 3. Celebration objectives: benefits, enhancement of natural beauty, dedication and showcase Tumbulgum past-present-future Page 6 of 9

7 Options Analysis The table below presents mitigation options, including the do nothing option and analysis against the decision criterion above. Economic Social Event Objectives Cost Funding Community Benefits Natural Beauty Dedication Showcase 1. Do Nothing No additional cost min due to conflict (Policy) Minimal due to conflict visitations Min limited funding Min, limited funds, no school 2. Change Date Cost to communicate, inexperienced team Must apply for funding Yes Best Case Need to get council attention Yes Best Case 3. Align with Roots Festival No additional cost Limited as Roots already receives funding Conflict with NRL/ AFL visitations Maybe Depends on funding Maybe 4. Reposition No additional cost Reduced target audience community involvement Less visitations Maybe Yes Maybe 5. River Festival Cost to Communicate, experienced team Already funded Best Case Best Case Best case strategic alignment Yes Best Case focus on schools 6. Down Size No additional cost Min due to conflict and size community involvement visitation MIn Scope limitation Min, limited scope, no school The analysis reveals 2 possible options 1. Change the date to a more suitable date (2) or 2. Collaborate with the existing Tweed River Festival (5) and hold main event at Tumbulgum. Recommendations This report makes the following 2 recommendations that will greatly improve the chance of success for this important community celebration, not only for Tumbulgum but for the Tweed Valley. 1. Tumbulgum Community collaborates with the existing Tweed River Festival to host the event at Tumbulgum in recognition of the sesquicentenary. This collaboration will include: Tweed River Festival lantern parade on Riverside Drive, and Tumbulgum as the 2016 Tweed River Festival theme. 2. The Tumbulgum Community puts its energies and resources into a very successful one day celebration. Tumbulgum is well positioned with great location on the river, excellent restaurants, historic tavern, oldest school in the Tweed and active community to significantly enhance the existing River Festival main celebration. Tumbulgum past-present-future Page 7 of 9

8 Appendix A - Schedule Options 1. Continue with existing 1-3 October 2016 date - TCA committee have already committed to this date - Only long week-end in 2016 and the 2016/17 Financial Year 2. Reschedule to another long week-end (not a feasible option) - None Available between July & December Reschedule to another 2 day week-end 2-3 July 9-10 July - Taste of Kingscliff? July - Taste of Kingscliff? July July 6-7 August - Antiques & Collectibles Exhibition & Trading Fair, Byron Bay Writers Festival? August August - Banana Festival August - Banana Festival 3-4 September September - Tyalgum Music Festival September - Nev Wilson Memorial Ski race?? September (NSW School Holidays Start) 1-2 October - Murwillumbah Country Roots Festival - Tumbulgum 150-NRL - AFL 8-9 October (end of NSW School Holidays) October October - Tweed River Festival TBD October - Tweed River Festival TBD 5-6 November - Murwillumbah Show November November - Ukitopia? November 3-4 December - Foodie Fest December December Spring is generally considered a desirable time for community events. This is also a period where a number of significant regular events are scheduled including Nev Wilson Memorial Ski race, Murwillumbah Country Roots Festival, Tweed River Festival, Tylagum Music Festival, Ukitopia and Murwillumbah Show. Excluding these events leaves 6 possible weekends in Spring and only 4 outside NSW School Holidays. 4. Reschedule to single one day event. - Single day for main celebration will work - Allows community to focus effort on a single day and results in greater chance of success - Weaken impact of celebration and its importance. Tumbulgum past-present-future Page 8 of 9

9 Appendix B - Tweed River Festival The Tweed River Festival is a celebration of environment and community. Held in spring each year, the week-long festival comprises a broad range of programs, activities, workshops and exhibitions all focused on the care, protection and enhancement of the Tweed's waterways. The festival culminates with a family afternoon in the park, featuring free entertainment, a variety of food and information stalls and a lantern parade just after dark. So pack a hamper, grab a picnic blanket and come see the river in a different light. The 2015 Tweed River Festival was held from Monday 26 to Saturday 31 October, with the main event hosted at Budd Park in Murwillumbah. The 2014 Tweed River Festival was held from Saturday 1 to Saturday 8 November, with the main event to be hosted at Jack Evans Boat Harbour, at Tweed Heads on Saturday 8 November. The event theme for 2015 was 'Bats, recognising the important role that these cute flying mammals play in our natural environment as pollinators. The event theme for 2014 was Our backyard, our catchment, recognising the role that each of us plays in protecting and caring for our local waterways and the natural environment. There was a range of activities during the week to raise community awareness about river and waterway health. A highlight of the event was the Lantern Parade when over 400 people, including 300 school children, carried lanterns made during the week or earlier in the day. Lismore Lantern Parade s Light n Up again provided the fabulous large feature lanterns that lit up the river bank and the Tweed River. Strategic Fit with Tumbulgum The Tweed River Festival is a very good strategic fit with Tumbulgum: Tumbulgum has a special and unique relationship with the river. From peaceful flow to flooding torrent. Originally located at the northern side of the junction of the Tweed and Rous rivers then moving to the current location of the historic village on the south side of the Tweed. Tumbulgum s strong association with the natural environment. Hogans Reserve, Skinners Reserve, Stotts Island, Bruce Chick Park offer glimpses of what the Tweed Valley once looked like and is home to several endangered species. Tweed Junction was originally established as a river port to support Red Cedar Cutters and early settlers. Pioneer families Skinner and Logan provided important boat building and river transport that enabled the settlement of the Tweed Valley marks the 30 year anniversary of the retirement of the Tumbulgum Ferry that connected Tumbulgum to North Tumbulgum since Tumbulgum is the birthplace of Faith Bandler ( ) Australian civil rights activist. Best known for her leadership with the Aboriginal and South Sea Islander communities throughout Australia and campaign for 1967 Referendum on Aboriginal Australians. Tumbulgum is well positioned with great location on the river, excellent restaurants, historic tavern, the oldest school in the Tweed and active community to enhance the existing Tweed River Festival main celebration. TSC Villages Strategy (December 2015 draft) action item - Tweed Shire Council and Local communities to enable or support family-friendly community celebrations and events. Tumbulgum past-present-future Page 9 of 9

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