Special Report - Goldfields hub plans to reshape its image

For more than a century Kalgoorlie has been synonymous with gold mining and its associated industries and activities.

Be it bush prospectors and deep mines or the ample offerings of pubs and the red light district, the Goldfields capital has an image more widely recognised than is usual for a city of its size and population.

Recognised or not, the city’s leaders want to change this perception of Kalgoorlie to reflect the city’s modern, progressive character and ensure its future.

It might be a tall order, but Goldfields leaders believe the city needs to be known for its career opportunities, lifestyle, cultural and industrial diversity, and natural beauty.

The path to this dramatic change, they believe, is to introduce new ways of making a living – such as making Kalgoorlie a major transport hub, a technology centre and a clean energy city that will draw people for reasons other than mining.

At the same time, planning agencies believe infrastructure, such as water, needs to be upgraded to support established industries in Kalgoorlie. Private consortium United Utilities is working towards approval of an Esperance-to-Kalgoorlie pipeline to pump desalinated seawater.

Land has been set aside at Mungari, Parkeston and on Anzac Drive to accommodate expanding industry, although high headworks charges continue to hamper development of the Mungari Industrial Park.

Mining service businesses will continue to prosper in the city, with proximate mines producing more than $1 billion worth of nickel and gold every year.

A regional planning strategy produced by the WA Planning Commission in 2000 forecasts the city’s “economic base will expand and strengthen as service industry, commerce and processing develop to meet the demands of the region”.

As for new industry, plans are under way to study the feasibility of an intermodal freight facility, which will create a direct rail link between Kalgoorlie and the Pilbara, and the opportunity for local businesses to service the lucrative mining centres to the north.

There is also a vision to make Kalgoorlie an e-commerce hub complete with underlying infrastructure, starting with broadband, and an appropriate skills base.

The eastern Goldfields is already a test bed for connecting general practitioners online.

As well, the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder has applied to be a solar city as part of the Commonwealth’s plans to trial solar energy in typical Australian homes and businesses.

The plans have yet to gain momentum, however. The idea is that, after initial scoping, development will be funded by the private sector. However, financiers have already gone over the intermodal freight facility project with no result.

There is evidence that diversity is being achieved through a steadily growing tourist market.

Australians over 55 who are driving around the country in their retirement are seen as a potentially huge market for Kalgoorlie.

“It is those people who have lived in metropolitan areas most of their lives but who somehow have links to Kalgoorlie and want to come back and see the city,” Goldfields-Esperance Development Commission senior project officer Stephanie Fletcher said.

Kalgoorlie MLA and state Liberal leader, Matt Birney, regards tourism as a potential non-mining boom for the city.

“Kalgoorlie offers unique amenities, a unique history, outback characters and it is located in the bush – what more could you want,” he said.

“But because we have been so prosperous in other businesses for so long, I think we have under-resourced the tourism section of our economy.”

Tourism WA data shows that the Golden Outback, which includes Kalgoorlie, brings in only a fraction of the tourism dollars contributed by Perth, the South West, north west and the Coral Coast.

What it also shows is that more tourists are staying longer in Kalgoorlie and they are spending more money while they are in the city.

Tourism WA feedback is that Kalgoorlie is market-ready, with many tourists describing the city as the ‘real Australia’ and a ‘living museum’.

Yet to be investigated is a better rail link between Kalgoorlie and Esperance, and improving tourism activities linked to surrounding bushland, mining and Aboriginal culture.

The city also needs to attract a second national airline, a development that has proved challenging for the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder but which it hopes to resolve by offering a $1 million marketing incentive to potential carriers. Virgin pulled out of routes to and from Kalgoorlie three days before its inaugural flight in March due to poor demand.

There are also signs Kalgoorlie is attracting a population committed to living long-term in the city rather than blowing in and out according to the fortunes of gold and nickel. At the same time, shires surrounding the city have watched their resident populations dwindle as mine workers prefer to fly-in and fly-out of Perth.

“The nature and function of Kalgoorlie-Boulder has changed,” the regional planning strategy says.

“In the past the city population comprised many short-stay residents, however over time the community has become more stable with an increasing long-term population.

“Lifestyle is now a major consideration in the planning and development of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, and different lifestyles and recreational pursuits need to be accommodated.”

The city is doing just that, according to Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Hugh Gallagher.

“The essential ingredients are already in Kalgoorlie,” Mr Gallagher said. “The city just has to keep building on them.”

As many people now earn a living in Kalgoorlie’s retail and services industries as in mining, and construction is forecast to be an employer of a growing number of people.

Mr Gallagher said the city was undergoing its biggest change in the retail sector, with the arrival of a second discount department store, a new supermarket in outer suburb O’Connor, numerous retail warehouses, and a major expansion of Bunnings.

“It is now possible to have a shopping experience in Kalgoorlie,” Mr Gallagher said.

“There is choice in housing in terms of price and quality and overall a sophisticated social fabric, which includes more than 500 sporting and community groups.”

He said the skills shortage remains a huge challenge for Kalgoorlie. It would always be difficult to attract new people to the city if their families lived elsewhere.

However, Mr Gallagher said excellent career opportunities available in Kalgoorlie would ensure people kept coming to the city.

The Goldfields-Esperance Development Commission’s Stephanie Fletcher said about one third of Kalgoorlie’s workforce was turned over every year.

The city’s population grew at a rate of 1.9 per cent over the past 10 years and planning agencies have assumed the growth rate will continue for the next 25 years. By that time, Kalgoorlie’s population will have doubled to 60,000.

Ms Fletcher said there was no data, but anecdotal evidence suggested people were moving back to the city after retirement in order to enjoy strong friendship networks they established in previous periods of residency.

Given the stereotyped view outsiders have of Kalgoorlie – of a city with a pub and a skimpy on every corner – it may take locals to sell Kalgoorlie to potential newcomers.