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A campaign to ensure the safe future of one of the region’s most historic properties has just been launched on line.

The house, Ninney Rise at Bingil Bay, was built by artist and conservationist John Busst around 1960 and was the headquarters for a series of major campaigns to save the Great Barrier Reef from threatened coral mining and the surrounding scientifically unique rainforest from development.

“In 1995 the Queensland Heritage Register-listed property came under the ownership of Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service but with no conservation management plan for its future, it is felt this could still be uncertain,” said Tully branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland (WPSQ) president Suzie Smith.

“It is vital this integral part of regional history is retained for the nation, and for this a conservation management plan is essential.”

Included in the listing is a memorial to John Busst who was a founding member of WPSQ, a member of the then fledgling Australian Conservation Society, and the then Littoral Society (now the Australian Marine Conservation Society).

The beautiful Ninney Rise house which features intricately woven bamboo walls and ceilings stands in nearly two hectares of parklike grounds overlooking Bingil Bay and is backed by Clump Mountain National Park.

“There has been much support for the property to become an interpretive centre celebrating the life and work of John Busst, and with it the saving of much of national significance for the nation,” said Ms Smith.

In October 2012 people gathered from many corners of Australia at Ninney Rise to celebrate the saving, in 1967, of beautiful Ellison Reef from being mined for lime following claims the reef, off Innisfail, was dead.

“This was the birth of the ‘Save the Barrier Reef’ campaign.”

Importantly, this campaign, which was mooted by WPSQ, was also backed by many farmers who did not want to see the reef destroyed for mining.

A keynote speaker on the day was scientist Eddie Hegerl who had scuba dived the Reef during the campaign and was one of the experts able to claim Ellison Reef was not dead, but very much alive.

It was later discovered that the coral lime which would have come from Ellison Reef to be used as fertiliser in the sugar industry would not have been suitable for this purpose.

John Busst, and the heady days of Ninney Rise when the Save the Reef Campaign inspired the nation are often remembered.

As Don Henry, chief executive Officer of the Australian Conservation Foundation, who also attended the celebratory day, pointed out: “The Great Barrier Reef now supports 5000 jobs and attracts $6 billion a year from visitors.”

To sign the campaign for the future of Ninney Rise, the place where it all began, go to https://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/ninneyrise.