Jim Everett, the Hon Michelle O'Byrne and Phyllis Pitchford at the opening of tulampanga interpretation trail and seated on an Ambrose McDonald crafted bench seat. tulampanga was opened in conjunction with the launch of the Tasmanian Government's Aboriginal Tourism Development Plan which occurred on 15 June 2007.

Aboriginal organisations and individuals, as well as Tasmanian Government agencies, acknowledged the potential for Aboriginal tourism in the State at a series of meetings conducted from 1999-2001 to consider cultural interpretation, Aboriginal heritage, natural and cultural resource management. At the same time, it was recognised that Tasmania had little Aboriginal tourism product that was market-ready.

The Tasmania Together report, released in 2000, set goals to:

• acknowledge and respect the contribution that the Aboriginal community and its culture have made and continue to make to Tasmania and its identity
• recognise, promote, share and celebrate Aboriginal culture and heritage, encouraging mutual respect between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

In November 2001, a report titled Indigenous Themes was completed by Ms Darlene Mansell for the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service. The report was an initiative of the Great Western Tiers/Kooparoona Niara Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) Interpretation Project for the Meander Valley. As part of consultations for the report, a three-day Tasmanian conference of the Moonbird People (the custodians of the Mutton Bird culture) was attended by 40 delegates. The conference’s leading recommendation was that:

• The Tasmanian State Government, in consultation with the Aboriginal community, proceed to create an Aboriginal Tourism Development Plan.

A steering committee was formed in late 2003 to advance the recommendation, with the Tasmanian Government’s Office of Aboriginal Affairs, part of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, as the lead agency, in conjunction with Tourism Tasmania, within the Department of Tourism, Arts and the Environment (formerly Tourism, Parks, Heritage and Arts). The steering committee was chaired by the Manager of the Office of Aboriginal Affairs and included representatives from the Aboriginal community, Tourism Tasmania, the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (now the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination).

The Aboriginal Tourism Plan was launched by the Hon Michelle O’Byrne at the opening of tulampanga (Alum Cliffs) on 15 June 2007.

Download the Aboriginal Tourism Plan (PDF, 2.3MB)

For users on slower connections, a more compressed version without the title page is available (PDF, 646KB)

This a Portable Document Format (PDF) file and requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader. The Reader is easy to download and is free of charge.

• Print-friendly view
• Print page
• Site A-Z

Resources

• Aboriginal events calendar
• Publications
• Have your say
• Useful links