The new Bundaberg Rum Visitor's Centre has developed in partnership with its community's creative talent, including members of the Bundaberg Media Research Group (BMRG) based at the local CQU campus.

BMRG member Dr Grayson Cooke, who lectures in digital media and coordinates the Bachelor of Digital Innovation, produced a short film on the sugar industry and a short film on the process of building rum vats, and provided some of the photographs used in the display panels. Examples follow.

The films produced by Dr Cooke were some of the first projects to have been created in the new Academic and Research Building on Bundaberg Campus - the state-of-the-art Mac-based video editing suite and digital sound studio were both utilized in making the films.

Meanwhile, another BMRG member and local artist Jonathan Pagliano has produced soundscapes for the centre, including soundscapes of a bubbling vat and a fire in the distillery. He also consulted on acoustics and the sound design for the centre.

Dr Cooke said the new Visitor's Centre is a world-class interactive attraction, that is the produce of Bundaberg-based creative talent.

The current Bundaberg Rum tour receives more than 70,000 visitors per year, and with the new Visitor's Centre opening, that number is expected to grow.

The contract to develop the displays and interactive areas in the Visitor's Centre went to local arts organisation Inter-Artz, managed by Shelley Pisani.

Members of the BMRG worked closely with Shelley Pisani and Bundaberg Rum in producing media for the centre.

A wide number of local artists and media producers have contributed to the displays in the Centre. In all over 20 local businesses were contracted through the project.

Members of the BMRG have been working on aspects of the local sugar industry for some time. In 2005, the BMRG produced a CD/DVD project called 'Sweet Sounds of a Sugar Town', which featured music and audio recordings set to video footage of the sugar industry, as well as a documentary on the sugar industry.

"This project has given us an opportunity to continue our work, focusing on the social history and audio-visual aspects of industries that are important to this area," Dr Cooke said.

"We worked closely with the Bundaberg Rum team and with Shelley Pisani to ensure that the work that goes into the new Visitor's Centre is relevant, professionally produced, and locally sourced."

Shelley Pisani said the Bundaberg Rum Bondstore was the result of 12 months of planning, research and production with over 20 local businesses and the Bundaberg Distillery's project team.

"It demonstrates the wealth of creative talent in our region and the capacity that we have to achieve such large scale outcomes.  BMRG provided an invaluable resource to the project," she said.

"Their films and soundscapes are prominent features of the new centre and capture the essence of what Bundaberg Rum means to local industry and the community."