Blog Posts

Calendar promotes 'slow tourism' for World Cassowary Day

23/9/2018

Mission Beach Cassowaries Inc
Media Release 24 September 2018

World Cassowary Day (WCD), held each year on September 26th, is a day of celebration to draw international attention to the reasons Cassowaries are globally important and need to be protected.

This year (WCD) has gone digital to showcase the Cassowary and the conservation efforts of people working to protect them, their home, and the other unique and endangered animals of the World Heritage listed Wet Tropics Rainforests.

Local environment organisation Mission Beach Cassowaries (MBC) will be joining the celebrations with the launch of their 2019 calendar which presents the special features of Mission Beach in spectacular images promoting the 'Mission Beach - naturally' branding.

"Our aim is to present Mission Beach for the points of difference that make it a premier nature based 'slow tourism ' destination based on protection of the natural environment and the cassowary". said Mission Beach Cassowaries president Liz Gallie.

"Slow tourism is an emerging tourism market for people looking to spend longer in a destination and to experience becoming 'part of a community'. It is also associated with a low carbon footprint so helps achieve a more ecologically sustainable future. It s about ‘doing things in the right speed’, ‘changing the attitude towards speed’ and ‘seeking quality over quantity’".

As visitor numbers to Mission Beach increase, MBC is concentrating their efforts on presenting a strong message for Mission Beach to become known as a 'Slow Down Town' to help secure the future of the important population of cassowaries.

"Mission Beach is already known as a place to chill out so promoting it as a 'slow tourism' destination is a perfect fit" " Slow down on the way in and slow down when you get here. Liz emphasised.

"Also, as new people settle in our town, they might appreciate the beauty but not realise just how special Mission Beach is, or what they can do to help protect it in the long term."

"We ask that drivers take special care when travelling through cassowary habitat" said Liz. "A cassowary could be on the road just around the next bend or over the next crest"

All funds raised from the sale of the calendars will go toward the 2019 Mission Beach Community Cassowary Festival.

The calendars are available to buy online at www.missionbeachcassowaries.com or call 0414 402315

Find out more about World Cassowary Day on www.worldcassowaryday.org.

Ends

Photo Liz Gallie

For more information contact;
Liz Gallie
missionbeachcassowaries@gmail.com
0414 402315

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Mission Beach Master Plan

28/8/2018

The CCRC is inviting you to have input into the Mission Beach Master Plan the outcome of which will set the tone and direction of Mission Beach into the future. It will determine the character and identity of our town and how it is perceived by locals and visitors.

This survey is open and just as relevant for visitors as locals.

It is not about just making it look pretty.
It is imperative that protection of the natural environment is the priority consideration.
We have the opportunity to reinforce the community message that has been consistent and documented over decades of community consultation and involvement. Mission Beach - naturally!

You can complete a short survey online on the CCRC website, or

Email the project team at: enquiries@cassowarycoast.qld.gov.au; Re: Mission Beach Strategic Masterplan
More information on the CCRC website here.

See below our comments based on the 'Mission Beach - naturally!' branding
Read MBC Submission here

Inaugural Mission Beach Cassowary Festival a huge success

4/6/2017

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Go to the festival website for full coverage of the fun community event

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New promotional booklet - 'Mission Beach, naturally'

30/10/2016

Media release
An exciting new publication promoting Mission Beach will be launched on Thursday, 3rd November 2016

Mission Beach Cassowaries Inc (MBC) successfully applied for funding to produce a website and free booklet designed to entice international and national visitors to experience the natural environments of Mission Beach.

Terrain’s Tony O’Malley said “Terrain supported this project because it gets tourism and conservation working together for increased nature-based tourism business opportunities and environmental awareness”.

Titled 'MISSION BEACH - naturally', the 20-page booklet highlights the spectacular natural and cultural features that make Mission Beach a World Heritage Area.

Celebrating Cassowaries and achievements

21/9/2016

The Daintree is gearing up for a great day this Saturday Sept 24th to celebrate World Cassowary Day (WCD).

In 2015 WCD was held at Mission Beach with the highly successful event attracting over 3000 people including celebrity guests the Threatened Species Commissioner Gregory Andrews and Wildlife campaigner Bob Irwin.

Last year the Mission Beach WCD steering committee put together a wish list to help protect the cassowary.

Since then a lot has been achieved. (see below)

Trial Cassowary Crossing

9/9/2016

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From left, Alex Smith (alexsmith.tv), Kym Charlton (TMR), and local resident Jason Shearer

The Transport and Main Roads (TMR) department media team visited the Cassowary Coast this week ahead of a traffic management trial planned for the worst cassowary road death hotspot on to Mission Beach.

It is hoped the outcome of the trial will help understand more about how the unnacceptable number of cassowaries being killed on Mission Beach Roads can be addressed. Kym and Alex saw first hand the difficulty cassowaries have crossing roads and were impressed by the community action in response to 2 of Yellow Knees three chicks being another road statistic despite the best efforts of TMR and the community to alert drivers of the likelihood of the birds regular crossing of the road.

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Road trial to help cassowaries cross roads safely

17/6/2016

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Today MBC (Mission Beach Cassowaries Inc) attended a meeting held by Transport and Main Roads (TMR), which included representatives from Environment Heritage Protection (EHP), Terrain NRM, Mission Beach Police, Cassowary Coast Regional Council (CCRC), Mission Beach Community Association (MBCA), C4, the Tully Vet and other community interest groups and individuals to give local feedback on the design of planned signage and line marking to be placed at Carmoo.

The on site meeting was held at the notorious cassowary road death hotspot on the Carmoo turnoff corner where the deaths of over 20 cassowaries have been recorded as they attempted to cross the road to access their essential habitat.

Apart from some minor adjustments, all those present were pleased with the design and congratulated TMR for responding to a community call to address the unacceptable number of cassowaries being killed on Mission Beach roads.

The trial will include;

extra signage warning drivers of approaching, and being within a cassowary crossing zone,
four coloured pavement signs within the zone, and
a Vehicle Activated Sign (VAS) at either approach which will illuminate if drivers exceed the speed limit of 80kph.

Road pavement sign

New road sign

Vehicle Activated Sign

Regular commuters can become complacent while driving and the VAS's have been proven to help alert drivers of the speed limit.

The signage is expected to be installed by the end of August.

Thank you to TMR and to Terrain who initiated the workshop in September 2015 which culminated in the community working closely with the state government resulting in this positive action to help cassowaries cross our roads safely.

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A message from the Threatened Species Commissioner

28/2/2016

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Mission Beach Promotes Nature-Based Tourism

19/1/2016

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Mission Beach is gearing up to promote its nature-based tourism experiences thanks to a
grant provided by Terrain NRM and funded through the Australian Government’s National
Landcare Programme. Local community group Mission Beach Cassowaries successfully
applied for the Community NRM grant to create a new website and free 16 page colour
brochure promoting the areas environmental assets.

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And another one......!

27/11/2015

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Photo supplied

A young cassowary was hit by a vehicle as it was crossing the Tully Mission Beach road with its father and two siblings early yesterday morning 24 Nov.

The driver of the vehicle did not stop or report the incident. Another driver came across the heart rending scene of the male cassowary standing over his dead chick.

This death brings the shocking toll of cassowaries killed on our regions roads this year to at least 16.

The grotesque photo below is of a subject that is becoming way too familiar with no action being taken.

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