In my region: Limestone Coast, SA

The region’s biggest city, with around 33,000 people, is Mount Gambier – built on volcanic slopes and dotted with spectacular geological features, including stunning tourist favourite, Blue Lake.

The Coonawarra wine region is 60km to the north, while 130km to the northeast is the pretty coastal town of Robe, one of South Australia’s favourite summer holiday destinations.

From 2022–23, the Limestone Coast’s gross regional product was $4.7 billion, up from $4.5 billion in 2021–22 and $3.5 billion in 2001, according to Regional Development Australia’s Limestone Coast economic profile. The biggest industries are agriculture and tourism.

In 2020–21, total sales in tourism reached $215 million, which created $112.8 million in added value.

Since 2018, the population has grown by an average of 0.55% per year, from 67,683 in 2019 to 69,137 in 2023. This contrasts with a South Australian average of 1.19% and an Australian average of 1.32% over the same period.

In the third quarter of 2023, the unemployment rate was 2.5%, below the South Australian average of 4% and Australian average of 3.6%.

The price of housing continues to increase in the region, though that growth does lag property price growth nationally and within the state’s regions. In the 12 months to February 2024, the Limestone Coast dwelling cost rose 7.1%, bringing the median house price to $389,644, according to CoreLogic. In the same period, dwelling costs rose an average of 8.9% across Australia and 9.7% across regional South Australia.

Limited local opportunity spurs a global outlook: Accounting, boxing and promotions

Sam Dwyer grew up in Mount Gambier and, on finishing school, studied accounting at Deakin University.

“I didn’t plan on returning,” he says. “But the job opportunities regionally are really, really good, particularly post-university, so my wife and I moved back.”

He joined Joe D’Agostino and Associates, a local accounting firm, as an accountant. He still works there part-time – in 2016, he founded Dwyer’s Boxing Club.

“I’m a professional fighter, and there weren’t a lot of great options for training here,” he says. “So, we set up a small business – just somewhere for me to train. A few us [from Mount Gambier] started training together, and it’s grown to be quite a substantial enterprise over the years.”

Despite this initial success, long-term growth is more challenging.

“In a small town, it’s easier to gain traction early, because you have strong networks; but, at the top end, it’s harder, because you exhaust all your options much quicker than in a city, where you can keep expanding.”

For this reason, Dwyer added another “arm” to the business – a fighting promotions company that operates in Cambodia.

“We plan to lean more heavily into that with time. It isn’t geographically limited, so we can expand our horizons [more than we can with a bricks and mortar gym].”

In his work as an accountant, he’s noticed that regional dynamics have changed over the past few years.

“We’ve had quite an influx from migration and from cities post-COVID, and house prices have gone stupid all over Australia,” he says.

“The lower to lower-middle classes are really, really struggling. But the flipside is that the middle-upper to upper classes are doing well. Big ticket items like cars, housing and construction are doing well, but if you’re selling low-budget products and your costs have increased by 25%, like a lot of people’s have, then that’s eroding your very narrow profit margin. A 5% or 10% dip in profits [can be disastrous].”

That said, the Limestone Coast still offers opportunities, especially for business owners.

“[House prices] have increased here, but we’re still more affordable [than many other places],” Dwyer says.

“When you found a business, your initial investment can be a lot lower [than in the city]. When I started the gym, I wasn’t signing a five-year lease for a $30,000 a year property.”

Smaller opportunities and less predictability: Tourism and hospitality

A decade ago, Kelsie Prowse and her family left the Sunshine Coast to start a business in Mt Gambier, where her partner grew up.

“I’m a hospitality girl; I always have been,” says Prowse, now co-owner of event venue The Apple Farm in Mount Gambier and a board member of the Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce.

“My husband is a landscaper by trade. When we found a farm a few minutes out of town with 1,000 apple trees, grape vines, beautiful gardens and a function space that wasn’t being used, we saw an opportunity.”

In addition, the price was attractive, particularly compared to the family’s previous home..

“We bought it for $360,000 – we couldn’t have bought even a doer-upperer in Maroochydore for that.”

They named the property The Apple Farm and set about transforming it into an event venue. Before they’d even had a chance to advertise, business started coming in.

“We got our first booking through word of mouth. Someone contacted us, asking if they could have their 50th on the farm. Then someone else wanted a wedding ceremony and, from there, we got more bookings.”

Within five years, The Apple Farm was booked out six to eight months in advance.

That superb growth halted in early 2020.

“I honestly believe that I’ve got PTSD from COVID,” says Prowse.

Four years on, The Apple Farm is still recovering – as are many other businesses in the area. High inflation has added to their difficulties.

“People aren’t spending the same – even young couples are downsizing their weddings. Pre-COVID, an average wedding guest list would easily have been 80 to 100 and, these days, it’s 60 to 80,” Prowse says.

“I’ve had similar conversations with a lot of cafe owners – paying the quarterly GST bill is a struggle; when you put on events, people are very last-minute with booking tickets, so there’s a real risk of losing money. It’s post-COVID fatigue.”

Despite these challenges, Prowse still sees significant opportunity on the Limestone Coast, particularly in tourism.

“Over the Christmas holidays of the past two years, local retailers and restaurants have been very happy,” says Prowse.

“We’re smack-bang in the middle of Adelaide and Melbourne, so there are opportunities to capitalise on people visiting from the cities.”

She also enjoys living in the area.

“I love it down here. Mount Gambier is the second biggest city in South Australia after Adelaide, but it feels like a big country town. It’s very beautiful, with the volcanoes, caves and lakes. I love the seasons.”

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