Dark Matter Experience Centre | Stawell

Shaping a World-First Visitor Attraction in Stawell

Join us for a one-hour session to hear about an exciting new project that could place Stawell and the wider region on the international map as a "must see” destination in Australia.

This project is being managed by the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) with a Project Governance Group comprising of partners including council, Stawell Gold Mine, the University of Melbourne, Swinburne University of Technology and Grampians Wimmera Mallee Tourism.

Why this matters

This project has the potential to be the only dark matter-themed visitor attraction in the Southern Hemisphere. By tapping into the globally significant research taking place at the Stawell Underground Physics Lab, SUPL, and its unique co-location within an active gold mine, we’re exploring how to create an immersive visitor attraction unlike anything else in Australia. It’s not just about science - this project could become a major tourism and education drawcard for Victoria, driving new visitation to the Grampians and Wimmera Mallee region and positioning Stawell as a hub for curiosity, innovation and discovery.

The project

Funded through the Victorian Government’s Enabling Tourism Fund, this initiative is being delivered as a Feasibility Study to assess the viability, design options, economic impact and staging of the proposed attraction.

It explores the potential to reimagine the former Federation University building as the gateway to the experience - a space where immersive storytelling, interactive technology and powerful scientific themes come together to inspire visitors of all ages.

The concept

Some of the draft concepts include:

• A multisensory journey through the known and unknown universe.
• A dark matter chamber experience, simulating the underground lab environment.
• Interactive installations connecting physics to everyday life.
• Space for rotating exhibitions, schools programming, and future partnerships.
• Auditorium for lectures, events, meetings, community wider use.
• Restaurant facilities for casual dining for visitors and locals.
• Roof top observatory for nighttime cosmology experiences and event space.

The concept has been carefully crafted to deliver an authentic and meaningful experience that can grow sustainably over time, backed by a staged development model and a strong operating framework. Importantly, the brief provided to the consultants required that the concept must be:

•  Self-sustaining (able to cover its annual operating costs and ongoing maintenance requirements);

• Offering a highly authentic and memorable science-based visitor experience which reflects on the amazing research being conducted into dark matter and other areas of particle physics at SUPL;

• A nationally and internationally significant visitor experience attraction with ability to draw an audience from throughout Victoria, from interstate and internationally; and

• A major contributor to the economic wellbeing and further development of Stawell and the wider Grampians region, acting as a catalyst for other tourism-based development opportunities.
  
  

Your voice matters

You’ll hear directly from the project’s lead consultants and visitor economy experts - Stafford Strategy, Freeman Ryan Design and Common Architects - who will walk through the early findings and ideas. There’ll be plenty of opportunity to ask questions and share your feedback on what this means for the community, local business, and the region more broadly.

Where: North Park Community Sports Centre, Lamont Street, Stawell.

When: Monday, September 8 between 5.30pm and 6.30pm.

RSVP: Please RSVP your attendance by purchasing a free ticket via the button below. Everyone welcome.

When

Location

North Park Community Sports Centre, 7-15 Lamont Street, Stawell, 3380, View Map

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