Council & Politics
30 July, 2025
Sharing local tips with tourists
NORTHERN Grampians Shire Council has put the call out for locals with a bit of spare time on their hands to consider volunteering to help at the Stawell Visitor Information Centre.
Well-known Stawell resident Greg Robson said he gets a lot of enjoyment from volunteering at the centre.
"It’s a very rewarding and interesting voluntary position,” he said.
“Meeting people from all walks of life, a lot of international visitors, it’s always interesting to talk to people from overseas.
“I’ve travelled a lot, I’ve been to nearly 30 countries in the world, so a lot of the visitors who come in here, I can relate to where they’ve been and where they’re going.”
Mr Robson also volunteers with the Stawell Historical Centre, which is housed in the same complex as the information centre.
“You interact with the people in the Historical Society all the time, they’re just next door, which can be very interesting too.”
The passionate volunteer said the well-equipped Visitor Information Centre is a credit to the town, providing an accessible and welcoming environment for everyone visiting the region.
“It’s highly visible here and there’s decent parking around for cars, caravans, four-wheel drives,” said Mr Robson.
The centre operates 10am to 4pm, seven days per week, and the service is fully reliant on having enough volunteers on the books to fill all the shifts.
“We’ve got 19 volunteers at the moment and we’ve got to fill 14 shifts per week,” said Mr Robson, who added that it can get tricky to cover all the shifts when a couple go down with the flu or head off on holidays.
“I’m only filling in today for the lady who works on a Tuesday morning, she’s gone to Sydney for her grand-daughter’s wedding and she asked the group if anyone can help her out, so I put my hand up.”
The idea is to have enough volunteers involved that the role becomes an enjoyable and rewarding part of their lifestyles, and even just jumping in to do a half-day on the odd occasion can make a big difference.
“There can be half-a-day per week, half-a-day a fortnight, a day a week, a day per month – Whatever suits the person themselves,” Mr Robson said.
“I retired nine years ago, I could see that I didn’t want to just sit at home and watch TV all the time.”
“I volunteer next door at the Historical Society and then this came up here, so I get to share my local knowledge with visitors.
“All of the volunteers are Stawell residents, and it’s the same in St Arnaud, they’re also looking for volunteers for their Visitor Information Centre, and the St Arnaud volunteers are locals so they can share their knowledge with visitors up there.”
Every day is different at the Visitor Information Centre and Mr Robson said he’s had many fascinating conversations in there with tourists, but there are often common themes as to what kind of information visitors want to know, including asking for tips about where the best places are to hopefully strike it rich and find some gold.
Anyone interested in volunteering at the Stawell Visitor Information Centre can call Julie Gibson at Northern Grampians Shire Council on 5358 8700 for more information.
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