The Derwent Valley Council is about to open the restored Willow Court heritage precinct late February or early March, so how are they going to get the word out to the Tasmanian community and the tourists that it hopes to attract? This is a good question and the DVC have been sitting on the domain name “willowcourt.org.au” for nearly two years, it is going to be good to see what the DVC will reveal.
It would have been good to have the website already running so the local community can see what is happening from the official channels and know what type of activities and attractions will be available in a couple of months time.
This will be the revealing of the master plan and the large “Port Arthur” style attraction, it could only be expected that a media package equal to the sites heritage values be applied as soon as possible. It is also unclear what level of local employment will be generated by the opening. No positions vacant have been seen yet in the public domain.
Communication between the DVC and the Council Committees has been limited and the plans of council have not been revealed to the volunteer support base, that are the Friends of Willow Court, who normally run open days and arts events at the site. Local business that will have to cater for the opening have not been advised about an opening date or what to expect. Normally with an event this large in Tasmania some months of planning would be expected and would be well underway. A skeleton of the event and how the Council are going to management it could be shared.
We look forward to the opening, the events and wonder how the previous residents/patients are to be involved?
