Boola Bidi Dreaming

The Harvey Aboriginal Corporation has been an established community initiative designed to educate, inspire & reconcile all peoples with traditional Aboriginal knowledge & customs. They were already providing language classes, cultural ceremonies, storytelling and catering in the Harvey community. However in late 2023, the corporation was granted the lease to the former Harvey Visitor Centre, based on Binjareb Noongar Country on the banks of the Harvey River. The community were keen to see it being used for its purpose of attracting visitors to the town. WAITOC/ATWA could assist with the development of their tourism brand, Boola Bidi Dreaming and at the ATWA mentor provided support to the team to develop their tourism products.

 ATWA support has included:

• Assistance with business planning, business ideas and timelines
• Set up assistance for Boola Bidi, branding, marketing, logo
• Stakeholder introductions to tourism organisations such as Australia’s South-West
• Provided access to additional external funding supports through Waalitj corporation and business grants

• Provided guidance for marketing the brand via website, social media & networks
• Assisted the set-up of online booking platform, Rezdy for Lesley’s guided tours
• Provided advice to become Tourism WA accredited which was achieved in late 2023
• Worked with the management to develop suitable tourism products and services for visitors to the centre in addition to the retail offering

• Funded signage for the Boola Bidi tours at the Centre
• Funded business insurance for initial business set up
• Funding support for brochure printing
• Catering for official opening/launch of Boola Bidi (Dec 2023)

 Results, Impact and Future:

The impact of the emerging new business Boola Bidi Dreaming, under the Harvey Aboriginal Corporation, has been significant for the small town of Harvey. Strong planning at the beginning of the business set up, together with good governance, well-planned timelines, strong relationships with stakeholders and strong budget supports from WAITOC and other grants, have been contributors to the success of this business set up. The Boola Bidi Visitor Centre opened its doors in December and made huge sales within the first month. The products were carefully selected for high quality and reasonably priced, were strongly supporting other local and Aboriginal businesses, such as a locally made tea and artworks.

 The Rezdy booking platform has been a recent addition to the development of more efficient systems for the guided walking tours with Lesley Ugle. Training has been provided to upskill from both Rezdy and WAITOC staff.
Ongoing support will be provided in the areas of marketing, promotions and increased networking to develop more relationships and partners with other agents and organisations to increase tour bookings.