Anger at stalled Pajinka resort project
An abandoned tourist lodge is still languishing in the jungle at the Tip of Cape York despite $2m allocated two years ago to clean up and replace the ruined eyesore with usable visitor facilities.
Cairns
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An abandoned tourist lodge is still languishing in the jungle at the Tip of Cape York despite $2m allocated two years ago to clean up and replace the ruined eyesore with usable visitor facilities.
In 2022 the Department of Tourism and Sport earmarked cash to tear down the Pajinka Wilderness Lodge and establish a campground at the site, 775km north of Cairns.
A budget allocation of $2m was meant to provide better services at Cape York and include a rainforest boardwalk to connect The Tip car park with the new campground.
A desperately needed amenities block to service the thousands of visitors to the continent’s most northern point was also planned for the area.
But according to some members of the Gudang/Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation – which took possession of 211 hectares of land including the abandoned Pajinka resort in a historic 2019 handover – nothing has been done.
Former chair of the group Michael Solomon said Ilario Sabatino had been hired as a consultant, and due to Pajinka falling within the footprint of the Torres Shire Council, an agreement had been reached for mainland authority Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council to do the work.
However, momentum on the project appears to have stalled.
“There’s too many chiefs and not enough indians,” he said.
Traditional owner Thomas Savage blamed a breakdown in communication within the Gudang/Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation.
“We don’t hear from the other board of directors,” he said.
Gudang/Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation chair Bernard Charlie assured members progress was being made toward the opening of the long-awaited project.
“There are things that the elected directors are doing behind the scenes, progress is happening and by October or November we will be breaking ground and come next year we will be ready to take tourists,” he said.
“(Mr Solomon and Mr Savage) are both are members of the organisation and rather than go to the Cairns Post they should have the common courtesy to go to the directors.”
Earlier this year the Department of Tourism and Sport stated the state government was “working with” traditional owners to scope works for a staged redevelopment of the Pajinka site, with a goal to drive business capability for tourism experiences and to establish commercial activities.
Redevelopment of the site includes a contribution of $1.65m towards Stage 1 works including the clearing and demolition of the former Pajinka Wilderness Lodge.
According to the Department of Tourism and Sport, a $27.4m Regional Tourism Recovery Program is assisting the Gudang Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation to identify viable tourism experiences and a management plan for Pajinka.
Mr Solomon said with the wet season approaching, another year would likely be lost in a blow to Indigenous-led tourism business and opportunities for the region’s young people.
He said the site was ideally positioned to gain from an estimated 90,000 visitors that drive through the region each year by offering bush tucker experiences on the beach, cultural tours including guided walks, and traditional fishing trips that could be run in partnership with the established tourism businesses.
“Our generation needs to see the outcome, when the development starts we can train our youth and our children for all the positions,” he said.
“There’s funding for $80,000 for the consultant to mediate between the two companies, the contractor and traditional owner but nothing is happening.”
The luxury Pajinka Wilderness Resort closed for repair after a fire in 2002 but never reopened.
It has since fallen into disrepair and is slowly being reclaimed by the bush, but is still widely visited by nostalgic Cape travellers interested in the ruins just off Pajinka Rd.
Works on the public amenities block at the Tip car park funded by Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water were expected to be complete in June, however as of this week it’s understood travellers continue to make do with portaloos.
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Originally published as Anger at stalled Pajinka resort project
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