Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum! If the Mandurah Giants could talk, do you think that’s what they might say?
Perhaps they might also say how happy they are to be in the beautiful WA coastal City of Mandurah and that they feel thankful for the tourism skills that helped bring them to life.
We know we are! And this is exactly what we told Tabitha McMullan, CEO of FORM Building a State of Creativity, Project Initiator and Producer, and Anita Kane, General Manager of Visit Mandurah, local tourism authority, when we chatted with them recently.
Read more from South Metropolitan TAFE to discover how valuable tourism skills helped bring the magical Mandurah Giants to life.
Interested in studying in Mandurah - courses are still available for Semester 2, 2023!
Big giants, making a big impact
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (an impossible living situation for these giants), you’ve likely seen and heard about the big giants, making a big impact down in Mandurah since their arrival in November 2022.
The outdoor art exhibition features the unique works of Thomas Dambo, the world’s leading recycle artist from Denmark in Europe. Thomas was taught from a young age about the value of recycling, sustainability, and unlimited imagination and now shares this message by creating larger-than-life sculptures from recycled wood, and places them all over the world.
With the help of many partners and stakeholders, including FORM, the City of Mandurah, the Government of Western Australia, Alcoa Foundation, City of Subiaco, and Lotterywest, Thomas’s most ambitious project to date has been brought right here to Western Australia.
Not only are the giants here for you to view, an intentional game of discovery has been built around them, making it not just an exhibition, but an experience – you might even call it an epic adventure.
Tabitha, FORM CEO shared, “I really love the artistic navigation woven through the environmental journey – it’s such a unique offering. The fact that this installation has been so well supported and embraced by the community and all different backgrounds has been wonderful to be a part of and the combination of the natural environment and Aboriginal culture is truly meaningful.”
Planning and implementation roles at work
As you can imagine, the planning and implementation for an art exhibition of this scale was extensive, to say the least.
As an international artist who had never worked in Australia, there was in depth consultation to see how this would look and how they could make it unique to Australia. Together, FORM and Thomas spent a lot of time coming up with a creative concept.
“We brought key partners in early on, to ensure the project was viable before proceeding with the concept. Once we had confirmation of funding the consultations continued and these included consultation with Traditional Owners, environmental groups, the City of Mandurah, community groups and partners including the State government..” Tabitha, FORM CEO
The giants themselves literally went on tour! The heads, hands and feet were all created in Thomas’s Denmark studio and then shipped all the way to WA. The bodies were then designed by Thomas, before being signed off by an engineer. Then, Thomas and his team were brought to WA for the building and installation process – local recycled wood and other materials were sourced to assist with this.
Tourism skills working for the community
Tourism is designed to creates jobs, strengthen the local economy, contribute to local infrastructure development and even help conserve the natural environment and cultural assets and traditions. The Mandurah Giants campaign has certainly achieved this and more.
“Our visitation numbers have been unprecedented and smashed all our expectations! This exhibition has seen an extremely positive knock on effect on local businesses and the entire community. Witnessing all the positivity, excitement, and business it’s generated has been incredible.” Anita Kane, General Manager of Visit Mandurah.
It’s the valuable tourism skills you learn in a tourism course and on the job, that assisted in bringing the Mandurah Giants to life and are doing so much for the Mandurah community as a direct result.
These skills included sales, customer service and social and cultural sensitivity, which were clear when FORM worked together with the Winjan Aboriginal Cooperation and its elders, to ensure the community could be educated about the Mandjoogoordap land (the meeting place of the heart). This too ensured a magical journey into the extraordinary beauty of the wetlands, waterways, bushland, and wildlife on the lands of the Bindjareb Noongar people.
And of course, marketing and advertising skill come into play here too, with both FORM, Visit Mandurah and other key stakeholders ensuring the giants are always front of centre in their campaigns. With an initial organic reach on social media of 400,000 and over 80,000 visitors to the exhibition already, these skills have certainly paid off and then some!
An industry with giant opportunities
Tourism is a key part of the Government’s plan to diversify the economy, create jobs and develop business opportunities particularly to help regional economies and communities in Western Australia. This makes tourism an industry with giant opportunities.
“Tourism is an emerging industry in WA - one that has a lot of government support and priority, so it’s a good time to be getting into the industry, particularly the areas of cultural tourism and eco-tourism, which are key government priorities right now.
Whilst it may not be the most straight forward career pathway, it’s an extremely rewarding one, with a great opportunity to be at the start of something really exciting here in Australia.
My advice would be to explore these pathways, keep an open mind, and stay connected to opportunities that come your way – you never know where things will lead…” Tabitha, CEO FORM lends her advice to those interested in embarking on a career in the tourism industry.
As the General Manager of Visit Mandurah, with tourism industry experience of over two decades, it’s not surprising that Anita Kane too, would tell anyone interested in entering the tourism industry, to “do it!”
“The tourism industry is great. It’s filled with lots of people who keep me motivated every day, wonderful experiences and adventure. I’ve worked in the tourism industry all over the world in many different sectors and roles – the different career pathways and opportunities have been endless.
If you can get your foot in the industry, work hard, be positive and find the right mentors, you can climb the ladder to where you want to go and experience so many incredible things.”
Travel to the world of tourism
Like what you read about the tourism industry? The TAFE tourism course will provide you with well-developed tourism service, sales, and operational skills. You'll be taught about using discretion, judgement and having a sound knowledge of industry operations and much more.
This tourism qualification gives you the opportunity to work in the varied tourism industry sectors and for diverse employers including tour operators, inbound tour operators, visitor information centres, at attractions, cultural and heritage sites and any small tourism businesses requiring multi-skilled employees.
For more information check out our SIT30116 Certificate III in Tourism TAFE Course and consider applying for Semester 2, 2023.
This course is FREE in 2023! You read that right - the course fees are 100% subsidised by the WA State Government for WA residents. Eligibility conditions apply. Please see the FAQs on our Skills Ready page for further information.
With a tourism qualification, a whole new world is yours to explore.
Get yours with South Metropolitan TAFE today.
Haven’t visited those big friendly giants down in Mandurah yet?
Visit the Giants of Mandurah website to find out more and explore. Your epic adventure awaits…
Photo credit: Duncan Wright, courtesy of FORM Building a State of Creativity