Uki's Story

Communication and information technology has played a part in boosting the confidence of the Uki community in their attempts to guide their future.

"The community has achieved autonomy and control over determining its future development." - Cath Donaldson, Uki

Facing the challenges

Located in the Tweed Valley of the Northern Rivers district in NSW, Uki is dominated by the majestic beauty of Mount Warning's rocky peak.

A lush cloak of rainforests covers the mountain, attracting many interesting people to the area to explore their more creative side.

Panorama over Uki to Mt. Warning

Uki village, with a population of 300, has a slow country pace and a harmonious blending of older families, and their tradition values, with alternate and natural healers and artists.

Now a new dynamic is blending into the community with professional people having escaped the more hurried pace of the city or coast heading to Uki for some peace and tranquillity.

With the new residents came the seeds of change. The demographic moved towards a higher socio-economic status. Local commercial properties were being bought up and redeveloped to service the alternative cultures that have located there. New enterprises and the fact that money was being invested in the village was bringing change to a sleepy small village which had contented itself by preferring not to change.

Our project

Uki is on a regional road which has recently been completely sealed, closing the gap between the larger towns of Kyogle and Murwillumbah. Situated between Byron and Nimbin, the village now experiences increased traffic through the town during peak events and holiday times.

The community decided it wanted change on its own terms so became actively involved in the Main Street and the Townlife Development programs.

Mt Warning Hotel

We embarked on an action plan for future projects and improvements to the township. We identified the strengths and how to capitalise on their proximity to Mount Warning and the natural beauty of the area. The aim is to enjoy economic benefits without too much infrastructure or changing the character of the village.

Our marketing project branded the area as "Where the Mountains touch the Sky" and developed the means of communicating local information while increasing business opportunities for locals and newcomers.

Under the Townlife Development Program we developed five components to the project:

• a tourism/marketing workshop targeting accommodation houses and local businesses
  
• developing, designing and printing a bi-monthly newsletter for the surrounding district
  
• developing and printing a business and residential directory particular to Uki and districts
  
• developing an Uki Village website
  
• designing, printing and distributing a tourism brochure.

To overcome Uki's isolation from the outside world and to attract more home-based small businesses, we jumped right into the technological revolution and set up a Community Technology Centre (CTC) with help from the NSW Government.

Old Bank in the main street, now a gallery

What we've achieved

The community newsletter has proved to be very successful with all our local businesses getting behind it and sponsoring it. This is creating more business opportunities and more general knowledge of the businesses in the area.

The business and residential directory is complete and on sale. This will link residents with their local businesses in a quick and easy to read format, and will also be available electronically.

The CTC enterprise is booming. It is a separate incorporated entity with goals and objectives to become not only self-sustaining but successful in reaching other businesses across the Tweed. It offers a service to the community but is also creating great opportunities for acting as an agent to all types of businesses.

Examples of projects that are being generated from the centre are the shooting and editing of a 10 minute promotional film of the Mount Warning climb which includes a breathtaking, panoramic view of the Tweed Valley, taken at the summit. This view will also be available on a CD along with a T-shirt or postcard with the slogan: I virtually reached the summit of Mt Warning…

It is also offering free web pages to Uki businesses which join its website, giving them the opportunity to reach wider markets and capitalise on the opportunities of e-commerce.

How the Townlife Development Program has helped

It has given the community a boost of confidence in their attempts to guide their future.

It has certainly provided the acknowledgement of hard work as well as the impetus to go forward.

The community believes that their success with Townlife and the development of a marketing strategy helped in their successful applications to fund a CTC and to purchase the Historic Butter factory.

We have also achieved a better understanding of marketing and cross promotions.

We have stronger communications regionally especially among other similar villages.

They have also gained widespread recognition for their efforts and this has increased community pride and ownership.

The Townlife Development Program consultant helped us every step of the way and continues to provide that support and project management service.

What we're doing now

The Uki Resident Group is currently in the process of purchasing the disused local buttery, which will become the future business centre of Uki and an ongoing funding source for future community projects.

This is the only available commercial space and has great potential for development as a tourism, arts and community space.

Old Buttery with butter churn

The technology centre will relocate there where it will be able to expand its operations to include computer training rooms and video conferencing.

There will be space for community co-operatives, art exhibitions, local markets, retail shops and youth and community meeting space.

The community have great pride in their accomplishments and have progressed beyond expectations. The people have demonstrated what working as a team can achieve. They have taken on some big projects but there has been the right mix of volunteers to move forward once the project is underway.

Contact:

Cath Donaldson
Phone: 6672 6130
email: mail@tedc.com.au

Phil Carr
Phone: 6679 5855
email: pcarr@omcs.com.au