Cultural Capital and Development – The Dynamics of Change in a Small Coastal Community

Patterson C¹*

1. University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia

Coles Bay and the Freycinet Peninsula, situated on the east coast of Tasmania, constitutes a unique and beautiful ecology incorporated in the Freycinet Peninsula National Park, and a Ramsar area – Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve. This area was home to the Oyster Bay Tribe of Tasmanian Aborigines and includes sites of cultural significance.

The community of Coles Bay comprises approximately 125 residents, with approximately 225 shack and house owners who do not live full time at Coles Bay, and Tasmanians who holiday there regularly. The area is heavily promoted as a tourist destination, with 129 000 people visiting in 2003. Large-scale development is underway, including residential development and hotel accommodation.

My hypothesis postulates that, with this type of development, there is an abrogation of cultural capital by economic capital. To test this hypothesis, I am measuring change in the community by collecting interview data from 3 groups of respondents, numbering 18 in each group: local residents, the diaspora and tourist visitors. My sample is stratified by the variables of age and gender, so that I have 6 respondents in 3 age groups, with 3 males and 3 females in each age group. I am following the first 2 groups over three years, but each year I will interview a new set of tourist visitors to the site.

Economic and social impact of development, and the meanings people place on the events and processes, their perceptions, assumptions and judgements within this natural environment are able to be measured as change occurs.

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