Last week TRC consultants Tracey Diddams and Natasha Paul headed out to Home Valley on Balanggarra Country to host the Balanggarra Country Tourism Forum. The forum provided an opportunity for Traditional Owners, Indigenous Tour operators, the broader tourism industry and partners to meet on-country. The forum addressed challenges, future opportunities and discussed a tourism vision for Balanggarra Country that meets Traditional Owner aspirations and establishes new relationships and partnerships with the tourism industry and local communities. The outcomes from the Forum will be developed into a Balanggarra Country Tourism Action Plan.
Balanggarra Country covers over 2.5 million hectares across the north-east Kimberley region, rich with local culture intertwined with spectacular natural values found nowhere else. In June 2021, Balanggarra Ventures, a subsidiary of Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation took over management of the iconic tourist attraction, Home Valley Station located 120 km from Kununurra. Management of Home Valley provides Traditional Owners, their families and local people with the opportunity to proudly live, care for and work on their country. Home Valley is also the ‘gateway’ to Balanggarra Country, with substantial future opportunities for local Indigenous people to realise multiple benefits from tourism and grow their tourism offer in a culturally appropriate way.
Photo credit: TRC Tourism and Sarah Duguid.
