- Wet Tropics Management
- Legislative framework
- Management partnerships
- Sustainable Tourism Plan
- Threats to the Area
- Research and a Learning Landscape
- How can I help?
The 20th Cassowary Awards were held at Tjapukai NOW! on Djabugay Country on Friday 6 September 2024. Award recipients and their achievements are featured below.
Climate Change Leadership AwardsCairns and Far North Environment Centre
Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) have been advocating for the protection of nature in far north Queensland since 1981. CAFNEC has led, collaborated and supported scores of campaigns, coordinating action on important environment issues and becoming a leading voice in climate change action. As well as holding politicians and corporations to account, CAFNEC strives to enhance the capacity of the local community to act for conservation.
Education Research Innovation AwardAnnette Ryan, Whitfield State School
Annette is a teacher-librarian and
gifted education program coordinator
at Whitfield State School. She has cofounded and coordinated innovative
education initiatives across far north
Queensland for the last 21 years, including
the Gifted Global Green program. She
developed and ran a STEM program for
high-performing First Nations students
and has conducted the Philosophy Café
Academy at Whitfield State School for
the last five years, where students discuss
environmental ethics.
Industry Excellence Award Cassowary Conservation Management Plan, Department of Transport and Main Roads
The Cassowary Conservation Management Plan—developed by the Department of Transport and Main Roads in 2020—aims to improve cassowary conservation through a consolidated and consistent approach.
As well as public awareness campaigns and best-practice road design and maintenance, it supports the development of new technology to enhance safety and reduce vehicle-animal collisions. This included a trial of a large animal activated roadside monitoring and alert system on the Kennedy Highway near Kuranda, to provide real-time hazard detection.
People Country Culture AwardMadjaybana Rangers
Since their program was established in 2020, Madjaybana Rangers have mapped cultural sites, documented story lines and language names, plotted ancestral walking trails, repaired degraded riverine land, collected litter polluting waterways, and monitored mangroves forests and the water quality of culturally important banas (creeks).
Madjandji Elders have shared cultural,
historical and traditional ecological
knowledge of the minya (fauna) and mayi
(flora) with the rangers, enabling the use
of cultural knowledge to manage the land.
Peter Hitchcock Community Champion AwardIngrid Marker, Cassowary Keystone Conservation
Ingrid is a lifelong advocate for the environment. As founder of the Cassowary Keystone Conservation community group, she is committed to protecting the southern cassowary including caring for orphaned, sick and injured birds. Ingrid has collaborated with various ecologists, environmental organisations, policy advisors and the Djiru Traditional Owners to lobby for strategies that will provide protection for keystone species like the cassowary.
*Ingrid was unable to attend—Marshall Benzel accepted the award on her behalf
Thorsborne Award for Conservation and RehabilitationCathy Retter, Kuranda Envirocare
As president of Kuranda Envirocare, Cathy
has been dedicated to protecting and
rehabilitating the Wet Tropics, including
facilitating tree plantings along the Barron
River over the last two decades. Cathy has
delivered citizen science projects, such
as monitoring and protecting the habitat
of the critically endangered Kuranda
treefrog. She has been instrumental to
community response to threats to the
Wet Tropics, such as the yellow crazy ant
invasion and inappropriate development
and has effectively lobbied government at
all levels.
*Cathy was unable to attend—Bruce Wannan accepted the award on her behalf
World Heritage Presentation AwardMartin Stringer
Martin is a nature photographer and filmmaker with a talent for capturing the beauty of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Through photographing tree planting projects, he has documented rainforest regeneration over the last decade.
Martin says: “Growing a rainforest community is more than just planting a rainforest, it’s about reconnecting through culture, nature, and each other.”
*Martin was unable to attend—Brendan Barber accepted the award on his behalf
Young Cassowary AwardTyler Smith
While he may be young, Tyler has long been a rainforest advocate and regularly attends tree planting days with his family—he prides himself on being at the very first tree planting at NightWings.
At just 12 years of age, Tyler’s passion for the environment, his local community and school saw him awarded his school’s Year 7 Community Involvement Scholarship.
BirdLife Northern Queensland
The Chair’s Award was given to BirdLife Northern Queensland, who is at the forefront of bird conservation in the Wet Tropics. For over 120 years, BirdLife Australia has been researching and protecting native Australian birds and through decades of work, the Northern Queensland branch has built on the mounting evidence that Wet Tropics rainforest-dependent bird populations are declining in the upland areas because of climate change. The findings from their collaborative Birds with Altitude citizen science project will help build a basis for effective conservation action planning.
