Quirky toilets key to growth

A dead artist is the key figure in a plan to revitalise one of Northland's poorest towns.
Wellington-based international museum consultant Ken Gorbay has prepared a report for the Go Kawakawa steering group which recommends capitalising on the town's quirky toilets designed by the late Friedrich Hundertwasser.
The Austrian artist and architect was renowned for his unconventional buildings and designed a toilet block in Kawakawa which was completed before he died in Northland in 2000 aged 71.
Mr Gorbay - who directed the Te Papa museum project - says a proposal for a Hundertwasser centre should be further investigated and linked with the town's steam railway and a Ngati Hine cultural wetland programme.
"These three linchpin projects must work together if Kawakawa wants to succeed and shrug off its current state of economic decline."
The three projects should be marketed as a circuit of attractions, emanating principally from the Hundertwasser toilets.
"Together these three projects will make Kawakawa a must-see visitor attraction as well as creating jobs and training."
The report says the town's quirky and colourful toilets have already attracted large numbers of overseas and domestic tourists.
It suggests a commercial company based on walking tours of the town and limited, high-value visits to Hundertwasser's estate at Kaurinui.
It also calls for renewed efforts to test the viability of building a Hundertwasser interpretive centre.
The centre would house interactive displays celebrating Hundertwasser in New Zealand - his life, art and environmental philosophies with particular emphasis on his time in Kawakawa.
"Hundertwasser and his toilets give the town a standout, ready-made message that lifts it above the hundreds of advertising and promotional messages that potential visitors are exposed to each day."
A nearby wetland restoration project west of Kawakawa, initiated by the Ngati Hine Hauora Trust in partnership with the Far North District Council, was in line with Hundertwasser's interest in environmental recovery, he said.
The wetlands could include an employment and training scheme encompassing propagating, planting and managing wetland and other native plants, and undertaking various craftworks led by Maori artisans.
It could also include trapping vermin, managing invasive weeds, establishing wildlife habitat, building visitor facilities and developing visitor ambassador skills.
The key elements of the $350,000 project programme are expected to extend over the next five years, with a concerted effort for at least the next two years.
The Bay of Islands Vintage Railway Trust is championing the revitalisation of the town's railway with a project which could bring further visitors to Kawakawa.
Far North Mayor Yvonne Sharp said she saw the railway as a very important economic development icon and tourist attraction, with restoration work expected to cost some $800,000 over the next five years.
"Together these three projects are of immense community benefit because they improve the community's skills, create employment opportunities and strengthen the branding of the town as a gateway tourist destination," Mrs Sharp said.
Enterprise Northland boss Brian Roberts said Mr Gorbay's ideas were good ones.
The economic development agency had used Mr Gorbay in the past and was impressed with his ideas and ability to come up with projects which were sustainable and tailored.
"He has a very strategic brain and gets ideas that really attract patronage so that they attract visitors and really become sustainable," Mr Roberts said.