Cassowary Awards - 2007

Each year the Wet Tropics Management Authority recognises individuals and groups who have made outstanding contributions to the conservation and presentation of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

The ninth annual Cassowary Awards were held at Hartley's Crocodile Adventures at Wangetti Beach on Saturday 24th November 2007. The Awards were presented by Mr Tom Gilmore and Ms Alison Halliday, WTMA board directors, and Mrs Pam Birkett from the Daintree Discovery Centre.

The evening also featured the third year of the Young Cassowary Awards. These awards recognise the work of students and school classes in helping to conserve the Wet Tropics.

The recipients of Cassowary Awards for 2007 are pictured below, followed by a brief description of their achievements.

Back: Tom Gilmore, Frederick Michna, Wendy Cooper,Roddy Duffin, Jon Nott, Peta Nott, Les Jackson, David Leech, Kym Dungey, Wally Coutts, Jane Whytlaw
Front: Beau Sheppard, levi Newbury, Gerard Gilkerson, Tim Anderson, Bruce Corcoran

Tim Anderson (Unsung hero)

Tim is the visionary behind the Barron Green Corridor Project to rejuvenate the banks of the Barron River. Tim’s volunteer work over ten years as a member of the Barron River Integrated Catchment Management Association (BRICMA) has been vital to establish and fund the Green Corridor Project.

Sandy Clague (Conservation)

Sandy has been a stalwart for conservation advocacy in the Wet Tropics region for over 30 years. She joined the fledgling Cairns branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland in the early ‘70s and volunteered to look over environmental impact assessments. She was employed at the national parks and wildlife service in 1989 as an environmental planner and retired earlier this year. Along with environmental planning, Sandy initiated the annual spectacled flying fox count and used her vet skills to perform autopsies on stranded wildlife that was brought in by staff.

Wendy Cooper (Science)

Wendy is the botanist behind the successful ‘Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest’ book. Wendy invented a classification system of tropical rainforest plants using their fruits as the primary means of identification. Her method has broken new ground in the botanical world. A new edition in 2006 provided a huge amount of detail about the extraordinary diversity of rainforest fruits.

David Leech and Wally Coutts (Community Conservation)

David and Wally were the main drivers of the Peterson Creek Vegetation Corridor project since 1998 (along with the late Geoff Tracey). The initial work was successful in planting approximately 15,000 trees as stepping stones along Peterson Creek. The project has so far restored and rehabilitated 1.5 to 2ha of rainforest each year along Peterson Creek, linking remnant patches of rainforest using selected species of endangered Mabi (Type 5b) forest. The first stage of the program was to link remnant rainforest, home to a small population of tree-kangaroos. Work has now been completed on eight separate stages and has created a wildlife corridor and recreation asset for residents and visitors.

Bruce Corcoran (Community Conservation)

Bruce was the first truly green farmer in the Mulgrave area. He is passionate about trees, water quality and sustainable farming practices and has worked long and hard to promote conservation amongst farmers and others in the community. For over 20 years Bruce has worked with the local community to rehabilitate the Mulgrave River catchment. This has included weed control and tree planting. He continues to lead the way as the Terrain NRM coordinator for the Mulgrave River.

Kym Dungey and Jane Whytelaw (Nature Based Tourism)

Kym and Jane have developed a series of walking books that comprehensively cover the Wet Tropics. They have walked every track, often two or three times, to create informative and reliable text and maps for each walk. Their small business has been a labour of love and their work has been of great service to the community and assisted many people to enjoy walking in the Wet Tropics.

Eastern Kuku Yalinji Negotiating Team (Rainforest Aboriginal culture)

Between 2000 and 2007 the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people negotiated an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) with the Queensland Government to determine the tenure of their traditional lands and how they would be managed. These lands include the Daintree, Bloomfield, Black Mountain and Cedar Bay areas. The Steering Committee gave of their time over eight years to represent the Kuku Yalanji people in these delicate and complex negotiations. The ILUA will promote the aspirations of the Kuku Yalanji people whilst ensuring the protection of World Heritage Area.

Les Jackson (Government)

Les has been employed by QPWS and lived with his family at Josephine Falls Ranger Base in the Wooroonooran National Park for over 25 years. With no previous background in conservation, Les has developed unsurpassed ecological insight into the functioning of national parks under his control. Combined with determination and hard work far beyond the call of duty, Les has created some of the best natural resource management programs in National Parks in the region. His work to eradicate weeds, undertake annual fire hazard reduction programs and restore the wetlands at Eubenangee Swamp has been exemplary. Les also put in enormous efforts to help clean up visitor sites and parks after Cyclone Larry.

Peta and Jon Nott (Neighbour)

Since 1994 Jon and Peta have removed lantana, tobacco bush and glycine and replanted over 20,000 native trees on approximately 26ha of their 93ha property which adjoins the WHA on two boundaries. The property is now a Nature Refuge with abundant birds and other wildlife. Jon and Peta have developed a wilderness retreat and are delighted to share their vision with guests.

Frederick Michna (Young Cassowary Award)

Frederick has received the Johnstone Shire Australia Day Junior Award 2007 and the National Future Leaders Environmental Award 2007. He is an inaugural member of the Queensland Youth Environment Council and advises the Queensland Government on environmental matters. He is a Director of the Wairambar Rainforest Nature Refuge, his family property next to the World Heritage Area. Frederick has worked hard restoring areas damaged by Cyclone Larry. This has included planting 900 trees and setting up a school based Landcare organisation.

Bama Dayal Dance Group (Young Cassowary Award)

Students at Kuranda District State College developed a dance group to communicate their culture through song, dance and art. They have recreated traditional shelters, artefacts and wildlife traps within the school rainforest and have produced posters and displays of various bush tucker.

Young Cassowary Awards

In addition to the two Young Cassowary Award winners above, six other students and schools received awards for their efforts.

Outstanding Achievement Award

• Samara Nicolson from Townsville for her efforts to conserve frogs and their habitat.

Continuing Excellence Award

• Years 6 and 7 at Hambledon State School for looking after their school’s rainforest nature trail.

• Aloomba State School for organising the annual Tilapia Terminators fishing challenge.

Encouragement Awards

• Year 3, Ingham State School for investigating how to look after the cassowary populations around Ingham.

• Ben Spahr from Kuranda District College for studying water quality in the Barron River.

• Sarah Mayocchi for researching how we can save tropical rainforests.