Volunteers Week : Meet Lisa from the Narooma Visitor Centre (now permanently closed)

Above: Last week the doors closed on the Narooma Visitor Centre. For Lisa (in brown/orange) and the other passionate volunteers who delivered a quality Visitor Information service for five years the final days were difficult to swallow. Here is Lisa bringing the banners in for the very last time. Lisa said of the closure and her five years with Montague Arts and Crafts Society who volunteered their members and time to deliver the town's Visitor Information service: Ironically I have difficulty speaking in public, made even worse when I’m given notice to speak. Give me a map and a highlighter and I’m off and away, but none of you are here today to hear about bikepaths, dump points and stingrays so here is my attempt to give some summary to the last 16 years in the visitor centre and particularly the last 5 under the MACS umbrella.

If it wasn’t for the vision and determination of the MACS members back in 2015 when the visitor centre was first threatened with closure then it wouldn’t have survived this long. Another 5 years of operation, servicing approximately 90,000 people through the door over that time. That’s 90,000 face-to-face encounters with real people spending more time and money in the local region, undoubtedly having a great time, talking about it to their friends, and probably making plans to come back again…or buy a house here, work from home and feel like they’ve moved to paradise.

That’s the effect this place has on many people. You can almost pick the first-time visitors who’ve driven in from the north. They’ve got a glazed-eye look about them; they’ve just crossed that bridge, got a glimpse of the turquoise inlet, Gulaga over the back… they want a piece of this place, they’re just not sure what it is. That’s why we get so many returnees – even if the last time they came was 50 or 60 years ago and they want to recapture a simple delight like following the soldier crabs on low tide on the sandflats.

Really, it’s been one of the best jobs in the world selling somewhere as exquisite as the Narooma region, and a privilege to have had that responsibility.

Back in 2004 after working in various fields further down the south coast I’d moved up here with my partner and soon realised most of Narooma’s job opportunities were in tourism. After a few months at Moruya TAFE getting formal training, I fronted up at the Visitor Centre initially to enquire about doing some work experience, but decided as I stepped in to ask if there was paid work available. In those days the VC was run by Narelle Bate, along with Lesley Heffernan and Kerry Markham; a really solid crew with a gentle but efficient approach to a job that is same but different every single day. As it happened one of the casual staff was leaving that week to have her first baby (and launch a very successful seaweed-based business) and they were snowed under in the lead-up to the infamous October Long weekend Blues Festival. I started that week. It was a baptism by fire. 10,000 people hit town (and remember these are pre-internet days). Fortunately it was mostly a constant stream of bearded blokes in black t-shirts asking “where’s this Blues Festival thing” and “ooh I might buy a stubby holder while I’m here”. In the first few years we did all the charter boat bookings on hand-written tickets, all the credit card payments by phone authorization (so time consuming) and, when the bar was up all the credit card cancellations had to be phoned through again. People would rock up looking for accommodation (pre-internet remember), Boxing Day would be manic, full of impulsive city-dwellers who’d “come for a drive”, thought no-one else had ever found the south coast, and wondered if there might be a vacancy in something like a cabin in the National Park? On the beach? Near a waterfall? ….with dolphins…and rainbows…

During the late 2000s ESC decided to lift their tourism marketing game and some new recruits joined the staff. Renee Kemp was the next manager of the VC and she raised the bar and taught me loads of useful stuff ranging from banking best practices to managing staff with conflicting ideals. How to deal with back-stabbing and corruption within an organization came in handy a few years later.

I really wish I’d made more notes about the lovely lovely people I’ve helped over the last 16 years. The most memorable travellers of my entire time were two tall gauche farmers from mid-west USA who had flown into Sydney, picked up a hire car, were terrified by the traffic, got out of town and didn’t stop until they pulled up in Narooma. They asked me for directions to Uluru. It transpired they had 7 days in Australia, and they’d already used up most of Day 1. I suggested they keep going south, head for the Great Ocean Road, loaded them up with maps and wished them well. Sometimes I wonder how their holiday panned out…

The most moving moments I’ve had in there were when people browsing the Museum have realised they’re looking at a photo of an ancestor. When suddenly a family myth was proven in front of their eyes. And to be able to help put them in touch with people living locally that they were also related to. That was pretty special.

It’s such a satisfying thing to know you’ve made a positive difference; solved dilemmas for some people, enriched their experiences, helped the locals too, and the local economy and given visitors some insight into why we love living in this place. Sharing local knowledge is valuable not only because it gives visitors short cuts to some wonderful experiences; it also enhances their empathy. How many of us thought that COVID hijacked the tourism component of the bushfire recovery? My own faith in humanity was restored somewhat by the hordes of domestic tourists who descended upon this region as soon as they could; to stay and spend and spread some love around. They spoke genuinely and sensitively of their desire to come and help, as long as that was ok with the locals. That scenario has played out since last September without letting up yet.

The Visitor Centre has really been operating on borrowed time for the last 5 years, and it’s been very sad to see the plan that Eurobodalla Council had for it play out. The plan that basically started as a bureaucrat’s thought bubble, that was reinforced by more than one consultants’ report, who were undoubtedly given a brief and paid handsomely. Remember that when you vote for new councillors later this year; they don’t have anywhere near the power that some would have us believe, but the people operating the puppet strings do. The sudden decline in international tourists has been sad to witness too. Everyone I’ve worked with in the visitor centre obviously enjoys the interactions with people from all walks of life, and part of the fun is finding out where our visitors are from, what they do and what motivates them to travel.

I’ve also loved that we trade over the counter in INFORMATION… FACTS. We’ve been able to nip a few ‘Narooma Rumours’ in the bud, and calm some hysteria about some local issues. That’s an important contribution to local community, particularly after the stresses that 2020 brought to us.

I’ve loved being around the volunteer’s enthusiasm; their eagerness to solve problems and share their knowledge. I learned pretty quickly not to underestimate people, especially older people. You’ve all accumulated such a wealth of skills that aren’t immediately obvious. You’re explorers, kayakers, sailors, bushwalkers, cyclists, painters, photographers, navigators, psychologists, park rangers, wine buffs, café afficionados, foodies, business people, teachers, weather nerds, but above all you’re people who care passionately about this place, and can sense the joy of sharing it. Some volunteers have lived locally for decades, and some signed up when they saw it as an opportunity for themselves to learn a lot more in a short time. One person who came in to find out about volunteering on Barunguba (Montague Island) was given what she thought was a form for that and ended up joining the visitor centre in the interim! Just when we were beginning the post-bushfire recovery the threat of possible COVID outbreaks meant many of our volunteers were perceived as ‘at risk’, and they had to step away. Their contributions have been invaluable and incalculable. There are too many names to read out here, but I want to take a moment to mention Nik de Faulkner and Jude Thompson, who were two of the most engaging and valuable volunteers we ever had, both of whom died suddenly and are sorely missed.

The other paid staff (Alison Mandira Dianne Perla; Irene and Adrianne before them) have been wonderful, having to learn a million new skills and roll with the changes, the Gallery curators have done a fine job week in/week out and Sharon deserves a big shout out for always having my back and helping me sort out tricky financial and IT problems. Thanks to Judy and Kris for asking me to come and work for MACS after council made me redundant first time around back in 2016. And to Greg for listening to my downloads; thank you for your everything.

We should all be very proud of the tangible and intangible goodness that has come out of the funny little yellow brick building with the fake lighthouse on the side.

Lisa Brown

the funny little yellow brick building with the fake lighthouse on the side