Hotel SA August 2023

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P U B L I C A N P R O F I L E The exterior of Ceduna Hotel. SA’s Best Kept Secret? BY DION HAYMAN Famous for its Oysterfest that lures 5,000 devotees annually, Ceduna might have also earned the moniker as the ‘Pleasantly Surprised’ Capital of Australia. It’s a backhanded compliment David Carr hears repeatedly from first-time visitors, who find both the Ceduna Foreshore Hotel Motel and its environs delivering beyond their wildest dreams. David has been CEO of Ceduna’s waterfront hotel since 1995 and braces himself on any given morning he wonders through the bistro as hotel visitors enjoy a free continental breakfast. “I have so many tourists who come through and say Ceduna’s a lot nicer than they thought it was or ‘I can’t believe you’ve got this hotel here’,” David said. “And I say, ‘I have to put up with this every day!’” The admiration is no surprise to David who dusts himself down with picture postcard views across Murat Bay on call. It’s got a bit to do with his longevity at the 57-room beacon of the famous road stop between Australia’s west and east coasts. That and his fervour for giving back to the town and its people. COMMUNITY OWNED The Foreshore has been a community-owned hotel since 1949 and also runs the adjacent caravan park. “It’s very fulfilling, I’m very proud and passionate about the hotel and its position as a community benefactor,” he said. Every dollar spent is used to underwrite local projects, sponsor sporting teams or is reinvested in the hotel. “I say to people, ‘it’s not my hotel, it’s our hotel’. “And the more they frequent our hotel, the more funds will be available for sponsorship and improvements. “I look at all the organisations, how else are they going to get funding? “We can help a lot of them so they don’t have to spend their time fundraising which improves the quality of life for everyone living in Ceduna.” For example, the hotel put $200,000 towards building the new modern playground on the Ceduna foreshore. It sponsors the New Year’s Eve fireworks and assists local sporting clubs, including tennis, cricket, bowling, athletics and junior dancing. The Foreshore also commits $50,000 a year to the Western Eyre Football League and $30,000 to the Netball Association. OYSTERFEST SPONSORSHIP By far its biggest annual sponsorship is the $75,000 it outlays on the Oysterfest, held each year since 1991 on the October long weekend. It’s a festival which more than doubles Ceduna’s population of 14 | Hotel SA | www.ahasa.asn.au Back to Contents
R EPGUIBOLNI AC L A N M EP ER TO IFNI GL SE David Carr with grandson. around 3500, as around 24,000 of the bivalve molluscs are shucked and served in a multitude of ways. David takes a long-term view about the Foreshore’s decision to back the festival. “We acknowledge that the Oysterfest is the single largest advertisement for Ceduna,” he said. “We promote it and the benefit for us, after you take the sponsorship out, is less than break even but it’s such a large focal point for the town.” The hotel bargains on return business to justify its spend, as well as the desire to support and maintain the prestige of Ceduna’s unofficial title. “We all hang our hats on the ‘Oyster Capital of Australia’. I think (we have it) because our council jumped on that name first.” It is one which some rival west coast and interstate towns may dispute but David is adamant it is deserved. “I would think the volumes of oysters between Smoky Bay and Ceduna would exceed the volumes out of Coffin Bay.” But neither man nor country town can survive on oysters alone – there are a multitude of reasons people visit Ceduna. “Most tourists are passing through, probably 80 per cent of them. “But we do have a group who go to the caravan park every year who come to fish and stay for six to eight weeks. “Quite a few people will go mulloway fishing and camping out west. “There’s the whale watching at the head of the Bight, some come on their way to see the WA wildflowers. “And there’s a 4WD track called Googs Track which attracts a lot of people. “But the local people pay the bills. We rely on them. The tourists are the ones who fill up the business and are the cream on top.” STAFFING Like the visitors, many of David’s staff are just passing through. New arrivals are offered shortterm accomodation (up to three months) in a house owned by the hotel until they find something more permanent. “We’re just starting to see a few more backpackers come through (post Covid) but it’s still slow at the moment,” he said. There are stayers too. David has 14 full-timers on his books, with 40 of his 95 staff having worked at the Foreshore steadily for more than five years. Back to Contents www.ahasa.asn.au | Hotel SA | 15
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Hotel SA August 2023

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