Welcome to the Cassowary Coast
A very special place
"Friendship of like-minded people is crucial in our daily efforts to open the eyes minds and hearts of others who may not
YET see the wonders which surround those of us privileged to live where we live".    Ruth Lipscombe

Our Diverse Shire


Christmas is a time to slow down and reflect on the year that is fast coming to an end and look forward to a fresh start in the new year. It is a time to be grateful for the goodness that surrounds us, waterways and wetlands, the forest, the ocean and the thousands of plants and animals that share this special part of our Australia with us. No gift that we could put under a tree could compare with the gifts nature shares with us every day. Christmas is a time for giving to our families and friends. Perhaps it is a good time to reflect on what we are giving to future generations out of the legacy of natural wonders that we have already received from those that came before us. Will we value our natural environment and protect it so it may sustain and enrich future generations or will we squander its wealth for short term benefit? The choice is ours.

Sara and I wish you all a safe and happy festive season.  May you always have fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, healthy food to eat and a heart that is open to the myriad of natural wonders that surround us every day."
  Russell Constable and Sara Dobson

The Rainforest

Queensland is one of the world's most precious botanical treasures.  An estimated 180 million years old – tens of millions of years older than the Amazon rainforest in South America – the Wet tropics is a living museum that catalogues the evolution of plant life on Earth.  Long celebrated as the place where the rainforest meets the sea, it is the world’s last remaining example of warm, moist rainforest from the time of the  Gondwanaland supercontinent.

Graham Lloyd, The Australian  2011

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass onto future generations" - UNESCO

The heritage of the Great Barrier Reef shapes and drives what the reef is like now, how it is managed and the type of reef tomorrow's generation will inherit.    Heritage includes places, values, traditions, events and experiences.

By protecting and managing the heritage of the Great Barrier Reef we are conserving a valuable asset and ensuring it will continue to be experienced and enjoyed by future generations.

The Great Barrier Reef received World Heritage status in 1981, the first coral reef ecosystem in the world to have this distinction.

It is one of the better known coral reef ecosystems in the world and remains one of the world's best managed natural wonders.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
UNESCO is warning that, under changes to Queensland’s environmental planning legislation, the Great Barrier Reef could be in peril.
So concerned is UNESCO about Australia’s treatment of the reef, both at a state and federal level, that the international body issued a warning in June that the reef would be “danger listed” as a world heritage site in peril, unless Australia could ensure better supervision of the site.

Shock And Ore By Sarah-Jane Collins December  2012
Thank you to Gary Hughes who is a returned client from Accrington, England and now a good friend who provided some of his photos for us to use in this Marine Park section.  He and his wife Vicky and daughter Emilie have fallen in love with the Cassowary Coast and have made the journey 3 times from England in 4 years and stay for 4 weeks at a time at Mission Beach.  Their moral support and encouragement as well many others has helped Jason and I soldier on with our business and continue to strive to achieve our goal of showcasing the Marine Park. A merry Christmas to all of you and our very deepest thanks!
Jason and Bec (Mission Beach Charters).

Birds of Cassowary Coast

This region hosts over 300 species of fabulous birds, from the Noisy Pitta and Macleay's Honeyeater to the Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher and the truly amazing Southern Cassowary (a bird guaranteed to take your breath away). They can be seen on the beach, in the forest, along the creeks and in our gardens.

All these birds depend upon us to keep their habitats in good condition and well connected. It is a real treat to live in a house with Bush Stone-curlews and Orange-footed Scrubfowl serenading us just outside.

My wish for 2013 is that the good breeding success this post-Yasi season will continue and more and more beautiful birds will inhabit the recovering forests.
<')//////==<  Helen and Jeff Larson
Mahogany Glider country
This is such a precious place;  so many stunning creatures – so many magic places.  We are so very lucky to live here.    Keep being its voice - speak passionately for this landscape and all the creatures that live within it.  

May 2013 bring protection and health to the place we all treasure as our home.
Daryl Dickson & Geoff Moffatt, Mungarru Lodge Sanctuary
That the mahogany glider was lost, or indeed believed extinct by many, for 106 years then rediscovered in 1989, still living in the tiny area where it had first been seen must be a message of hope we can all share this Christmas.

When Dr Steve Van Dyke and his colleague Paul Stumkat spotted the glider they had been seeking for three years emerging from a tree hollow beside a lagoon into a pink sunset it was a cause for huge celebration and, in a sense, history was remade. This rare glider is still deemed endangered, and with its entire world habitat only about 150kms of coastal woodland in far north Queensland, it is unlikely to lose the status, especially as its habitat is desperately fragmented, but good things are happening with land now being replanted for it. Ironically, this was country destroyed by Cyclone Yasi, which, we guess, contains another message. For us who love the bush, this is in so many ways a sombre Christmas, but in the story of the mahogany glider there is energy and a reason to keep going.

Happy Christmas, everyone.
From Anne and Lawrie  WPSQ (Wildlife Preservation Society, Tully Branch)

Coquette Point

Lieutenant Johnstone was the first white man to explore the river that bears his name, Johnstone River. In his diary he reported what he saw,
. “ A most glorious view appeared a noble reach of fresh water, studded with blacks with their canoes and catamarans, others on the sandy beaches: deep blue fresh water expanding to an imposing breadth. The dense jungles waving their magnificent many coloured and many shaped foliages in the blue waters of one of the noblest rivers of Australasia, bounded only by the Andes of Australia, bejewelled by its many cascades and waterfalls, brilliant  blooms of many unknown flowers, and shades and shadows in the mountains, making one of the most sublime pictures– glorious sermon that would touch the heart of even an atheist if such a thing exists.”

As we say goodbye to 2012 and welcome a new year, we  send a message of peace and goodwill  from our little piece of paradise on the southern bank of the Johnstone River, Coquette Point.
Ruth Lipscombe,  Bill and Kerry Farnsworth, John and Diana O’Brien & Yvonne Cunningham.


Cassowary Country

What a privilege it is to live in and share a place with one of the most ancient inhabitants of this tropical rainforest  land.  Those of us who stand transfixed in their presence,  are struck by their fragile nature and the desperate need for more consideration to be given for their protection.   They need us to help them safely go about their very important task of keeping our rainforests healthy and rejuvenated.   Without the cassowary our rainforests would be a very different place,  not just  for their role as as key seed disperser but  (perhaps more importantly) for our sense of  identity and connection to place as a community.

The cassowary is an endangered and nationally listed species. There is some help being directed towards protection  but it is not enough.  The concern and action of everyone who lives in the Wet Tropics area is needed to save this bird.

If we drive  just a little slower when approaching a blind corner or the next crest, it would make the world of difference to the future of the cassowary.  

We will close our eyes very tight  to reflect on the kind of place we want  into the future and how we can work together in 2013 to help the cassowary survive and thrive in it's natural home of the tropical Queensland rainforest.
  Liz Gallie and Sandal Hayes.



Hinchinbrook

'May everyone have a safe and relaxing festive season and return in 2013 renewed with vigor to help defend the defenceless. It seems everything is open slather at the moment including our bats, coastal management plans, funding for crazy ants and the protection of our iconic headlands.

Hinchinbrook Island received a battering through the cyclone but it will rebound to its former glory and we must make sure the only battering it ever receives into the foreseeable future is from natural phenomena and not a Campbell Newman assault.'
Best  Wishes, Steven Nowakowski

Ella Bay

Clump Point

 Clump Point  at Mission Beach is a community icon and unique as the only volcanic headland in the entire Wet Tropics.  That means there s only one!  The  picturesque scenery of the rich and diverse rainforest growing down to the sea on the fertile soils of Clump Mountain are celebrated in the promotion of this gateway between the world heritage listed areas of  the Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef .

When you visit the lookout, or the marine environment of Boat Bay, it is obvious why Clump Point has always been a significant place for the Djiru  Aboriginal Traditional owners for its cultural, spiritual, social, educational and recreational values.

With the new year comes new hope for the environment.  In 2013 I hope the main focus for Clump Point will be planning to protect the exceptional natural beauty of the headland so future generations will also be able to enjoy what we perhaps take for granted now. 

Merry Christmas to you all and a happy new year.
Mick De Vries,  Friends of Boat Bay ( FOBB)

Cowley Beach
 Thanks to all those who have contributed their photos and inspiring words making this page such a wonderful celebration of the special place we live.



(All photos subject to copyright)