A local tour operator is up in arms over the neglect of St Crispin’s Station in Port Douglas, calling for action on the noticeably untended historic area. 

Grub, of Grub’s Personalised Trike Tours, offers scenic tours that include a stop at St Crispin’s Station. He said over the past five to six months, the area has become an untidy mess of rubbish and overgrown grass. 

“That station is an icon of Port Douglas, there's a lot of history there. It's sad to see it in such a state,” he said. 

St Crispin’s Station, alongside the tidal lake at the southern end of the Sheraton Mirage Golf Course, is the turnaround point for passengers aboard the historic Bally Hooley steam train. 

“It's just unkempt; it just needs a tidy up, grass cut. When it was kept nice, even just mowing the grass, it was good. Now it's all overgrown,” Grub said.

“We take people there all the time when we get the cruise liners in. This year we've got about 36 coming in. Last time, when Pacific Dawn was in, we were doing 11 or 12 runs on each trike.

“When I take people on tours and go passed the station, I just tell them, "Look, it used to look really good, and I don't know what the problem is..."

When The Newsport visited the site, conspicuous rubbish included cigarette butts and empty drink cans on the station platform, and a disgarded shopping trolley. 

St Crispin’s Station was built in 1987 by local identity John Morris, as part of the Sheraton Mirage resort development. Mr Morris named it after St Crispin’s Reef, and he still owns the Bally Hooley trains. 

However, according to Bally Hooley operations manager Peter Lloyd, “nobody really does own [St. Crispin’s Station].”

“John Morris sold the property to a developer a number of years ago, which then went into receivership. So, it’s a bit up in the air.”

Mr Lloyd said he had spoken to Council a number of times to see about initiating a clean up, but as yet, no action has been taken. 

“We do hold weddings down there, but we haven’t for the past three to four months” he said. 

“Unfortunately, I just don’t have the resources; I’m a one-man band, and it’s hard enough to maintain the railway side of operations. It’s a disgrace, but I have no control over what people do at the Station.”

Grub said if the neglect continues, he’d be forced to remove St Crispin’s Station from his trike tour route. 

"You can't take people there. You can't show them part of Port Douglas history [when it looks like that]."