Local movements want to push Gnomesville as a tourist attraction

I pull up beside local eco-tour operator and conservationist Peter Murphy.

There are no guidelines for parking; people just leave their vehicle where they see fit in front of the information board littered with gnomes.

"Ah, you're managing to find your way around now?," Peter comments, alluding to our first meeting when I struggled to find the location.

He talks me through the history of Gnomesville, how it started in the 90s as a protest of the Wellington Mills roundabout.

He highlights his concerns about the site.

"The problem is that it has been let go and has become very derelict. The Dardanup Shire doesn't know a good thing when they see it," Peter says.

He tells me some members of the community have called for toilet facilities and rubbish bins to be placed on the site.

"What it needs is a management plan that is going to cater not only for the attraction itself, but also the tourists."

As the gnomes are growing in numbers, he believes it's an ideal opportunity to bring tourism dollars into the community.

"It's spilling onto private property. It's a little gold mine.

"It's just typical of the Dardanup Shire's approach to tourism. There's probably more gnomes here than the population of Bunbury."

Some of the collections of gnomes are quite marvellous.

Others, however, aren't looking as grand. Some have eroded over the years, others were on the nasty end of a baseball bat thrashing by vandals.

"Occasionally local volunteers will come and clean up," Peter adds.

"Some have little respect for nature [but] generally speaking, people are pretty good. As it becomes more popular it's destined to implode on itself if it isn't managed and will become an eye-sore."

He explains his idea to add a souvenir shop, visitor's book, coffee van and more.

It started with just the two of us, now more vehicles have parked up alongside our cars.

A group of young adults have driven down from Joondalup just to drop off a couple of gnomes, and will drive back to the city straight after.

They hop onto the bridge to get a better overall view; dirtying their white sneakers in the process.

A young family tread along; Peter wonders if they're here to stay and enjoy the area and perhaps stick around for the weekend.

The Shire of Dardanup had a meeting with the Wellington Mill community to develop an ongoing management plan.

Chief executive Mark Chester says the shire and tourism operators do value Gnomesville as a tourism attraction.

The public meeting met with adjoining landowners and is now planning a council workshop to discuss the community comments before deciding on a management plan later this month.

"The shire has supported the promotion of tourism and businesses in the shire for many years and has invested budget funds to assist the Ferguson Valley Marketing & Promotions Inc with promotion," Mark says.

"In addition, the shire was a leading force in the development of the recently adopted Bunbury Wellington and Boyup Brook Regional Tourism Strategy, committing time and resources into the project, including making a commitment for ongoing support when the strategy is implemented."

Dardanup Shire has recently adopted a new tourism signage policy, with an annual allocation of funding to improve the signage throughout the shire.

Councillors attended a workshop on September 6 to discuss information shared at the recent public meeting on future management of Gnomesville.

As a result of this workshop, a report will be presented to council at its meeting on September 21.

– Matthew Lau