Traditional owners in bid to return island to Indigenous management
Traditional owners have signalled an intention to take on management of Double Island ahead of Land Court decision on whether current leaseholder Benny Wu will be kicked out.
Cairns
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A return to the management of Double Island by First Nations peoples has been proposed amid a state crackdown on languishing Great Barrier Reef tourism assets.
Last Monday the forfeiture action against Double Island lessee Fortune Island Holdings progressed to the next stage and the matter was referred to the Land Court.
Property tycoon Benny Wu as head of the group acquired the island in 2012 before shutting down the resort and banking the land.
It’s alleged the Hong Kong-based company is in breach of state government lease conditions that require the island to be used for tourism purposes.
The Land Court will ultimately decide if Fortune Island Holdings will be stripped of the Double Island lease in a decision that could be weeks away.
Pre-empting a pending lease forfeiture, Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation project manager In footage seen by the Cairns Post, Gavin Singleton at a Wangetti Trail stakeholder update on Friday expressed a strong desire for Traditional Owner involvement at Double Island.
“Hopefully one day it will come back to its people, it’s very significant, we definitely need to get it back, it’s our home,” he said.
“As custodians or traditional owners we want to be part of the management of that island, we are working on a lot of partnerships … and we are working with a lot of different stakeholders.
“We also want to create opportunities for our people and also business opportunities for our people as well, that way we can create our own economy.”
Details of an Indigenous management plan are yet to be finalised, however it is understood the Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation has discussed intentions with Queensland Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Tourism.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Minister Craig Crawford said he imagined traditional owners working in partnership with an established island operator if the Land Court cancelled Mr Wu’s lease.
“Double Island has a strong spiritual connection for them that goes back thousands of years,” he said.
“They are very interested in working with government and they have some ideas about the island.
“I think there is an opportunity where everyone wins, there is a tourism facility that is run down and there is an opportunity for a mainstream group like Green Island or Fitzroy Island to partner with traditional owners.
“I definitely want the traditional owners to be a part of that conversation, we owe that to them.”
Once a thriving tropical hub visited by the who's who of Hollywood, the island off the coast of Palm Cove has fallen into a state of disrepair and now sits dilapidated and virtually abandoned.
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