Grey nomads have been very much front and centre in the thinking of those behind ambitious plans for a huge new resort near Gladstone in Central Queensland.
A vast tract of land once earmarked for a workers camp looks set now to become a tourist mecca, complete with accommodation, shops, a restaurant, an outdoor cinema, and even a golf driving range.
The decline in the resources sector forced the owners of the site at Burua to re-think their original vision, and catering to the needs of the huge numbers of caravanners and motorhomers that travel through the region seemed like a logical solution.
“With the number of tourists driving through this will allow for more of them to stay in Central Queensland,” said Sunil Govind from Gracemere Surveying and Planning Consultants. “It will be a mixture of tourist recreational and a retail precinct.”
The Gladstone Observer reports that the development would take place over a number of stages, with stage one including 109 powered sites for grey nomads, 18 villas and cabins, and areas for recreational use. The resort could also include a tourist information centre which would promote tourism in the Gladstone region.
The Western Australian owners, who are backing the project, are said to be keen to get stage one underway as soon as possible.
The proposal went before the Gladstone Regional Council’s Planning and Development Committee this week, and it was decided to allow the present development application to “continue to progress” with a recommendation to be handed down at a future meeting.
Mr Govind said he would now look to apply for the relevant state development approvals.
The proposed site of the development is at 72 Old Bruce Highway.
* Comment below
Great idea as long as they dont make the price of the sites too expensive
SO firstly they say to the GN brigade, “Go away, we don’t need you here”. And then when it looks like the miners are all FIFO or the mines are being closed, they change their mind and say, “Just kidding. You’re all welcome”.
Hmmmmm. Might tell them not to worry, I’ll take my money somewhere else.
Yes your correct. All stages to build etc and last stage is – wait for it
Close all close by free camps . Get all councils to close down the free camp spots.
And then a later stage – increase fees
We have good memories when these Towns say NO. A few years later they say COME. Sorry we found somewhere better.
Spot on Chucker – well said.
Yep have to agree. There a lot of these places that will find the down turn hard, but will forget how they treated travelers with price raises and turn aways. Now will be EXPECTING those very travelers to come back. Yep I will spend my money where we were made welcome. Not near any mineing towns!
Taking bets the Calliope free camp will get the chop as theu try to gouge the GN tourists yet again. Gladstone didnt want nomads while they had miners money..different story now they have gone. We will just go elsewhere as we do whenever they close a camp down.
The Sunshine Coast council closed all sport grounds and show grounds to caravans a couple of years ago and in less than a year done a double back flip and opened them again. Too many local business were complaining about loss of money.
I did shutdowns in the mine and because I was a contractor you were treated like crap by the locals so I have always avoided the mining towns to spend my money. Now I am traveling I will stay away as there are better places and people in this great country
I am a resident that lives along the Old Bruce Highway leading down to the Calliope River and I can tell you that the majority of the residents do not want this to go ahead. We chose to live out here in a peaceful, rural setting and that would be taken away from us should this application go ahead. We were told by the Council that this was not a worker’s camp but rather a Caravan park, but according to the Town Planner managing the application it WAS going to be a worker’s camp but with the down turn in the mining sector they decided to change tactics. I believe that the free camp would be shut down to free accommodation and that would be tragic. If it is shut down I believe most Grey Nomads will bypass Gladstone/Calliope altogether and continue on to the next free camp. We were supposed to be notified that it was going before council, but have not heard anything and according to the article one meeting has already occurred. I will be chasing this up. If you disagree with this application please make your comments known, especially to the council. All of the councilor’s email addresses are on the Gladstone Regional Council website. Here is a link for your convenience http://www.gladstone.qld.gov.au/contact-a-councillor