Media
This section contains videos portraying the beauty of the Kimberley region, our lifestyle and industries. Captions and transcripts are available for each video.
How liveable is the Kimberley?
Transcript
00:00
[Music]
01:00
[Applause]
01:01
[Music]
01:04
[Applause]
01:06
are some of the best things about living
01:08
in Broome the Kimberley uh the the
01:11
number one place I don’t think there’s
01:13
anywhere in Australia and maybe further
01:16
abroad that has better weather in Broome
01:18
over the winter months it is the best
01:21
weather on the continent no matter what
01:23
you know and and I challenge anyone to
01:25
say any different
01:26
I love the climate I love the people I
01:28
love the opportunities it’s it’s not an
01:31
easy place to do business but they are
01:34
but you know I think once you need to
01:36
understand the challenges and and work
01:40
hard to overcome those challenges and
01:41
that becomes a competitive advantage so
01:44
but I mean what a wonderful environment
01:46
to work in and and fly people over you
01:48
know we’re very privileged to be able to
01:50
do that and and you know we’ve where
01:52
we’re gonna be here for a while yet to
01:55
come I probably got one of the most
01:57
amazing jobs in the world
01:58
I can be tasting some food off a new
02:01
menu at one of our locations I can be
02:04
talking to people about the industry or
02:08
I can be out on a boat undertaking any
02:11
number of different pairing activities
02:13
which are always interesting and I
02:15
always learn from so yeah I feel like
02:17
I’m a pretty lucky person to be honest I
02:20
am in I am five years old and I love
02:26
crew
02:26
[Music]
02:27
I love living a broom the beach is
02:31
really nice there’s lots of water and
02:34
fruit trees and I like it because I have
02:39
a pool in my house I love living in the
02:42
country
02:42
I I’ve got children I think it’s a
02:46
magnificent place to bring out kids just
02:48
the outdoor lifestyle camping access to
02:52
you know fishing crabbing you know
02:55
beautiful whales coming through the I
02:57
mean there’s no better place along the
02:59
coastline really we can get that close
03:01
to whales and then to have the Kimberley
03:03
wilderness at your doorstep I think the
03:07
place is just magnificent we are really
03:10
lucky to live here so I think you’ve got
03:12
to remind yourself you know on the days
03:14
that you can’t get something at Kohl’s
03:15
or you know something really annoying
03:17
and seemingly small crops are up you
03:21
just have to remind yourself how lucky
03:24
we are to live where we live so for that
03:27
I’m really grateful to have ended up
03:29
here you know the Kimberley Coast is a
03:32
ridiculously unique tropical marine
03:34
environment everyone says that but this
03:36
one is this one’s got the largest
03:38
tropical tides in the world overlaid
03:42
across two and a half thousand islands
03:45
and one of the most pristine
03:48
environments left on the globe that’s
03:50
also got the oldest living culture still
03:54
active and still embedded into that
03:56
story it’s just a miraculous place for
03:59
every reason now instead of sending your
04:02
kids away to high school the Broome
04:04
senior high school is one of the best
04:07
performing high schools in the state and
04:09
so you know we’re completely comfortable
04:10
with our kids just now remaining in
04:12
Broome and getting a really good
04:15
opportunity for education locally you
04:18
know the place is becoming more and more
04:22
connected and I think that just goes to
04:25
make it a place it’s easy for people to
04:29
live permanently which i think is is
04:31
really important that’s what that’s when
04:33
we’re going to start to see more and
04:34
more investment back into the ridge
04:36
I don’t want it in the house except for
04:43
me I get to enjoy this country but also
04:49
I get to look after my parents my mom
04:55
and grandmother and great-grandfather
04:59
grandfathers grandmothers all lived up
05:01
here all grew up up here and we know
05:05
what’s here and what we need to protect
05:08
and so we hopefully can pass that on to
05:11
our next generation how to protect this
05:15
place these guys walk out they know what
05:17
they see they can survive here they’ll
05:19
both tell where the food is they know
05:21
where the water is all of those sorts of
05:22
things and and I don’t know that they
05:26
know how much they know
05:27
because you all these mob they’re
05:30
driving up the road they’re not saying
05:31
that there’s a bit of green there’s a
05:33
bit of dirt there’s a bit of whatever
05:34
and it’s pretty but that’s the extent of
05:38
it we really need to appreciate what the
05:41
body people here know and how they
05:44
interact with what they have and how
05:47
they know how to protect it and respect
05:49
them
05:52
you
Tourism
Transcript
00:00
[Music]
00:54
[Music]
01:05
[Music]
01:09
now the industry now is faring
01:12
reasonably well it’s a lot harder than
01:15
it ever used to be so you know in the
01:18
Association itself is about 25 members
01:20
and it’s growing I mean there’s a lot of
01:23
small members spoiled small groups of
01:26
people are starting up activities and
01:28
it’s it’s down to at least out from
01:30
whale watching at a broom all the way
01:32
through to bigger ships traveling up and
01:34
down the up and down the Kimberley Coast
01:36
I think the Kimberley will ever go out
01:39
of fashion
01:39
because it is one of the true
01:42
wildernesses that we have left but the
01:44
Kimberley itself with extra ships coming
01:48
in I mean at some stage we’re gonna have
01:50
to cap how many vessels come through the
01:52
area it’s the it’s a lot harder these
01:55
days I mean I’ve been in industry a long
01:56
time to actually get the bookings and
01:59
and the interest specifically to what
02:02
we’re doing in the smaller operators
02:04
that are going in and out of every kind
02:06
of river system and really exploring the
02:09
Kimberley it’s proving quite difficult
02:11
for especially smaller operators that
02:14
they’re getting impacted quite a lot of
02:16
life
02:22
it’s more difficult to operate the
02:24
kimberley these days well there’s a lot
02:26
more regulation there’s a lot a lot more
02:28
regulations especially for the vessels
02:32
of our size in the true north and and
02:34
some of the coral expedition boats and
02:36
things like that it’s when I first
02:38
started that we didn’t have as much
02:40
presence through the Aboriginal
02:41
communities along the coastline they
02:43
making a really big impact at the moment
02:45
and they’re impacting in a way which is
02:47
both good and bad I mean they’re very
02:50
welcomed as far as the Kimberley marine
02:53
tourism industry is concerned would love
02:55
to have more input from the local
02:58
communities and local Aboriginal culture
03:00
if you can actually showcase that along
03:03
with everything else we sees it’s the
03:04
perfect storm but at the moment we’re
03:07
kind of battling through a little bit
03:08
because the coastline itself has a range
03:11
of different communities and some of
03:13
them are different levels of advancement
03:16
in their actual in their preparation and
03:18
an actual business development so that’s
03:21
proving quite difficult for us at the
03:23
moment it would be great if they’re all
03:25
at the same sort of level and worked as
03:27
one unit – we had a Kimberley cultural
03:29
visitors past that we could all
03:31
contribute to at this stage it’s it’s
03:35
coming along it’s coming along a little
03:37
slower than the industry would probably
03:39
like to see it’s not something we can’t
03:41
get over but it is making it harder –
03:44
yeah make a dollar especially for the
03:46
smaller garden we’ve just launched a
03:48
brand new sister company – The Great
03:50
Escape
03:51
go horizontal Falls to us and we’re
03:54
offering day tours from Broome up to
03:57
Cockatoo Island and then into the
04:00
Kimberley so we’ve got two cruise boats
04:03
stationed out the front of Cockatoo
04:05
Island and yeah we’re leading groups
04:07
down through yappi sound into Talbot
04:10
they they get to traverse the falls in
04:12
the boats and really just explore that
04:15
Kimberley wilderness around that area so
04:17
very picturesque and
04:20
yeah a lot of fun look it’s very late in
04:24
the season for us you know we had a few
04:26
challenges but looking back now we feel
04:29
that it took the right amount of time to
04:31
get to where we have we’ve been able to
04:34
forge some fantastic relationships with
04:36
traditional owners and other groups in
04:38
the Kimberley who will be pertinent to
04:42
our success so I think that we all have
04:44
to Bend together and not only promote
04:47
our own products but work together it’s
04:50
about collaboration so yeah I guess
04:53
don’t just think about what you’re doing
04:55
think about how you could extend from
04:57
that and how it could benefit other
04:59
parties in the region and I think you
05:02
can get really creative with the product
05:04
it might even become something that you
05:06
didn’t even imagine initially just by
05:08
being a bit more open-minded about who
05:10
you involve in the new venture
05:12
[Music]
05:21
the business span established in the
05:24
Kimberley for about 34 years with its
05:26
main head office based out of Canon are
05:29
it’s been operating in the Pilbara for
05:31
about the last eight years and we’re
05:34
very excited to be to now have a base
05:36
back in look there’s a number of
05:40
benefits of connecting their Kimberley
05:42
into the Pilbara the opportunity for for
05:45
FIFO into the Pilbara from from brain I
05:49
think is great opportunity for fir
05:51
brewing and the economy up here people
05:53
can live in a you know in a wonderful
05:55
location and you know a great
05:57
environment and it’s closer to the pill
06:00
brother and than Perth is and a lot of
06:02
people are travelling from Perth and
06:03
south of Perth you know why aren’t
06:04
they’re traveling from the Kimberley
06:06
it’s it’s mainly because there’s no way
06:08
of getting there at the moment other
06:09
than Viper I think there’s there’s
06:11
there’s a very low hanging fruit for
06:15
increased tourism interest and activity
06:17
in the Kimberley you know I think that
06:20
the cost and limitations around air
06:23
access into the into the West Kimberley
06:27
certainly has an impact in into the East
06:29
Kimberley there’s there’s no direct near
06:32
access from the southeastern states of
06:34
the country at all there’s 300 to 350
06:38
thousand people a year traveling to all
06:40
around and we’ve got about 20,000 people
06:42
coming to the bungle bungles you know
06:45
the bungle bungles is spread over 450
06:48
square kilometres all already spread
06:50
over about nine square kilometres the
06:53
opportunity to open up the bungle bungle
06:56
on the East Kimberley to the rest of the
06:58
world is is not difficult
07:00
we just need to all work together to
07:03
make sure we can get better air access
07:04
into the state and and and it could be
07:08
an absolute game changer for tourism in
07:10
the Kimberley
07:11
[Music]
07:28
we’ve been involved in a couple of ways
07:30
you know by default we’re involved in it
07:32
because we just need to have tourists
07:34
all over their properties I mean our
07:35
fishing and camping and that’s
07:37
everything so we’re so we were sort of
07:38
reluctant participants in tourism for
07:40
probably the last 20 years you know
07:42
we’ve named the call of the Kimberley
07:43
and that’s after named after a book
07:45
actually that was written on the first
07:47
guys the first white guys that came up
07:49
from King Jarrah and I’m started year to
07:52
station in 1881 and so we’re basically
07:55
just getting it trying to put it
07:56
together an experience where people
07:58
didn’t you know if you want to have a
08:00
look and understand a little bit about
08:01
what goes on on a station and you know a
08:03
bit more of the internal workings rather
08:05
than the you know the sort of
08:07
theoretical ideas of what goes on and so
08:10
what’s happened in the last few years
08:11
we’ve sort of got into the you know
08:14
there the space where look this is an
08:15
opportunity at some we see there’s only
08:18
ever increasing and rather than just
08:19
sitting back and being frustrated by an
08:21
unmanaged tourism that’s happening by
08:24
default I’m how about we get involved in
08:26
being but you know putting something on
08:27
the table so we’re sort of basically we
08:30
know we’ve had that bungles caravan park
08:31
and our area up there quite a few years
08:33
now so that’s a bit of a you know almost
08:35
a service sort of industry there where
08:36
we basically satisfying it I need but um
08:40
but we’ve now gone into tourism on the
08:41
station side of it probably a lot of
08:43
it’s almost driven by some of the
08:44
contact we’ve had with the tourist side
08:46
of it in the UM at the bundles because
08:49
people are they drive from the Kimberley
08:50
they go from Cannon arrow to broom and
08:52
although they see a lot of beautiful
08:53
things no one really understands what’s
08:55
going on on the other side of the fence
08:57
and so we sort of looked at until you
08:59
know people are desperate to get out of
09:00
it out of town and have a look around
09:02
and don’t see what’s going on on the
09:04
station somewhere so what you know
09:06
understand the cattle industry of bit
09:08
and so through this magnificent spot on
09:10
the river beautiful fishing all the
09:11
wonderful things for tourism and and we
09:14
use used to basically use it for six or
09:16
eight weeks a year
09:16
so we thought there’s a facility there
09:18
let’s go and do something so we put in
09:20
our 12 Safari tents and and done all the
09:23
home setup and
09:25
and basically gone into that space so we
09:27
had a bit of a soft start this year just
09:28
um testing it out and so next year will
09:31
be our full year of operation there so
09:33
we’ll see how it goes
09:34
[Music]
09:41
[Music]
09:43
g’day my name is James Brown I’m the
09:45
managing director of Cigna PayPal fun
09:48
brooms obviously famous for its pearling
09:51
industry brooms a great local market
09:53
because people come to broom with
09:55
aspirations of owning a broom that’s led
10:06
us to now being able to expand the
10:08
business model out of broom and even out
10:11
of the out of the Australian South Sea
10:13
pearl industry with our recent
10:16
investment into broken Bay pearls which
10:19
is a which is a New South Wales pearling
10:21
company that utilizes a local species
10:24
which is the same local species that
10:26
Mikimoto started the industry with in in
10:28
Japan commonly known as a Koya we’re
10:31
hoping that being able to take the
10:35
synergies of the new Signet Bay business
10:36
model and and developed broken bay with
10:40
those and hopefully tapping into a much
10:43
larger customer base in New South Wales
10:46
there’s only a about an hour north of
10:48
Sydney we really want to firstly open
10:52
new markets but secondly we want to
10:54
really create the ability to talk to
10:57
consumers and have a much bigger impact
10:58
on trying to change consumer perceptions
11:02
or at least improve the the
11:05
misconceptions which we believe will
11:08
then help drive a whole range of
11:10
processes through the the wholesale
11:12
market all the way to retail so that so
11:14
that Australian high quality Australian
11:16
product can compete with its
11:19
international competitors
11:23
so one of the big investments right now
11:26
in the Broom region is the upgrade of
11:29
the cape leveque road I think it’s only
11:31
logical that it does get completely
11:33
sealed rather than left 5050 the way it
11:36
is now there’s obviously some concerns
11:38
about what kind of social impacts that
11:40
might have cultural environmental
11:42
impacts but I think the good news is
11:44
that the Dampier Peninsula now is better
11:46
positioned than ever to actually try and
11:48
tackle those issues we’ve got we’ve got
11:50
traditional owner governance quite well
11:53
established up here now we’ve got
11:56
fantastic range of programmes so there’s
11:59
a range of assets now that I believe can
12:02
be easily leveraged to to kind of
12:04
minimize the impacts and actually start
12:06
to maximize hopefully the opportunities
12:08
then of course you’ve got aquaculture
12:10
you’ve still got an existing pearling
12:12
industry here which I think could
12:14
recover and and be a big player again
12:16
you’ve got the Kimberley aquaculture
12:18
zone which is 30 miles right behind me
12:21
that’s Australia’s biggest ocean
12:24
barramundi farm which is undergoing a
12:27
big investment right now you’ve got
12:29
marine parks that are now being
12:31
developed that will stretch right down
12:33
to the peninsula you’ve got a whole
12:35
range of private and government
12:37
investments that are already starting to
12:39
drive investment and drive additional
12:42
activity so you know I think there’s
12:44
that that’s a really exciting space
12:45
[Music]
12:58
alderman wilderness camp has 32 family
13:03
roots we have 25 camping spaces we have
13:08
a restaurant we have a cafe we have
13:11
entertainment and we provide a venue
13:15
that can host up to 300 people if we
13:18
need to in various camping forms Beach
13:21
shelters those sorts of things
13:22
throughout the season and we try to be a
13:26
community hub here we run micro
13:29
businesses out of culture men so lots of
13:32
different tours dizziness to a product
13:35
we have charters so that’s that’s cool
13:39
to me it has you know good and bad
13:45
expectations that will come with the
13:49
road but I think what it means for our
13:53
mob up here is more freedom less Freight
13:59
cross people can buy cheap cars to go up
14:02
and down the road you know instead of
14:04
buying 40 or 50 thousand dollar vehicles
14:07
to to be able to live up here on a
14:10
tourism level it that’s definitely more
14:15
people it’s also a loss of some things
14:18
it’s a loss of that isolation it’s a
14:21
loss of that perhaps the adventure it’s
14:23
a loss of the iconic cape leveque Road
14:25
but I think that the communities up here
14:28
have a brilliant area its pristine it
14:31
hasn’t been over developed it hasn’t
14:33
been overrun that there’s a lot of
14:35
safeguards that I know everyone’s
14:37
working on just try and stop children or
14:42
the whole commercial area from becoming
14:44
that denuded place where the Nature has
14:46
been denatured because of just a number
14:49
of people and the pressure on it you’re
14:51
going to need people you know like an
14:54
entrance point up here so that you
14:56
control
14:58
who comes in and how many comes in it
15:00
has to be men
15:01
24/7 yeah happy if you have prior
15:04
bookings you can come up if you’re a day
15:07
visiting you get slapped with a sticker
15:09
on saying that you come through this
15:12
gate now you have to be back through
15:13
this gate about 6:00 if there’s not and
15:15
we have to be able to find them you know
15:18
know people if people say no we’re just
15:21
going up for a look I’m sorry you just
15:24
can’t go for look unless you pay day
15:27
visitor’s pass there’s also a difference
15:29
between properties signet babe or a
15:31
private like it’s a tourism business is
15:34
they don’t have a day pass system they
15:36
have their restaurant they have their
15:36
pool at the moment they offer that open
15:38
to people who might order lunch and
15:40
things like that so it’s it’s great for
15:41
people to go visit what are they going
15:43
to do with 50 people who want to use the
15:46
pool so we’re all gonna have to think
15:48
about that is our individual properties
15:50
as well as communities because when
15:53
people buy a community pass and they’re
15:55
thinking that also gives me access into
15:57
cool German will it or won’t it because
15:59
we’re not a community we are owned by
16:01
communities but we’re a private property
16:03
so those discussions again ongoing one
16:08
price to individual prices i we just
16:11
need to make the boundaries really clear
16:13
for people the expectations really clear
16:15
for people or we will you know become
16:19
subject to complaint and we can like
16:21
brian says we don’t want to do that at
16:22
the point where the road opens because
16:25
there’s always going to be taking shoes
16:27
there’s always going to be unforeseen
16:29
things that happen because you’ve done
16:31
this here and then that happened there
16:32
so we really need to have a clear
16:35
picture of where everyone’s thinking and
16:38
what needs to be done earlier rather
16:42
than later
16:44
you
Page last updated: Thu Dec 13 2018 12:56:39 PM
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Don't hesitate to call the Kimberley Development Commission with any queries or comments.
Send an Enquiry
7 Ebony Street (PO Box 620)
Kununurra Western Australia 6743
T: +61 8 9148 2100