![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2026\/06\/8Q2A5493_30542.jpeg\")
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The World Heritage Rainforest Centre, formerly the Murwillumbah Visitor Information Centre, once stood in Budd Park overlooking the Tweed River.<\/p>\n
After sustaining damage in the 2017 and 2022 floods, engineers found the building suffered from ground movement, termite damage, drainage failures and compromised footings making it uninsurable and increasingly costly to maintain.<\/p>\n
Instead of rebuilding the former visitor information centre, the council upgraded the Budd Park site, featuring picnic facilities, shelters, public art, landscaping and flood-resilient infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The change forms part of a broader shift across Murwillumbah’s civic heart.<\/p>\n
Tweed River House owner and treasurer of Business Murwillumbah Phillip Hepburn said the investment in public spaces and precinct upgrades has helped shift perceptions of Murwillumbah.<\/p>\n
“The business community has invested a lot of faith in this town through some very difficult years,” he said.<\/p>\n
“What’s happened at Budd Park and the railway station precinct gives us real reason for confidence.<\/p>\n
“When visitors arrive and see a town that’s made this kind of investment in itself, it changes the conversation.<\/p>\n
“We’re not a flood-affected town asking for sympathy, we’re a destination worth choosing.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The state heritage-listed Murwillumbah Railway Station has become a key arrival point for visitors using the Northern Rivers Rail Trail, with accessibility upgrades, heritage improvements and public infrastructure works enhancing the station precinct’s role in orienting visitors to the town.<\/p>\n The council’s destination communication and customer experience manager, Tiffany Stodart, said upgrades across the precinct are strengthening Murwillumbah’s appeal as a visitor destination.<\/p>\n “One of Australia’s top regional trails and a two-time silver medallist at the Australian Tourism Awards, the Northern Rivers Rail Trail has become one of the region’s most significant visitor drawcards, and the upgrades at Murwillumbah Railway Station have made it accessible to a much wider audience,” she said.<\/p>\n “When you combine that with the transformation of Budd Park and the activation of the station precinct, you’re creating a genuine destination arrival experience, something that gives visitors a reason to stop, stay and spend time in Murwillumbah.”<\/p>\n The visitor information centre has also been relocated to the station, placing visitor services at the trailhead and at the centre of Murwillumbah’s growing tourism economy.<\/p>\n The Grey to Glimmering project is delivering festoon and feature lighting at the station, with an upgrade to the Alma Street roundabout completing the town entry, plus a signage and wayfinding program for Murwillumbah and South Murwillumbah. Further changes are in the pipeline with the development of the South Murwillumbah Masterplan, which will explore future uses for former buyback sites and other flood-affected land along the Tweed River.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MURWILLUMBAH’S relationship with the Tweed River has always shaped the town’s identity. In recent years, that relationship has taken on new meaning as flood recovery projects, tourism infrastructure and public space upgrades have reshaped the town’s civic heart \u2013 reconnecting residents and visitors with the river while nurturing its growth as a confident regional destination. […]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2026\/06\/8Q2A5498_31595.jpeg\")