From family albums to tourism campaign: Murray holiday memories take centre stage
Earlier this year, Murray Regional Tourism asked people to open their family albums, dig out old home videos and share the holiday traditions they still remembered. Those stories are now the foundation of The Way We Holidayed, a new regional tourism campaign launching today to promote the Murray region.
Built from photographs, memories and visitor stories submitted from across Australia, the campaign celebrates the rituals that have kept people returning to the region over years and generations, and looks at how those traditions can (and still do) continue today.
The campaign follows a public callout launched by Murray Regional Tourism (MRT) inviting past visitors, residents, tourism operators and community organisations to share everything from annual camping trips and fishing weekends to caravan park summers, houseboat holidays and family photographs recreated year after year.
Murray Regional Tourism CEO Cameron Sutton said the response showed how deeply the Murray region had become part of people’s personal and family histories.
“What came through again and again wasn’t necessarily the big-ticket holiday moments,” Mr Sutton said.
“People remembered the same swimming spot, the caravan park neighbours, the afternoon ice creams, how everyone slept packed into tents and bunk beds, and the things they did every single year.
“They’re ordinary moments at the time, but when you repeat them year after year they become part of the story of a family, a friendship group or a place.”
Selected submissions have now been transformed into short mixed-media animations using contributors’ own photographs and voices, while other memories and archival material will appear throughout the campaign.
The stories span decades of Murray region holidays across locations from Lake Boga to Echuca Moama, Bundalong and Ouyen. They’ll appear alongside contemporary photography and video captured across the Murray region, showing that returning to a familiar place doesn’t have to mean recreating the past exactly.
“We wanted the people who actually holiday here to help tell this story,” Mr Sutton said. “The memories are what draw you in, but this campaign is also about what comes next and returning to somewhere you already know, seeing what’s changed or starting a Murray tradition of your own.”
The campaign reflects the importance of repeat visitation to the region. MRT’s 2022 consumer research found 82 per cent of surveyed visitors were repeat visitors, while more than half visited at least every one to two years.
The Way We Holidayed will roll out over the next five weeks across Visit the Murray’s website as well as other digital and social channels. Visitors can also take an interactive quiz designed to help them find the Murray holiday tradition that might suit them now.
The campaign uses nostalgia as a starting point rather than the end point, pairing familiar memories with contemporary places and experiences people can enjoy today.
Explore The Way We Holidayed at visitthemurray.com.au