If you visited the Wirib Tourism Park today you’d be forgiven for thinking life is moving in fast forward. Building teams are working at top speed to finish a new café in the park, which started over four years ago.
“Aboriginal Benefit Account funding came through for this project in early March and in eight weeks we will have the project finished. This is a wonderful reflection of how agile and dynamic the AIG project management team is” said AIG CEO Liz Morgan-Brett.
Project builders are Smokin Constructions and project manager Piers Peters-Snow said they’ve been moving at eye watering speed. “They had the old store stripped bare within days; it was amazing to watch. It’s clear they understand how quickly we need the café finished, and we appreciate that.”
Redeveloping the old store site
The entire grant for Wirib is worth $1.5 million and includes the redevelopment of accommodation and kitchen in the park, and a licensed café in the old store site which is prime location in the small town of Timber Creek.
“The first cab off the rank is the licensed café. It’ll have indoor and outdoor seating and will be a venue locals and tourists will feel comfortable coming in to eat good food and have beer or wine if they choose. It’s the first of its kind for that area and we think it’ll be a strong business particularly in the dry season” said Liz.
The old store site sits in the middle of the main street in Timber Creek and next to the Wirib Store and Tourism Park. We anticipate people staying in the park will naturally use the café as a place to eat and have a drink, a service which is currently lacking in Timber Creek.
Working to a tight deadline
The reason for working fast is an opportunity too good to miss explained Liz. “In June and July there will be over 100 air force personnel staying at Wirib in stages for training and development. The café will be used initially to feed those people and be open to the public later in 2022. It is a fantastic revenue earning opportunity for Wirib which like all tourist dependent businesses in the NT, has suffered over the last two years.”
The deadline for the café is late April and if construction continues at its current speed, we’ll be finished on time, which is really exciting.
Designing viable business model
The redevelopment of Wirb Tourism Park started about four years ago and has included many hours of consultation with the asset owners Wirib Aboriginal Corporation and Gunamu Aboriginal Corporation and the community of Timber Creek to determine a successful business model.
“Supporting our communities to development viable and sustainable businesses is a critical element of AIG” explained Liz. “Wirib and Gunamu asked AIG to secure funding and project manage the redevelopment and that is what we’re doing. A big part of that process has been community consultation for a café design that is aligned with the current offerings in the store and tourism park, but also aligned with the surrounding environment. Ultimately the end product needs to make money for the owners.
“There is a real opportunity for us to deliver something beautiful for the Wirib and Gunamu Aboriginal Corporations who have been involved every step of the way in every decision down to choosing the colour of the exterior colorbond.”
Community development a priority
The new café and redeveloped park will give opportunity for local skills development and sustainable, meaningful jobs for locals.
“It’ll be a complimentary business to the Wirib Store, and we’ll make sure we’re not replicating services and products already on offer. The wonderful outcome for the café is that is it will drive local employment, which for the owners and AIG is critical” said Liz who also believes the café and park will drive development of skills and expertise in the region
