Guurrbi Tours

Overview

Willie Gordon

The rock art sites are about 40 minutes drive from Cooktown, travelling along the Endeavour Valley. It's a very beautiful area surrounded by hills – six of which mark the boundaries of the Nugal lands.

A small track, climbing through woodlands leads to the area known as Wangaar-Wuri, which is the location of the rock art sites.

This is a stunning area with giant rocks, sandstone escarpments and spectacular views.

Products

• The Great Emu Tour includes a visit to three rock art sites, including the Great Emu Cave.
  Self-drive, ex-Hope Vale. Duration – 2 hrs
  Inclusive, ex-Cooktown. Duration – 3.5 hrs
  
• The Rainbow Serpent Tour visits six rock art sites, including an ancestral Birth Cave and the Reconciliation Cave.
  Self-drive, ex-Hope Vale. Duration – 4 hrs
  Inclusive, ex-Cooktown. Duration – 5.5 hrs
  

Leadership

Magnificent rock art

Guurrbi Tours was started by Aboriginal Elder, Willie Gordon. The idea of starting a tour had been with Willie for ten years or more, when in 2002, he met Judy Bennett, a PhD student with over 25 years experience in tourism, mainly with her own small businesses. Willie shared his dreams of the tour with Judy, who offered to help as part of her PhD, and over the next year they built the business together, recording how they went about it, in order to help others in the future. Willie launched Guurrbi Tours in 2003, and two years later, when Judy had completed her PhD, she became a partner in the business, which they now run together.

Willie was educated in Hope Vale and Cooktown before attending high school in Brisbane. He trained as a boilermaker in Cape Flattery, and spent some time working in Mount Isa before moving back to Hope Vale. Whilst still in his 20s, he was elected Chairman of Hope Vale Community Council, a position he held between 1986 and 1989. Later he worked extensively in the health sector, becoming Chairman of the drug and alcohol program, and spending five years in Cairns, developing and chairing the Apunipima Cape York Health Council.

Sharing culture

Showing the rock art

Challenges

Like the majority of Aboriginal people in remote communities, Willie had no experience in business. His original training had been as a boilermaker; he'd worked in the mines; and then he'd gone into the health sector, becoming Chairman of the drug and alcohol program, and developing and chairing the Apunipima Cape York Health Council. In between times, he'd attended tourism workshops and participated in the development of a tourism strategy for his community, but, as he wryly says, this just taught him how to do workshops - not how to get his tour started.

The biggest challenge has been learning how to control the finances of the business, as well as the many regulations a tourism business has to comply with.

Growth and prosperity

Despite the tour's simplicity, its relatively remote location, and Willie's insistence upon keeping party sizes small to avoid damaging the vegetation around the sites, word of mouth recommendations spread rapidly, and by the end of its first year Willie was already working with major tour operators and visitors were travelling to Cooktown specifically to go on his tour.

Willie started by sub-contracting his tour transport, but by the end of his first season he was able to borrow the money to purchase a second-hand bus. Now Willie has a second vehicle, and his customer base has expanded Australia-wide and overseas.

The feedback from customers continues to be amazing: they frequently describe the experience as 'powerful' and 'moving'; travel-weary journalists have referred to it as one of the best Aboriginal tours in the country, and repeat bookings are common, with visitors (including Australia's Director-General) coming back for a second time with family and friends. Even Prime Minister, John Howard, has accompanied Willie to the sites, and Guurrbi Tours has now joined the Great Barrier Reef and the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb as one of ATS Pacific's 50 Greatest Must-Do Experiences in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

Willie loves what he does with a passion, and never tires of making new friends and sharing the stories. He is now Vice-President of the Cooktown Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, and plays an active role in promoting this beautiful part of Cape York.

He and Judy also spend time helping other people start their own business, and have recently launched The Bama Way, a cultural trail through South East Cape York, which links Guurrbi Tours with two other Aboriginal-owned tours. (Bama is pronounced 'Bumma' and is Guugu Yimithirr for 'person'). The trail is along story-lines, through coastal mangroves, rainforest and hilltop Savannah, and an Aboriginal map tells some of the history of the area and explains the significance of the landmarks along the way. It was produced so that people travelling through the region would gain a great understanding of the area's rich and diverse Aboriginal history and culture, as well as acting as a marketing tool for new Aboriginal businesses to join when they are ready.

Images courtesy of Guurrbi Tours/Bama Way.