JOHN Bragg’s message to Warrnambool is to accept freedom camping or miss out on economic benefits.
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Mr Bragg, the president of the Macarthur Advancement and Development Association (MADA), has helped MADA develop a freedom camping area on the picturesque banks of the Eumeralla River at Macarthur.
The development of the area, where people can camp for free, led the Australian Campervan and Motorhome Club to recently declare Macarthur as a Recreational Vehicle Friendly Town.
The riverside area, which was formerly used by the Macarthur Angling club, has a large sheltered area and barbecue.
Mr Bragg said MADA decided about five years ago to support freedom camping after some of its members saw the beneficial impacts it had in other towns.
“The people that had it (freedom camping), the towns had progressed,” he said.
Mr Bragg said several visitors used the Macarthur freedom camping area each week during the warmer months.
“They spend money at the pub and at the shop,” he said.
Mr Bragg said he realised Macarthur had a different perspective to Warrnambool about freedom camping because it did not have a caravan park but he believed both paid and freedom camping areas could co-exist.
He said he and his wife had used freedom camping areas when they travelled and enjoyed the “freedom of choice” they offered.
They travelled in a recreational vehicle that had its own power and ablution facilities and did not need the swimming pools or children’s playgrounds offered by caravan parks, Mr Bragg said.
MADA’s efforts to attract visitors to Macarthur have extended not only to publicising the free camping area on the Eumeralla River but also to providing visitor facilities at the adjacent Macarthur Recreation Reserve for visitors who did not have power or toilet facilities in their vehicles.
Eight powered sites for visitors had been created as part of a project to provide three phase power to the recreation reserve and its sports facilities, Mr Bragg said.
The power upgrade was funded by Moyne Shire Council and energy company AGL.
Mr Bragg said visitors paid $10 a night to MADA to use the powered sites.
A dump point where visitors can discharge stored sewerage from their vehicles has also been installed at the reserve.
MADA was also restoring an old toilet block at the reserve for visitors to use and was negotiating with the reserve’s committee to try to give visitors access to showers, Mr Bragg said.