WA Aboriginal Minister: Cultural experiences a boon for Peel’s economy

Mr Wyatt said the Peel region was perfectly positioned to propel that growth, due to its rich heritage and natural resources that held significant cultural value. 

“For people who come to Perth and Western Australia one of the first things they all want to see… is an Aboriginal experience,” he said. 

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“Mandurah is so ideally placed because you’ve got incredible coastline as well as a very proud Aboriginal heritage. 

“There’s a huge opportunity and it’s already being embraced.” 

Tourism WA research has shown that 78 per cent of visitors to the state placed a high value on Aboriginal related experiences.  Which has grown dramatically over the past five years. 

In a report released in 2017, Aboriginal tourism businesses across WA accounted for 339 full time jobs. 

Mr Wyatt highlighted the social and economic benefits of the industry to other local governments as well as commended those who’d embraced and encouraged those experiences.  

“I think there is a lot of opportunities, not just for Aboriginal businesses but for those local government’s that decide to prioritise that as an investment and economic opportunity,” he said. 

He said by embracing cultural place names within local governments, such as the City of Mandurah, businesses had platforms to tell their story and interact with. 

“All country that we walk on now is named after other stories and places by Aboriginal people for thousands of years,” he said. 

“By bringing that into the forefront of how we name things, I think it’s a way to tell the story of our local communities. It brings more ownership to the people who live here for a long time.

“It just makes it easier for when tourists come to town to actually explain what is here and what used to be here.”

Follow Caitlyn Rintoul on Twitter via @caitlynrintoul.