We acknowledge and pay respects to the Yugambeh people of the Gold Coast and all their descendants both past and present. We also acknowledge the many Aboriginal people from other regions as well as Torres Strait and South Sea Islander people who now live in the local area and have made an important contribution to the community.
OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability Overview
Binna Burra’s Board and staff are fully committed to implementing and demonstrating effective sustainable management. We have been doing this since the company was first formed in the 1930s, and over the past 20 years, we have pioneered many practices which are now part of international sustainable tourism guidelines.
We aim to achieve the international standards for sustainable tourism laid out by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) in order to ensure our business operations:
- Maximise social and economic benefits to the local community and minimize any negative impacts
- Maximise benefits to our cultural heritage and minimise any negative impacts
- Maximise benefits to our world heritage listed natural environment and minimise negative impacts
As an example, by designing and adopting site-specific best practice procedures as detailed in the Lodge’s Environmental Management Plan (EMP), Binna Burra has dramatically reduced its environmental impacts and has also benefited financially from the reductions in energy usage.
This effort was so significant that Binna Burra Mountain Lodge first earned Green Globe Certification in 2001. In doing so, Binna Burra was also the first private company in Australasia to achieve certification under the international Green Globe standards for sustainable tourism practices.
Prior to and since its certification, Binna Burra had been recognised by a variety of environmental, ecotourism and tourism organisations. In 2018 during the annual conference of Ecotourism Australia held in Townsville, Binna Burra was one of a handful of Australian tourism enterprises recognised for 20 consecutive years of maintaining its ecotourism certification.
Binna Burra Lodge Ltd has committed to benchmarking its energy and water consumption, total waste production and community commitment; along with implementing an integrated environmental and social policy.
The GSTC establishes and manages global sustainable standards, known as the GSTC Criteria. These are the guiding principles and minimum international requirements that any tourism business or destination should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain the world’s natural and cultural resources while ensuring tourism meets its potential as a tool for conservation and poverty alleviation.
“Binna Burra Lodge has had what we now call a sustainable approach to tourism since its inception in 1933 when the concept of national parks was still new around the world.
Nowadays we also have the framework of world heritage values. This results in Binna Burra Lodge sharing responsibility for conservation of our cultural and natural heritage through sustainable tourism management.”
Acknowledging the earliest inhabitants at Binna Burra
A statement of information and policy endorsed by the Board of Directors, Binna Burra Lodge Limited, 18 December 2017.
‘Lamington National Park’s earliest human inhabitants were an Aboriginal kinship group, the Yugambeh who lived in this area, carefully managing and using its rich natural resources. Known as ‘Woonoongoora’ to the Yugambeh, the mountains are sacred and spiritual, places to be nurtured and respected.’
(Queensland Government, Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing)[1]
As a business that operates within a World Heritage designated natural environment, Binna Burra Lodge Limited’s vision ‘To be a meaningful connection to nature and heritage’ is delivered with the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural and natural heritage of our location.
We acknowledge and respect that the land upon which Binna Burra is located was used by traditional ‘first nations’ people of this mountain area.
While some people may see Acknowledgement and Welcome to Country as a recent practice invented for the sake of political correctness, or an empty token gesture, Wurundjeri Elder, Joy Murphy Wandin, describes it as “a very important way of giving Aboriginal people back their place in society, and an opportunity for us to say, ‘We are real, we are here, and today we welcome you to our land’…It’s paying respect, in a formal sense, and following traditional custom in a symbolic way.” [1]
[1] http://www.australianstogether.org.au/stories/detail/welcome-to-country
[1] https://www.npsr.qld.gov.au/parks/lamington/culture.html
Lamington Natural History Association (LNHA)
In 1975 the Lamington Natural History Association (LNHA) was formed, in association with Binna Burra Mountain Lodge, O’Reilly’s Rainforest Guesthouse and the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service.
LNHA was based on a concept which was common in the USA in the early 1970s, but was the first of its type in Australia. One of the Association’s early major projects was the establishment of an environmental study centre and headquarters on the Binna Burra property by renovating the timber cabin which Arthur Groom had built for himself and his wife in 1935. Opened in 1976, the centre contained an office, class-room, and dormitory accommodation for children taking part in educational camps (Stubbs & Specht, 2005).
The aim of LNHA is, to encourage an understanding and appreciation of the environment and national park values and provide interpretative information for visitors to Lamington National Park.
It does this by:
• Accredited members assisting the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) by volunteering in the Binna Burra Information Centre on weekends and school holidays
• The LNHA provides interpretive information to visitors to Lamington National Park through, Books Track Guides and Brochures
• Activities for Members and guests on four weekends per year
• Guest speakers provide specialist talks on topics relating to Natural History, the environment and Lamington National Park
National Parks Association of Queensland (NPAQ)
Back in 1930, the pioneering founders of Binna Burra, Romeo Lahey and Arthur Groom were also instrumental in the founding of the NPAQ.
It was out of the NPAQ and its increasingly popular camp-outs that the idea of establishing low-cost but comfortable accommodation which would allow a greater number of people to gain access to the peace, freedom and beauty of Queensland’s national parks emerged, and Binna Burra was established in 1933. The association continues to promote the preservation, expansion and good management of national parks and other forms of protected areas in Queensland.
‘During the early years of Binna Burra, (Romeo) Lahey also marked out and began construction of walking tracks within Lamington National Park, laying the foundation of the extensive network of tracks in the park today.’ (Stubbs & Specht, 2005)
NPAQ is an independent, not-for-profit, membership-based organization, and is the first conservation organisation in Queensland, and the longest running National Park Association in Australia.
Nowadays, Binna Burra still shares the objectives of NPAQ:
1) To preserve the National Parks and other protected areas of Queensland in their natural condition, to the greatest possible extent, and to endeavour to ensure the reservation and preservation of other areas considered to be suitable for protection;
2) To foster member and public interest in, enjoyment of, and respect for National Parks and nature conservation;
3) To promote the appropriate management of National Parks and other protected areas, and appropriate management of environmental factors which may affect existing and potential National Parks;
4) To promote effective legal and environmental protections in respect of National Parks and other protected areas, and to ensure the enforcement of provisions for their protection;
5) To promote appropriate and balanced measures for visitors to experience National Parks while conserving and protecting the natural environment.
MORE INFO
BINNA BURRA LODGE
1040 Binna Burra Rd
Beechmont, Queensland
