How the East Trinity wetlands were saved

Denis Walls | Convenor

As a follow-up to BirdLife Northern Queensland (BLNQ)’s Convenor, Denis Walls' article on the August 2025 Cairns Bird Week visit to East Trinity Reserve, across from Cairns city centre, he explains how the area's wetland was saved.

Birding now plays a crucial role in East Trinity's ongoing protection with Denis reporting on bird numbers and sightings to the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to emphasise the recovery that has taken place.

Over the years, there have been few campaigns more central to the Environmental Movement in Queensland (Qld) than the fight to protect Trinity Inlet and adjacent East Trinity land from development over-reach. Protecting the biodiverse Cairns mudflats was also part of that fight.

This article follows on from a Contact Call article published on 13 September 2021.

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East Trinity, Murray Prior Range, and Cairns CBD from the air. Photo by Steven Nowakowski.

The Qld Government of the time had proposed a mega-tourist development at Trinity Point. It included reclamation work for an artificial peninsula to extend from the Cairns Esplanade and Pier – at a cost of $300 million. The vast majority of Cairns citizens opposed it, and over 5,000 people protested against it in 1989. This is still the biggest demonstration ever held in Cairns, and the incoming Labor Government scrapped the tourist development idea.

Then followed a decade-long battle with, firstly, private developer Sailfox, which planned to build a $1.2 billion resort and artificial reef on East Trinity; and then, with Emanuel developers and the NatWest bank over a proposed satellite city of 20,000 people, with a billion-dollar bridge spanning the Inlet. A tunnel under it was also suggested!

The State Government finally bought the land in 2000 for around $4 million from NatWest after concerted conservation pressure from Save East Trinity group, Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC), and the Far North Greens. This was a reflection of community sentiment that wanted to protect Trinity Inlet for posterity.

Trinity Inlet and mangroves near Cairns. Credit: AdobeStock.

In the past, the East Trinity land had been heavily acidified as a result of a failed sugar cane experiment in the 1970s. A bund wall had been built to keep the seawater away from the sugar cane. As a result, the bund had disrupted the tidal influence, lowering the water level inside the wall, and thereby exposing the naturally occurring pyritic (iron sulphide) soils to the atmosphere. Oxygen then converted these soils to iron sulphate which became sulphuric acid after contact with water.

The Government decided to retain the bund wall which had led to the problem of acid sulphate soils in the first place.

An extensive State Government program was started in 2001 to remediate the 774 ha property using intertidal exchange through bund wall gates, and adding lime to counteract the acid pollution. Bird life in the freshwater and tidal marshes started flourishing, and 92 species were counted in one morning visit in 2009. This is still a record.

The following eight before and after photos record the encouraging progress of the rehabilitation at Firewood Creek; Firewood Creek Oxbow; Hills Creek Bend; and Little Hills Creek Junction. Although the angles from which the photos were taken differ, the successful progress of the rehabilitation can be easily seen.

Firewood Creek in the early 2000s. Photo by Steven Nowakowski.

Firewood Creek in the late 2010s. Photo by Steven Nowakowski.

Firewood Creek Oxbow in the early 2000s. Photo by Steven Nowakowski.

Firewood Creek Oxbow in the late 2010s. Photo by Steven Nowakowski.

Hills Creek Bend in the early 2000s. Photo by Steven Nowakowski.

Hills Creek Bend in the late 2010s. Photo by Steven Nowakowski.

Little Hills Creek Junction in the early 2000s. Photo by Steven Nowakowski.

Little Hills Creek Junction in the late 2010s. Photo by Steven Nowakowski.

While remediation was taking place, conscious that empty land at East Trinity would forever pose a development threat, a small group of environmental supporters established a group to strongly advocate for a Wetlands Park at East Trinity, with a visitor centre adjacent to Hills Creek. The idea gained traction, and Mandingalbay Yidinji Traditional Owners of East Trinity have since gone ahead with a smaller version of that proposal. A pontoon at Hills Creek was built and there are still plans to build watchtowers for animal and scenic viewing.

Subsequent destructive targeting of East Trinity occurred in 2016 when, under the dredging proposal to widen and deepen Trinity Inlet for larger ships, there was a strong push to dump the spoil on the rehabilitated wetlands around the Peat Swamp area. Once again, pressure from the environmental lobby saw that disastrous idea averted, and the voids at ‘Northern Sands’ were used instead for the 90% Potential Acid Sulphate Soil (PASS) spoil (with the remaining clayey component being dumped at the end of Tingira Street in Cairns’ industrial area).

Development ideas for the area never fully go away, but things are moving in the right direction. Indigenous engagement has been key, and although the East Trinity land is still owned by the State Government, it is now an Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) with a Conservation status under the Land Act. One hopes that fanciful ideas of building a satellite city there are well and truly in the past.

Over many long years the people of Cairns – reinforced by the tourists who look in wonder when they visit the Great Barrier Reef – have emphatically stated that the magnificent green backdrop of Trinity Inlet and beyond, exemplifying the very essence of what this region represents, must be protected. Indigenous management and small-scale tourism seem the perfect fit to complement this natural jewel on our doorstep and keep the corporate wolves at bay – a great conservation success story!

Denis Walls was spokesperson for Save Trinity Inlet in the 1990s, and the Cairns Wetlands Park proposal for East Trinity from 2001 onwards. He was then President of the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) from 2015 to 2021.