Annie Cannon-Brookes opens Dunk pop-up beachside bar
New owners of Dunk Island have opened a pop-up beachside bar amid pending approvals for a new fast cat service.
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The new owners of Dunk Island have successfully achieved what has eluded both Experience Co and Mayfair 101, opening a pop-up beachside bar within weeks of locking in a 30-year sand spit lease.
Last Friday the food van-style offering, surrounded by freshly laid turf, beach umbrellas and deck chairs opened to the surprise of island visitors.
The unnamed food van is offering Mexican style food trading as Green Operator 1 Pty Ltd, according to transaction details.
The opening of the highly-anticipated island venue was made possible by the locking in of a 30-year lease to Green Seaweed 1 on June 1 at a confidential session of Cassowary Coast Regional Council.
Annie Cannon-Brookes, wife of Australian billionaire and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, acquired Dunk Island for approximately $25 million in July 2022.
Cassowary Coast Mayor Mark Nolan said he met with Cannon-Brookes last week at Mission Beach where she shared her clean and green vision for the island plagued by natural disasters and multiple companies unable to deliver on tourism projects.
“She committed to the 30-year lease and true to her word has things happening at Dunk Island,” he said.
A new high-speed catamaran sporting Dunk Island branding is currently birthed at Clump Point Boat Ramp awaiting approvals and a permanent mooring before taking passengers to and from the island.
Buoyed by $10.5m locked in to revitalise the Mission Beach CBD, Cr Nolan said a long-awaited Dunk Island resurgence was in the process of being realised.
“With all this happening it’s just wonderful for our economy,” he said.
The opening has been welcomed by independent island operators following Experience Co pulling out of spit lease agreements in 2019 and in 2020 Mayfair 101 was stripped of the island lease after defaulting on repayment obligations.
QuickCoast by Myroo Adventures owner Bry Penfold, who operates a ferry service between the island and Clump Point, while applauding the development, indicated lack of information had been frustrating.
“Locals are ecstatic that there’s something back again, it’s great,” he said.
“I have reached out to the people who are running it but have not heard anything back.
“If they don’t want to get in contact with us then we can’t write them into our program.”
The pop-up food van, understood to be open Thursday through to Sunday, will serve customers ahead of construction of a permanent beachside bar that could be open by the end of next month.
What’SUP Cairns owner Allie Chadburn said she has been operating on the island for three years hoping for something to happen at the Spit.
“We are very excited to get people out on the water, the reef is in amazing condition and there are heaps of turtles and dugongs,” she said.
“I hear (the Cannon-Brookes) are beautiful people and people in Mission Beach are quite excited.”
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Originally published as Annie Cannon-Brookes opens Dunk pop-up beachside bar
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