Better tourists than ghost towns
Date: 23-Jul-10
Author: Steve Sullivan (Letter to The Herald)
I REPLY to Warwick Biggs ("Rampant tourism may kill Wollombi" Letters 10/7).
My wife and I run the Wollombi general store, a seven-day-a-week pleasure. We meet people from around the country and the globe.
They are amazed and happy to see such an old village being used, shared and appreciated.
Keys are available for 1840s sandstone churches to be admired. Weddings are held frequently. Old buildings house cafes, a restaurant, cellar door, and more. The Tavern, real estate and wineries are close. The 1866 courthouse is a museum. Other buildings are accommodation.
This is how a historic village should be - used, shared and appreciated.
There is no "rampant tourism" in Wollombi. Tour buses are no more than six a week and don't block the village. I am yet to see a fight over parking and motorcyclists do wheelies everywhere, not just at Wollombi.
If this village gets wrapped in cotton wool the community and tourists will disappear and a ghost town will result, full of crumbling old buildings with no one to care for them.
Steve Sullivan
Wollombi
Comments (1)
Posted: 30-Jul-10 10:09 by Francisca Maul Permalink
Well said Steve!
Mulla Villa is being looked after because of the Tourist Dollar.
Unless someone would like to donate some money?
Or does anybody have an other idea of how we could look after this property?
Francisca Maul
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