At the 2024 annual general meeting of the Man from Snowy River Tourism Association (MFSRTA), president Ros McKenzie presented her report of its activities over the past 12 months.

I would like to thank all our committee members for their support and input into the ongoing projects of the association. Thank you also to my secretary, Cathy Ross for all her hard work and support over the last 12 months and to Dianne Humphrey for her work as treasurer keeping the books in order.

Our projects are funded from profits from the sale of souvenir items at the Corryong Visitor Information Centre and in the last few years we have also been successful with funding from a number of grants.

Ongoing projects of the association are:

• Honour Avenue Carvings: this project has been funded from a grant from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. A sub-committee has been formed comprising members of the MFSRTA committee, representatives of the Corryong Memorial Hall, RSL and Upper Murray Historical Society and community members.

Stephen Learmonth, local war historian, is playing a major role in researching and sharing his knowledge relating to the Corryong Avenue of Honour. More than 120 names of those honoured by the original avenue have been found and recorded and photos of 41 of these servicemen have been found.

John Brady, woodcarver, has used these 41 photos to create eight images of typical servicemen from the Upper Murray which are designed to honour all WW1 servicemen. The sub-committee is now seeking final quotes on a memorial plaque (to list all 120+ servicemen), a granite seat, signage and landscaping of the site where the carvings will be situated. We hope to have this project completed by April 2025.

• Pioneer Corner Mural: Grant funding has been set aside for this project. Permission has been obtained to create a mural on the Donaldson Street wall of the Top of the Town Takeaway which will reflect the early pioneering history of Corryong.

• The Beautiful Upper Murray Map: The first edition of this map was produced in 2014. Work has started to identify errors, corrections and any changes needed. A number of these are needed due to the effects of the 2019/20 bushfires. We still have sufficient of the current edition for sale, however it will be great to have a newer edition available.

• Corryong Circuit Trail Signage: Now that the trail is complete (Towong Shire project) we have started work on the signage. The weather-resistant horse stands (produced for the MFSR Festival Art Show in about 2014) will be used as the base for the signs. Thirteen of these will be placed along the trail to give both direction signage and also information about the pioneers of Corryong. The pioneers highlighted by these signs will be related to the street names of Corryong. We are working with Towong Shire and the Upper Murray Historical Society on this project.

Congratulations to John Murphy for his tireless work towards the Corryong Wetlands project. The association plans to support the project with signage. Being along the Corryong Circuit Trail, there is an opportunity to design the wetlands signage to fit with that style.

We have supported the Playles Hill Park project in numerous ways. This includes replacement seating at the rotunda and the gabion basket seats which can be seen at the rotunda and labyrinth. We provided funding for the drinking fountain at the rotunda. Most recently we donated one of the horse stands for signage at the newly completed labyrinth. We congratulate the Playles Hill Project Group on their work to help develop this park into a major attraction for both locals and visitors.

Our website uppermurraytourism.com.au details a number of our past projects such as Kat Brown’s ‘A View Through the Valley’ artwork at Playles Hill and statues of Horrie the Wog Dog and Jack Riley in Corryong.

We also support other Towong Shire projects such as the High Country Rail Trail, Great River Road and the new Upper Murray website.

Towong Shire has not yet been successful in its applications for various grants for development of the High Country Rail Trail. We are hopeful that this will be funded in the near future as we believe that its development will have a significant impact on tourism.

Parklands Albury Wodonga secured funding to complete the bridge across Tallangatta Creek and also to produce and install a mural on the trail at Cudgewa.

The Great River Road project has seen the completion of walking / cycling tracks at Towong, Tintaldra, Walwa and Walwa to Jingellic Bridge and the installations and signage at the Pine Mountain wayside stop.

We look forward to seeing the installation of the brolgas artwork at Towong. We also look forward to seeing the production of new publicity / marketing material on the Great River Road.

It is great that the new Visit Upper Murray website is now up and running. We look forward to this becoming an even better resource as further information is added in the near future. We encourage all Upper Murray businesses to have a presence on the site.

We have supported the Chauvel Border Light Horse Trail with a contribution towards the cost of production of brochures.

We have also worked with Towong Shire and Upper Murray Inc (UMI) on the annual Business and Tourism Expo, UMI Tourism Innovation Working Group and UMI Tourism Entrepreneurial Discovery Workshops.

Now that we are past the stresses of the pandemic and the 2019/2020 bushfires I hope that we can get back to business as usual.

It will be great to see our ongoing projects progress towards completion in 2025.

Our committee meets once a month and we are seeking interested members of the community to join us and help to support tourism in the Upper Murray. If you are interested in joining the team please contact myself, Cathy Ross or Dianne Humphrey at the Visitor Information Centre or email info@uppermurraytourism.com.au.

This article appeared in the Corryong Courier, 7 November 2024.