Rainforest Revelations chronologies a progressive history of life in the oldest rainforest in the world. In 1988, a precedent was established that included private land in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Freehold land, purchased in fee simple, was protected through a treaty between the Australian Government and the United Nations (UNESCO) and henceforth World Heritage landholders were obligated to protect and conserve the natural and cultural values to perpetuity. The removal of farming rights through World Heritage listing left landholders devoid of an income and heralded a change that had significant implications for the future.
In 1895, Daintree rainforest land was sub-divided into homestead holdings and sold for farming. Lot 52 SR537 containing 160 acres (66.74hectares) of unique rainforest was part of that sub-division. After World Heritage listing, primary production concessions were taken away by revaluing the land as “tourism,” thereby increasing the rates by 630%. Thus, the prevailing economy was removed and an imperative of rigorous conservation imposed without financial support.
The Wet Tropics World Heritage Area Primary Goal is to protect, conserve, present, rehabilitate and transmit to future generations the World Heritage values and integrity of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area.
The Cooper Creek catchment encapsulates the majority of the attributes that contributed to the application for World Heritage recognition: flora relicts from ages past, primitive animals, examples of ongoing evolution and speciation, rare and endemic flora and fauna and living links with the recent past incursions of fauna and flora from south-east Asia.
Daintree Rainforest Pty Ltd was thrust into the forefront of sustainability with the aim of providing an exemplary model of ecotourism that conforms to this universal commitment. Presentation of the natural and cultural values occurs through our rainforest tours where we explain the extraordinary biological and ecological values of the world’s oldest rainforest to visitors and by way of Rainforest Revelations, a blog that allows us to record information and images.
