Today, we continue the conversation with Managing Director of the most-visited, privately-owned attraction in Australia: Scenic World. Anthea Hammon is 3rd generation Hammon family to take control of the World-Heritage-Listed Blue Mountains attraction, which has seen her navigate some tumultuous terrain these past 2yrs with devastating bush fires for months – only to be followed up with a pandemic that has crippled the entire “attractions” industry.
With a strong focus on family succession planning, she was well supported to navigate unfamiliar terrain. She has been determined to maintain the culture and iconic scenic attraction that began in 1945 when her grandfather Harry Hammon converted the abandoned Coal Mine into the Scenic Railway.
With an engineering background, she has taken her fascination for how machinery works and sculpted a working environment that includes her 2 & 6 yr old in tow - the family culture is truly felt the moment you are on site.
In spectacular fashion, Nat & I met Anthea in her natural habitat…her youngest child Hamilton in a pram being cuddled by one staff member to another, Anthea, overseeing the room that she’d organized for her community to be inspired by a heroes journey (my Nat!!) and of course her daughter Hazel running back and forth reminding us all who was really in charge! The values in her business place and living and breathing!
I am looking forward to speaking to a leader that has forged a new model – not so much deliberately but moreso organically – constantly bringing family values into the forefront and demonstrating how powerful it really can be to operate from this platform!
The Goods on Anthea:
Graduating from university with an engineering degree it seemed that Anthea’s career would be one of finding solutions to problems or maximising opportunities.
As the 3rd generation member of the Hammon family to take control of Scenic World , the last two years have tested all of her problem solving skills and then some.
Anthea is the Managing Director of what is the most visited, privately owned attraction in Australia, attracting over one million visitors annually. Set within the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains, the company is a third generation family business. Established in 1945 (for the past 76yrs) when Harry Hammon converted the abandoned Katoomba Colliery into the Scenic Railway, it continues to be owned and operated by the same family.
Anthea shares the challenges that have been presented to her on a business level since the outbreak of Covid, the joy that she gets from creating meaningful shared experiences for families and amongst all of the work in finding a way to keep a tourist business going through months of lockdown.. her family home burnt to the ground…I trust you will enjoy this conversation with a remarkably resilient woman.
Contact Anthea:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anthea-hammon
Website: https://scenicworld.com.au/explore
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