Tall Poppy: Barry Coulter – grow, show, make or mine

Tall Poppy: Barry Coulter – grow, show, make or mine

After retiring from the Legislative Assembly, Coulter accepted a position as chairman of the board of the Darwin Port Corporation, then an emerging facility still under construction at East Arm. “I’d spent 13 and a half years chasing the railway and once that got to the stage that a contractor had been selected, I was off to build the port to make sure it was ready for the first train,” recalls Coulter wryly.

During his six-year term as chairman the port underwent enormous growth. All the infrastructure necessary for a modern operation had to be put in place - the bulk loading structures and the new fuel storage facility at Vopak. The Darwin Business Park was cleared for development. The railway was completed in record time, and 15 000 people crowded the port terminus to welcome the fi rst train in January 2004.

The East Arm Port was the new centre of economic activity in the Territory. “I’ve always said, ‘grow, show, make or mine’,” observes Coulter. “To create real wealth you have to be in one of those sectors: grow, whether it’s cattle or mangoes; show is our tourism industry; make is manufacturing or value-adding; mine being oil and gas and minerals. Everything else swings off of those four sectors.”

While still presiding over the Port Corporation board, Coulter accepted a position of chairman of the board of Airnorth, at that time a young regional airline. He brought with him a decade and a half of administrative experience, again presiding over remarkable growth. During his 10 years as chairman Airnorth has gone from being a small regional carrier to northern Australia’s major air services provider, employing 180 people. The company has grown from a fleet of turbo-prop aircraft to one featuring three E-170 Brasilia jets, the company now flying international routes as well as national.

After 10 years Coulter has stepped down as board chairman, handing the position to Airnorth’s part owner and CEO, Michael Bridge. “I have had the honour to serve as a board member under Barry over the last ten years and in many ways he has been my mentor and advisor,” explains Bridge. “I have the honour of assuming the chairman’s role, but I have some very large shoes to fi ll. So much is Barry’s commitment to Airnorth, and the value that the owners believe he delivers to our board, that we are proud to say that Barry has agreed to stay on as an independent director until the end of this year, or maybe next, or maybe next...”

Coulter also designed the Territory curriculum of the Defence Industry Study Course, a national senior management program designed to help participants understand more about how to do business with the defence force. It took him a year to write the Territory curriculum that saw candidates travel to military installations around the country, talking to the people who run and supply the defence forces. Twenty NT candidates graduated, most of whom are now in senior positions in government and private enterprise.

Coulter’s interests took him into the Territory gas and oil industry, serving on the board of the Australian Pipeline Trust and Australian producer, Santos. For six years, he was chairman of the board of International All Sports Limited, a publicly-listed, technology based racing and gaming company that turned over $1.3 billion in his final year at the helm.

While the naturally gregarious Barry Coulter thrives on the cut and thrust of corporate boardrooms, his heart belongs to his pastoral station in the bush. He has owned the 400 sq km Old Mt Bundey Station for 20 years. Situated just 100 km from Darwin on the all-weather Arnhem Highway, the station operates as an agistment block for the live cattle export market, spelling about 3000 head a year for other graziers, while holding about 1000 of his own.

He also runs a small quarry operation supplying specialised rock for landscape gardening, and sends about 15 000 trays of fresh mangoes south each year from Mt Bundey. “I love the place,” says Coulter. “I put a lot of money and time and blood, sweat and tears along with a lot of other people who have worked with me over the years out there. And I’d like to continue out there for a while.”

Although he purchased a spacious property in Queensland, Coulter says he will not join the throng of Territory politicians moving south to spend their superannuation. He sees his future in the Top End. “The Territory has been very kind to me and my family. So I’ve often said that if it gets down to the last two people living in the Northern Territory it’ll be myself and Galarrwuy Yunupingu.”

Splendour on the wetland

Currently under construction, the Wildman Wilderness Lodge will feature a range of accommodation and nature-based tourism experiences underpinned by a foundation of strong conservation principles. The accommodation will be in the form of air-conditioned cabins, or ‘habitats’ and safari-style tents that will cater for the stronger demand during the cooler weather in the Top End’s winter months. Between the cabins and the safari tents will be the lodge, a communal gathering point where guests check in, take their meals and collect information.

It is, however, the Mary River wetland that will attract the visitors. A well-known haven for Top End wildlife and major nesting area for a range of northern Australian water birds, the Mary River wetland is a sprawling natural theatre. Around each bend in the river another adventure unfolds, and the Wildman Wilderness Lodge will do its best to deliver a unique experience on the water and on land.

A small 14 seat boat will take visitors onto the Connellan Billabong, which adjoins the lodge. A larger 50 seat boat, cut back to 40, will be positioned on the Mary River Rock Hole, 18 km away. There, an all-day wetlands experience with a barbecued lunch awaits. There will be overland safaris to Leichhardt Point on the coast and quad bike safaris guided and highly interpreted.

“We’re catering for families, which a lot of these high-end lodges don’t do. So we think our positioning is quite different.”

The lodge concept was conceived by Indigenous Business Australia, which bought the lodge site and invited ecotourism property operator Anthology into a joint venture that would see Anthology market the lodge globally and manage its day to day operations. Anthology currently operates the Travellers’ Collection, a portfolio of nature based tourism destinations including the Bay of Fires Walk, the Cradle Mountain Huts and Quamby Estate in Tasmania and the Wilpena Pound in South Australia. The company’s CEO is Grant Hunt, well-known in the Territory for over a decade as the former manager of Voyages, one time owners of the Ayers Rock and Kings Canyon resorts as well as the exclusive Longitude 131 overlooking Uluru.

Leaving Voyages, Hunt wanted to do something small and on his own, so he assembled some equity backers and Anthology was born. The Wildman Wilderness Lodge will target the ‘experiential’ tourism market, for those travellers looking for profound, life altering experiences. “We’re really targeting the international markets of Germany, the UK, and the US - people who are looking for that real Territory wildlife experience,” explains Hunt, who is also the chairman of the Tourism NT Advisory Board. “And we’re catering for families, which a lot of these high-end lodges don’t do. So we think our positioning is quite different.”

The joint venturers wanted to open for business later this year but an extended wet season delayed construction. March 2011 will be the anticipated opening day, following an innovative construction process. In what Hunt calls the ‘ultimate in tourism recycling’, the majority of Wildman’s accommodation infrastructure was appropriated from the Wrotham Park Lodge assets in far north Queensland. It was then loaded onto 18 double semitrailers and shipped 2800 km across the north of the country, taking 28 days from deconstruction to arrival in the Top End.

By recycling the accommodation assets of Wrotham Park, Anthology believes it has taken a positive first step in reducing the environmental impact on the Wildman site. They see themselves as a tourism company committed to conservation values aimed at environmental protection. “It’s really wild country but they need best-practice operators there that take care of the land,” states Hunt. “We aim to participate in noxious weed eradication programs and feral animal reduction. We’re planning to work with Parks and Wildlife to improve the ecology of the area.”

http://www.anthology.com.au