Wedge Island Field Trip

Wedge Island Field Trip

During the first offering of *TOU102 Introduction to Tourism, students were required to undertake two field trips, one independently and one organised for the whole class group. This web page is about the group field trip to Wedge Island undertaken by 50 undergraduate students in four wheel drive tour buses. The photographs included here depict common field trip activities as well as showing something of the destination and route. We travelled in Oka vehicles and they are shown in one photo 'sand dunning', a common recreational activity on these large sand dunes. In other photos you can see the students being briefed on various aspects of the site. Note the land forms, the nature of the settlement 'shacks' and the decorative 'treasures' that abound where beachcombing is a popular pastime. Click on the small photos if you wish to link to larger versions which more clearly show the detail.*

Wedge Island is a squatter community about 160 km north of Perth and is accessible only by four wheel drive vehicle. The existing squatter community of some 360 shacks is one of only two left on the Central West coast of WA. These two squatter communities will disappear at the end of the current 6 year leases so that by 2004 the crown land will revert to an 'unimproved' state. The area of the squatter communities is controlled by the WA government's Department of Conservation and Land Management. CALM, among other things, is responsible for National Parks, Nature Reserves and various nature based tourism operations. The geography of this area is coastal sand dunes and bush land with beaches accessible to vehicles. The area is criss-crossed with tracks and includes military training installations and activities, both land and sea based.

The other squatter community, Grey, has about 160 shacks and lies between Wedge and Cervantes. It is in close proximity to the Nambung National Park, commonly known as the Pinnacles desert. Wedge Island and Grey will likely both be incorporated into the Nambung National Park on termination of the leases.

Wedge Island was chosen for a field trip because it represents a unique but complex tourism site. On the one hand, it is the site of some 360 holiday 'homes' and thus is a prime site for tourism. On the other, the site is also visited by numerous tour buses, all four wheel drive, that include this part of the coast on their day trips from Perth. Further, independent travellers also visit the general area as day trippers or to camp in the bush, on the beaches or in the dunes. There is now some control of this free camping by one of the local government bodies. Day trippers from Perth and other holiday centres come for the sand dune and beach driving, beach life and fishing.

The site is also interesting because it is an 'undeveloped' tourism site; at least, it is not formally developed as there is no public infrastructure (no power, water or sewerage systems). What development may occur in the future is unknown but a variety of options are possible. Some tourism students have difficulty recognising that a site can be sustainable and an important tourism destination even without bitumen road access, formal infrastructure and so forth. Wedge Island is an example of a site that could ideally fill the role for tourists desiring to holiday in a situation without the trappings of formal development. Whether CALM and local government can tolerate a minimalist development option is yet to be seen. Of course, if proposals for a bitumen road connecting Lancelin to the south and Cervantes to the north do eventuate, sites such as Wedge Island may no longer cater just for those seeking isolation and an informal destination.
The field trip was organised by Megan Revitt, a Sociology and Tourism student. She undertook an Independent Study Contract on Wedge Island as a tourist site and part of her assessment was the organising of the field trip. This including booking the buses, preparing a briefing paper for students and 'guiding' us through the day.
Field trip activity is especially important in the study of tourism so that students can apply concepts and previous research to actual sites. A variety of field trips will be included as appropriate in our undergraduate courses.
S115 Introduction to Tourism, is coordinated by Jim Macbeth, who also prepared this website information.