LINKING THE BINNA BURRA STORY TO THE 1885 ORIGINS OF THE RGSQ

WORDS: Steve Noakes PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied - Binna Burra Lodge

The Binna Burra story goes back to 1885 and the beginning of the Royal Geographic Society of Queensland (RGSC) and its President in 1896, Robert Martin Collins (1943 – 1913), one of the founders of the National Park system in Queensland.  Collins’s fought a 20 year battle to conserve the McPherson Ranges, being joined in 1911 by the then young Romeo Lahey who energetically lobbied and petitioned for a national park.

Two years after Collins died the 19,035 ha Lamington National Park was declared in July 1915 – Queensland’s ninth national park. In 1930 the National Parks Association of Queensland (NPAQ) was formed with Romeo Lahey (1887-1968) as the inaugural President (from 1930 to 1968) and Arthur Groom (1904-1953) the foundation Secretary of NPAQ.

In 1933 Romeo Lahey and Arthur Groom led the formation of Binna Burra Lodge (initially the company was called Queensland Holiday Resorts). Fast-forward to 2019 and at the beginning of the Australian ‘Black Summer Bushfires’ the central lodge and pioneer cabins at Binna Burra were destroyed.

Steve’s address will link the Binna Burra story to the origins of the RGSQ, the development and management of Queensland’s national parks and the 2019 impact of the Black Summer bushfires on the legacy of early conservationists such as Collins, Lahey and Groom.

For further information – https://rgsq.org.au/event-4642775