Tasmanian tourism project goes up in smoke

Things can move glacially in Tasmania - and sometimes they just don’t move at all.

Take a multi-millon dollar tourism project designed to boost visitation to the Huon Valley in the far south of the state following major bushfires in February 2019.

Seven years after those fires, with not one brick laid, proponent DarkLab announced that it will cease further work on the Transformer project at Ida Bay with activities to be wound up by the end of July.

Despite receiving approvals from Huon Valley Council and Tasmania Parks and Wildlife in 2023 and 2024, an increase in projected costs, particularly in relation to visitor service structures, has rendered the project untenable.

DarkLab CEO and creative director Leigh Carmichael said: “It is with a heavy heart that we make this announcement today. We have given the project every opportunity to succeed, but after seven years’ work we have made the decision not to proceed.

“We would like to thank the far south community for their support, and we are disappointed that we have been unable to finish what we began. It’s difficult to walk away from the unrealised potential.

“We would like to thank the Huon Valley Council, the State Government, and the Federal Government who have worked patiently with us throughout this process, along with the artist and many people who have worked on the project since its inception.

“Unfortunately, the environmental and economic landscape is very different from when we were first asked to look at this project back in 2019. The long approval process, Covid and rising construction costs have all worked against us this time.

“While we still believe a catalyst project is urgently needed to spark further tourism visitation and investment in the Huon Valley, the timing for this project is no longer right.

“We will now focus on working with the Office for the Arts to acquit the Federal Government grant and ensure the funds are returned in full. 

"DarkLab, with [Mona owner] David Walsh, will cover the costs incurred in attempting to realise the project.”

Transformer was to be a site-specific commission by American artist Doug Aitken, a pavilion with a reflective interior, creating a lens consisting of angles and facets, a kaleidoscope that interacted with the landscape over the changing seasons.
 

New technology can help wine producers monitor smoke taint

A smoke sensor developed by La Trobe University researchers has the potential to save hundreds of millions of dollars in lost wine production.

The sensors are in the process of being rolled out across the wine industry, with monitors now being used to track the impact of bushfires that have ravaged the Grampians.

Wine Industry Smoke Detectors (WISDs) – colloquially known as ‘wizards’ – track smoke events like bushfires and burn offs around vineyards and can advise winegrowers whether it is likely to taint their grapes; and if they need to discard their season’s harvest, or use winemaking techniques to remove the taint.

Data taken during trials of the sensor through the 2020 bushfires that devastated wine regions across Australia’s east coast found that $100-$150 million worth of grapes were needlessly discarded over unfounded concerns they were tainted by smoke.

Australian agri tech provider Goanna Ag has now signed on to commercialise the WISDs over the next two years, during which time the hardware and algorithms will be further validated by real-world fire events and the network of WISDs expanded to other wine regions across Australia.

Professor Ian Porter, a researcher from the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment at La Trobe, leads the team that developed the WISDs and the risk model over the last decade.

He said trials of their sensor in vineyards across south-eastern Australia had found that smoke did not taint wine grapes as much as viticulturalists had believed.

He said this meant vineyards could avoid significant losses of grapes that winegrowers had previously believed were ruined.

“Growers think that all smoke causes smoke taint, but data collected by our team has for the first time globally linked the amount of fresh smoke needed in vineyards to smoke taint in the bottle," he said.

"This has been the Holy Grail of research that’s now being solved.

“This sensor has the potential to save a heap of grapes they would usually throw away, which can be financially and emotionally devastating for winegrowers. It’s one of the reasons we developed the WISDs.”

The prototype smoke loggers have been developed by La Trobe University researchers supported with funding from Wine Australia, La Trobe itself and other partners, including the Victorian and Australian governments and regional wine associations.

A network of 100 prototype loggers was deployed in vineyards in north-east Victoria after the catastrophic bushfires in 2020, with the technology refined in the years that followed.

Operating like the networks that continuously monitor air quality for human health, the data loggers calculate risk ratings for smoke taint drawn from a vast database of smoke, grapes and wine data collected by La Trobe during more than 70 controlled burns and eight major bushfires.

This knowledge links smoke dose to smoke composition, phenol levels in grapes and wine and their sensory outcomes in wines. It also incorporates the critical risk factors for smoke taint, including burn conditions, distance from the burn, grapevine variety and the timing of exposure during the season.

Goanna Ag Winegrape Business Development Lead Jock Ferguson said they had a track record of working with proven science to help growers solve genuine, well-recognised challenges.

“We are particularly excited to be involved in the commercialisation of the WISDs. They are a vital industry breakthrough with appeal to stakeholders throughout the grape and wine sector in Australia as well as winegrowing regions around the world,” Ferguson said.

Professor Porter said their findings also showed that in the vast majority of cases, winegrowers need not be concerned that smoke form planned controlled burns to reduce fire risk might taint their grapes.

“The WISD is an amazing breakthrough for Australian growers and wine producers. It provides the sector with an extremely valuable tool to use during any smoke event to determine whether there is a problem or not”, he said.

“Having results in real time greatly reduces stress for growers and winemakers and allows them to market their grapes and produce wine with confidence.”

Tourists urged to stay away from Maui

Wildfires are continuing to burn in multiple areas of Maui and on Hawai‘i Island’s Kohala Coast, the Hawai'i Tourism Authority (HTA) reports.

The fires have resulted in the evacuations of thousands of residents and visitors, and multiple closures of major roads. 

Over 100 people are believed to have died - but that number could rise further.

The HTA is in continuous communication with state and county emergency management officials to monitor this situation and provide updates.

About 46,000 people have flown out of Kahului Airport since Wednesday but some holidaymakers have infuriated locals by carrying on in their resorts - and frolicking on local beaches - as if nothing has happened.

Visitors who are on non-essential travel are being asked to leave Maui, and non-essential travel to Maui is strongly discouraged at this time.

In the days and weeks ahead, our collective resources and attention must be focused on the recovery of residents and communities that were forced to evacuate their homes and businesses.

Visitors who have travel plans to West Maui in the coming weeks are encouraged to consider rescheduling their travel plans for a later time.

Visitors with travel plans to stay in other parts of Maui and the Kohala Coast of Hawaiʻi Island in the coming weeks are encouraged to contact their hotels for updated information and how their travel plans may be affected.

Travel to Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, and other parts of Hawaiʻi Island is not affected at this time.

While Kahului Airport on Maui remains open at this time, residents and visitors with travel bookings are encouraged to check with their airline for any flight changes or cancellations, or for assistance with rebooking.

Throughout this crisis, the HTA will be providing communication updates.

Visit ready.hawaii.gov for the latest general information, and hawaiitourismauthority.org for visitor-specific information.

Image: Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Wine auction to aid victims of bushfires

 

The Adelaide Hills Wine Region is holding an online auction to raise funds for bushfire-affected wine businesses. 

The auction will feature over 350 bottles of wine to raise money for wineries and growers affected by the 2019 Cudlee Creek bushfires.

With floods dominating recent news, bushfire couldn’t be further from the public mind’s eye but many Adelaide Hills wineries are still suffering badly from the devastation of the 2019 fires.

“The fire wrecked 30 years of work in a day," says Darren Golding of Golding Wines, who saw 90% of their vineyard burn. 

"We had to start again, and it’s not easy to do that. It’s not just the physical hard work but the huge emotional cost of starting over. 

“We are part way, probably about 50% through replanting our vineyards. It will take another five years to get back to full production.”

After the fires, Dave Bowley feared the end for his Vinteloper brand. 

"With no grapes to make wine, and no discernible vineyard left standing on our property we had to buy grapes for the 2020 vintage and continue to buy grapes for many more seasons," he said. "Getting some funds from the Fire Appeal has enabled us to rebuild trellis and infrastructure and just keep the business going.”

The Adelaide Hills Wine Region, which is the body representing winemakers and grape growers in the Adelaide Hills, established the Fire Appeal to support local growers and producers and fund recovery efforts. 

Wineries that have responded by donating wines are Vasse Felix, Yalumba and Rockford, through to local Hills wineries such as K1 and La Prova. 

“A big thanks and huge gratitude to all those who donated money or wine for the auction and supported us in some way,” said Mark Kozned from Nova Vita.

The fundraising auction will be held from April 18-25 by Wickmans Fine Wine Auctions.

Anyone can join but must register online. See www.wickman.net.au on the morning of April 18.