Tasmania Pooseum wins three-year planning battle over sign

July 14, 2021

Karen Sweaney

Attractions / Legal / Marketing / Tourism /

A museum in the Tasmania town of Richmond “dedicated to all things poo” has won a lengthy legal battle with its local council to display a promotional sign depicting a penguin projectile pooing.

The sign, which stands outside the museum, had been removed in 2019, when the museum’s owners removed having failed to obtain the required planning permit from the Clarence City Council.

Councill offers had initially recommended a retrospective planning application for the sign be rejected, with the Clarence City Mayor, Doug Chipman, confirming it was the officers’ view that “the presentation of the business wasn’t consistent with the heritage aspects of the village”.

However, despite this recommendation, the application was approved at a meeting of Councillors on Monday night, by eight votes to four.

Pooseum owner Karin Koch said she was “over the moon” following the voted to approve her retrospective heritage application.

The sign displays the word ‘Pooseum’ underneath a cartoon penguin bending over and letting out a long horizontal stream of excrement. It was originally built without a permit and Koch was told it would either have to be rebuilt or removed as the size and orientation didn’t comply with the town’s heritage code.

The Pooseum - ‘where talking about poo is not taboo’ - contains a large selection of animal dropping displays and informative exhibitions explaining all the practical uses of dung in the wild and in modern society.

Clarence Alderman Luke Edmunds, a supporter of the attraction, said the Council decision was a "vote for common sense".

He said there was widespread community support for restoring the sign - more than 1,600 people had previously signed a petition to save it.

Alderman Edmunds noted “you've got a business owner who's running a tourism business that's been decimated by COVID who can finally at least not worry about the council not hounding them.”

Image: The Pooseum is located in the village of Richmond. Credit: Facebook/Pooseum.

About the author

Karen Sweaney

Co-founder and Editor, Australasian Leisure Management

Artist, geoscientist and specialist writer on the leisure industry, Karen Sweaney is Editor and co-founder of Australasian Leisure Management.

Based in Sydney, Australia, her specific areas of interest include the arts, entertainment, the environment, fitness, tourism and wellness.

She has degrees in Fine Arts from the University of Sydney and Geological Oceanography from UNSW.

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