In mid-2000 Jesse Brampton, working with his then-business partner, Mike Maher, was commissioned to prepare a Feasibility Study for a region-wide heritage trail in Western Australia’s northern goldfields.  This work ultimately extended through a Development Plan and on into a full-scale project management contract which saw the 965 km Golden Quest Discovery Trail opened in March 2003. 

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As an “adventure drive” intended to take 2-3 days, the Golden Quest broke new ground in terms of a regionally-significant visitor attraction.  Spanning 5 local governments (Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Menzies, Leonora and Laverton) and involving the Goldfields Esperance Development Commission, the Australia Unlimited Taskforce, and a number of other state and federal agencies, this was a project as much about building partnerships as it was about building trail. 

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Twenty-five interpretive sites were developed, each with extensive signage, and a comprehensive guide book was written – but perhaps the pinnacle of the project came in the form of a set of audio CD’s, in which local people told the stories of the country being traversed.  Almost 20 years on, the Golden Quest remains a benchmark for this kind of trail – and it continues to attract significant visitation each year, to the ongoing benefit of the community’s through which it passes.