General News
31 August, 2023
Sustainable success for Golden Country caravan park
Environment comes first for Maryborough’s Golden Country Motel and Caravan Park, which has been recognised for its sustainable practices through a state-level award. At this year’s VicParks Awards ceremony, the business nabbed the Elizabeth...
Environment comes first for Maryborough’s Golden Country Motel and Caravan Park, which has been recognised for its sustainable practices through a state-level award.
At this year’s VicParks Awards ceremony, the business nabbed the Elizabeth White Green Park title — owing to its green and eco-friendly operations.
With about 230 solar panels and an electric vehicle charging station, the award highlighted the work owners Dirk and Terri Arnold have done to make the motel environmentally conscious on all fronts.
“We’re really honoured and proud that we won,” Dirk said.
“It’s a pretty big deal. I think there’s a number of caravan parks striving to achieve what we have but what stands us apart is the amount of panels that we put up.
“Other than the solar, we also have a number of community gardens that we’ve put in here and we have the chooks next door so we’re just trying to raise the standard by making it an environmentally friendly place.”
According to Dirk, making these sustainable eco-centric changes to the motel was the sensible way to go.
“A lot of the people have recognised what we’ve done and what we’re doing and they tell us it’s a great idea,” he said.
“You hear so much from the government nowadays, saying that people need to be more self-sufficient and green so that was another motivating factor for us.
“We’ve taken advantage of various government schemes to basically cut our costs and its worked and if more people do the same, it’s going to push the government to put more of the right infrastructure in and provide more rebates to make it happen.”
Spread across the caravan park, co-owner Terri said the solar panels also reflected the couple’s will to preserve the environment for future generations.
“We first put the panels up because our electricity bills were so huge. We had just taken over the park and had no income because of COVID and didn’t know how we could manage the cost but after our solar went up, within the first month we were in credit,” she said.
“While costs are lower now, it’s also equally important for us to try and lessen the impact of what we do, on the planet.
“Baby boomers like us are feeling guilty for leaving the world in the condition it is in for our children and grandchildren so it’s also about trying to improve those systems.”
