acknowledge the direction and strength of local wind patterns … with all buildings
located to take advantage of impressive views to the Coorong and sand dunes of the Younghusband Peninsula (Ken Latona, letter 14 November 1996). SATC did not implement the Latona architectural plan. Michael Geddes clarified the reason
for this: “Those plans came from outside the process that the SATC were involved
in and that at the particular stage of the project, with other designs already being discussed, they were
just not able to be considered” (pers. comm. 1 May 2009).
Trevorrow disputed this interpretation and could not understand how plans from such a renowned eco-architect could be ignored.
SATC’s rejection of Latona’s plan necessitated the commissioning of alternative
architectural plans. Thereafter SATC presented Trevorrow with plan after plan it commissioned for the site, but Trevorrow stood his ground steadfastly:
I’ve had many different designs sent to me now over the last few year
s, which I
wouldn’t even have on the property and if it meant I won’t get anything then so be it.
Some of them are just quite disgusting. And out of whack with the whole environment. So we revert back to the original plans [Latona
’s design]..
. I keep referring back to those plans now. I think people probably get a bit upset with me
sometimes because I’m sticking to what I believe the needs are for this place and they think I’m
being difficult. I’m not being difficult. I want something that’s sensible, that
fits in the environment,
that’s unique, has a Ngarrindjeri flavour and that means
something to us. Anyway the square box sitting out here, galvanised iron shelter that they put up in the mid-
North in the early ‘70s and all that sort of stuff … I’ve been offered that over the years of putting them up. I don’t need any of that (pers. comm. 4
September 2006). Here Trevorrow is referring to one design plan commissioned by SATC which he opposed because of the use of corrugated iron cladding that George negatively associated with mission
buildings up North. Craig Grocke of SATC acknowledged Trevorrow’s view and instead
recommended a change to timber-cladding in the construction (pers. comm. 15 November 2006). By 2001
–
2002, Trevorrow had secured another design he found appropriate at a price that was affordable tendered by the
Ngarrindjeri’s Murray Bridge
Community Development and Employment Program (CDEP) called Tangglun Piltengi Yunti (TPY). According to Bill van der Spelt, the manager of TPY: I drew one of these accommodation units out, which is shaped like a fish. He thought that was a great idea. We then lodged it with the SATC who turned around and took it on board, took it with them and probably three months later come back with a plan
that didn’t look anything like that…
we ended up with virtually a square box, very European style, had nothing to do with the area, had nothing to do with the restaurant or anything else (pers. comm. 9 May 2007). Disagreements over the design of the units between Trevorrow and SATC meant that building was delayed for a number of years. Bill van der Spelt described the problem:
… the funding bodies haven’t been listening to what we’ve been saying.
Every time we come up with the same design they change it
…
they come back with a different design. And the last design they come up with was
…
going to cost $150, 000 to
$160,000 just for one little unit and of course the money wasn’t there anymore. This
12
had been going over a period of four years where the architects have drawn money
out of it and we’ve got nothing, absolutely nothing (pers. comm. 9 May 2007).
This failure to agree on a design saw the steady erosion of funds available to finance development as architectural and consultants
’ fees mounted
. Importantly, use of SATC commissioned designers and builders would have meant that these building works would provide less benefit to the Ngarrindjeri community than using the Ngarrindjeri TPY CDEP proposal which would have provided construction employment opportunities. A further complication was that the design of the accommodation units was tied up with the development of other infrastructure at the CWL which created blockages to progress. In the interest of cost effectiveness, SATC bracketed the tender for the accommodation units together with the redesign of the entrance to the CWL and the building of an entrance bay and information area. When disagreements on the design of the units prevented progress, the building of the entrance infrastructure also stalled. This very likely meant loss of business as poor signage meant passing highway traffic travelling on the Adelaide-Melbourne touring route was not alerted to the CWL and its amenities. Four years of stalemate on the building of the accommodation units finally shifted in 2007 when TPY provided another set of designs based on the fish shape. Advantages of the TPY bid included the fact that their price per unit was reasonable at approximately $85,000 per unit and they would employ Ngarrindjeri labour in the construction of the units. However, it was the McCracken Homes tender using a fish-shaped design that was finally implemented because by this time the CDEP program on which TPY relied for funding was under threat of being dismantled by the Commonwealth government and could no longer be relied on to see the project through to completion. The previous impasse with SATC on building the units was effectively overcome with the input of Paul Case who was appointed as a Business Manager for the project by Indigenous Business Australia (IBA). Case facilitated meetings with all agencies and brokered the funding agreements to make the building work go ahead. In particular, an IBA loan/grant offer needed to be finalised and Indigenous Land Corporation funding aligned. 4.2 INTERPRETATIONS AND SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE BUILDING SAGA The events described above indicate the delays and frustrations that bureaucratic processes can impose on Indigenous Australian tourism operators and the ways they can inhibit business development. Interviews for this research project indicated a level of misunderstanding of roles in the process of developing the infrastructure for the CWL and the discord that resulted from this misunderstanding. Trevorrow expressed the view that SATC planning people were sometimes a barrier to progress rather than a source of assistance. SATC personnel, on the other hand, saw themselves as hard-working facilitators of the development, helping sort through the complicated planning process. These contradictory views were evident in the clash over planning process requirements. Planner Craig Grocke of SATC argued: So I guess we are trying to do a lot to try and ease processes which George probably
hasn’t necessarily been involved in or seen our movements behind the scenes to try and facilitate things. And that’s a lot of what we do … to get things through, get
things happening (pers. comm. 15 November 2006). Conversely, some SATC personnel indicated that a significant impediment to progress was