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The unorthodox funeral of tourism icon Brian Inder was fitting of a man who ditched convention in favour of a whimsical vision to better his community. The 88-year-old wanted to be sent off to "Upper Crackpot" with a celebration of his life filled with laughs, chatting friends and a dress code that mandated bright colours over formal blacks. Hundreds flocked to Mural Park at Sheffield to hear light-hearted anecdotes, sing songs and write messages on Mr Inder's final mural: his rainbow coloured coffin. "I knew Brian made an impact but I had no idea how far reaching it was," his wife 'Lady Crackpot' Laura said. "I just want to thank everybody for celebrating today with us .... What just happened is exactly what Brian would've wanted." Mr Inder was a legend of the North-West tourism industry best known for establishing Tasmazia and the Village of Lower Crackpot. He was also the driving force behind Mural Fest, the brains behind The Edge of the World at Arthur River and a champion of the Mount Roland cableway. He was born 12 December 1930 in the Sydney suburb of Manly. Funeral MC Mark Beach-Ross described how his friend performed almost every job under the sun to earn money for his family during the Great Depression, from selling pies at the footy to helping build Sydney's south east expressway. "Brian represented the epitome of the Australian dream: work hard, have compassion and honesty and with the sweat of your brow and the grit of your teeth, you can make the vision become reality," he said. Mr Inder moved to Tasmania with his "beloved Molly" in 1973 and began plotting his vision for tourism in the North-West. His life was struck by tragedy when Molly died in 1984 but Mr Inder found a new lease on life when he met a Montana woman with "the spirit of Calamity Jane" named Laura during a trip around Europe. "Together for 30 years they have been making their shared vision a reality," Mr Beach-Ross said. Mr Inder met his friend Jenny Cox when she was working for Kentish Council and came to discuss the Tasmazia project in 1991. She said Mr Inder was a "loyal, generous, wacky, creative genius" who "learned how to value the resources he had around him". "He dreamed up whimsy and set about building it with hard work, commitment and a seemingly unstoppable drive," she said. Kentish mayor Tim Wilson said Mr Inder had his critics as "all visionaries do". "He could be a fierce opponent if you crossed him and I came into his cross hairs on more than one occasion and in my weaker moments I did wish that he would somehow lose himself in one his mazes for a while just to get off my back," he said. But Cr Wilson said the prosperity of Kentish was always Mr Inder's priority. "He desperately wanted Kentish to be a place where our youth could choose to stay and work. He wanted us as a community to be more self-reliant..." he said.

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