Australia is well-placed to cater to the increasing number of travellers who are keen to reduce their environmental footprint, with a rich portfolio of destinations and experiences that prioritise sustainability.
In this edition, we highlight three of the diverse experiences available from Victorian tourism operators — a wildlife sanctuary that is conserving habitat and working to rebuild numbers of endangered animals, a UNESCO-listed park that is preserving Aboriginal cultural heritage and creating a seed bank to protect the environment into the future, and a sporting and cultural icon that is leading the way in reducing its impact.
Wildlife Wonders Tour
It’s hard to believe the stunning landscape that is home to Wildlife Wonders used to be a degraded sheep paddock. It has taken years of work and the design skills of Brian Massey, an Art Director on the Hobbit films, to rehabilitate the land and create an incredible wildlife habitat and sustainable tourist attraction.
Lizzie Corke OAM is the CEO of Wildlife Wonders and its Conservation Ecology Centre and says a hidden predator-proof fence, 1.4km long, has created 30 acres of safe wildlife haven. Funds from tourism help support the not-for-profit in its mission of creating a healthy and resilient environment for wildlife and flora in the Otway Ranges.
‘Every step of the way, every turn of the path has been crafted and imagined to have maximum visual and emotional impact. It’s like stepping back — or forward — in time to a pristine Otways ecosystem — it’s a wonderful place for visitors to see animals they’d never see in the wild.’
Budj Bim is the first National Park in Victoria to be co-managed by Traditional Owners and Parks Victoria.
Budj Bim
Budj Bim turns on its head any misconceptions visitors may have that Aboriginal peoples were nomadic, with clear evidence the local Gunditjmara people built stone houses and developed a complex aquaculture system to provide plentiful supplies of protein-rich food.
‘We sustainably managed fish and eels, and harvested them at choke points using woven baskets. We were Australia’s first farmers,’ says proud Gunditjmara man, and Budj Bim Ranger, Braydon Saunders.
A development plan for the UNESCO World Heritage-listed site is focused on rehabilitating the land, including developing a Living Seed Bank and planting more than 30,000 Indigenous trees, as well as fostering sustainable tourism to create employment opportunities for the Gunditjmara community.
The MCG is considered to be hallowed ground by sports-loving Australians.
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is not only one of the world’s most iconic sporting arenas, it is also one of the most sustainable, being well on its way to achieving its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2040.
The MCG’s Strategic Asset and Environmental Specialist Nathan Xavier says the ground became the first major stadium in Australia to run on 100 per cent renewable power in 2022, and that's just one of its environmental initiatives.
The ground invested in its own Water Treatment Plant in 2012, which has enabled it to reduce its drinkable water usage during winter by 50 per cent, it also replaced the power-hungry lights on its towers with LEDs and installed a dehydrator that converts catering waste to soil food, which is used on its gardens.
‘We’ve also undertaken lots of smaller initiatives such as installing water bottle refill stations and converting plastic bags into bollards.’
Learn more about Australia’s sustainable travel options by completing the Aussie Specialist sustainability training course.
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