THE Daintree Discovery Centre, an iconic hub in the tourism industry, has been passed on to new owners. The Aboriginal Development Benefits Trust (ADBT) purchased the Centre from Ron and Pam Birkett, owners of the Centre for more than 30 years.

Peter Cameron, chair of ADBT, said the Daintree Discovery Centre was an award-winning world-class facility with an established reputation in the tourism industry. It is to the Daintree what Quicklsilver Reef Cruises is to Port Douglas, such is its influence on tourism in the area.

“The purchase of the Discovery Centre offers huge potential for ADBT to further develop its community, youth and entrepreneurship programs,” Cameron said.

“The Discovery Centre is widely recognised as a leader in the field of ecotourism, and in particular, environmental conservation. Not only does it showcase the oldest rainforest on the planet in a sustainable and environmentally sensitive manner, but its work to preserve this fragile eco system through scientific research, revegetation programs and other carbon reduction initiatives goes way beyond just tree planting.”

The ADBT has assured the public that they will not be changing anything about the Daintree Discovery Centre.

“It will be business as usual at the Discovery Centre, with no operational changes on the ground. We are all very excited to continue working with the fabulous staff who have made the business a huge success,” Cameron said.

For Pam and Ron Birkett, this came as a welcome relief. There hasn’t been much the Discovery Centre hasn't seen since it was officially opened in June 1989, and Pam admitted to having initial concerns when passing over the business.

“Ron and I have had 27 wonderful years designing and developing the Discovery Centre from scratch and it’s going to be hard to ‘cut the umbilical cord’, but we were particularly pleased when ADBT expressed an interest in purchasing the business. It couldn’t have been a better fit.”

“When we look back over the past three decades there is so much to celebrate, just being crazy enough to build an environmental centre in a tropical wilderness in the 1980’s was an outstanding achievement.

“We were just two ordinary working people who had a vision. We wanted to create something special and today the Discovery Centre is more than we could have hoped for.”

The ADBT is an organisation that develops economically stable and self-sustaining Gulf communities by financing and supporting small businesses and improving communities through economy and infrastructure.

For more information on ADBT visit www.adbt.com.au or the Daintree Discovery Centre visit www.discoverthedaintree.com.