Little Goat Island is situated in the middle of Pumicestone Passage Marine Park, between Bribie Island and Donnybrook. In the 1950’s the island was leased from the State Government by the late Mr. Roy Dunlop and converted to free hold in the 1970’s.
Mr. Dunlop was born 1900 and died in 1986.
In 1979 Mr. Dunlop and the National Pparks and Wildlife and The National Trust of Queensland tried to work out a deal between the three parties to achieve the best outcome for the preservation of the island. This deal was never finalized. Subsequently, nearing his death in 1984, Mr. Dunlop signed a “Deed of gift” with the National Trust of Queensland that had many conditions for the ongoing protection of the island. Mr. Dunlop was pleased to sign the Deed knowing that his precious island would be used in ways that he agreed with. For instance, “the island was to be turned into a Cultural and Environment Centre to train children”.
Over the 22 years the National Trust owned the island they had two Caretakers, Mr. Barry Stevens and later Mr. Tony Pearson. In early 2005 the National Trust decided to sell Mr. Dunlop’s beloved island and set about offering it to the public by way of Tender, coordinated by Mr. Warren Ramsey of Ray White Commercial Ipswich. The Tender was won by Mr. Geoffrey Ramsey on the 14th October 2005. Mr. Geoffrey Ramsey is the ex-owner (in 2003) of Ray White Ipswich and is the father of Mr. Warren Ramsey the now owner of Ray White Ipswich.The State Government was asked repeatedly to step in and perches the island to insure it’s protection from development or private ownership. But Mrs. Desley Boyle Minister for Environment felt there was no need for Government to become involved.
There are many issues to be considered here. The island sites in the middle of our Marine Park and there are three world migratory bird treaties, signed by 127 countries, that cover the island; RAMSAR, CAMBA and JAMBA. The Environmental Protection Agency did a formal study of Little Goat Island that was completed on March 2004. In this study the anthropologists stated that “The European and Indigenous history on Little Goat Island was the most pristine example that the Pumicestone Passage has left”. Moreover, in mid 2005 an application was made with the Queensland Heritage Council to have Mr. Dunlop’s cabin entered on the State Heritage list, this process is continuing.
Why is the National Trust of Queensland selling? NTQ has an operating budget of about $900,000 if the Currumin Wildlife Sanctuary is not taken into account. NTQ has been operating at a loss for some years, and reserves are below the desired level. Generally, NTQ makes a loss of about $150,000 annually on properties, which was reduced from around $220,000 three years ago by selling properties. NTQ says a major current difficulty is the lack of Commonwealth or State grants for heritage conservation, resulting in no ability for capital expenditure on properties.
It is a sad day when we see our precious heritage sold by the organization that is supposedly there to “Identify, Protect and Promote” our heritage, only we find that this is not true. For example the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is their next sale as soon as our State Government corrects the damage to the landslide that occurred this year.