The Whitsunday Tourism Awards were held at the Whitsunday Sailing Club at Airlie Beach on Saturday night the 19th October 2013. As a result of an article that I wrote in the Macrossan and Amiet Newsletter in July of this year, the local tourism body, Whitsundays Marketing and Development Limited (“WMDL”) decided to recognise Bob Porter and his family at this year’s Tourism Awards. Former Mayor of the Whitsunday Shire Council, Mario Demartini, gave an insightful and interesting speech about the contribution made by Bob Porter and his family to tourism in the Whitsundays. The speech was accompanied by a powerpoint presentation of photographs showing Bob’s involvement in the development of the Whitsunday Village (now Magnums), Whitsunday Terraces Resort and the establishment of the Whitsunday Fun Race. Mario shared many anecdotes given that he and Bob attended school together at Proserpine and shared a lifetime friendship.
I found it interesting that at the commencement of the speech a silence came over the crowd. Everyone in attendance listened intently to what Mario had to say. Many people, even those who have been here for a couple of decades or more, were either not aware of Bob Porter and his family or were not aware of the extent of the contribution by the Porter family to place Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays on the map as one of the leading tourist destinations in Australia.
On a personal note, it was rewarding for me to see the delight and pride on Bob’s mother’s (Thelma Porter) face, when she was presented with the Certificate of Recognition by the CEO of the WMDL, Danial Rochford. Thelma was also grateful for the fact that Bob’s son, Chris Porter was able to attend the Awards having cut short a business trip to New Zealand to be present with not only his grandmother but his aunt, Lane Telford.
In a sign of how things have changed during her lifetime, Mrs Porter shared with me an anecdote about when her family was constructing a new kiosk at Shute Harbour. Significant works were required to create the foundations for the kiosk. Wellknown local identity, Harry Muller called Mrs Porter expressing his concern about her over enthusiastic son Bob tipping all of the family’s money into this project stating, “You know Thelma, people will never come to Shute Harbour!”
The Tourism Awards were a great success and on behalf of myself and Macrossan & Amiet we would like to congratulate all of the winners, many of whom are clients of our firm. I would like to congratulate Mr Rochford and his team who obviously put so much work into the evening which was very professionally run and catered for by the Whitsunday Sailing Club.
Hopefully now, after this initial recognition of Bob Porter’s contribution to the tourism industry in the Whitsundays, I hope that some form of more permanent recognition can be made to acknowledge a true pioneering man and family whose contribution to tourism in this area is, in my opinion, unequalled.
